This letter is the single most memorable piece of primary material from Ken Burns’ Civil War series. I have read it over and over for years. Not sure if Schumer mentioned that Sullivan Ballou died before the letter reached Sarah. I have always wondered if he was destined to become a great writer had his life not been taken in war.
Is that Roger Stone sitting on the aisle in the photo?
As some of you may know, I’m not a Schumer fan (I know few if any of you are!). But I applaud to him for doing that, and hopefully he will live up to that letter as the Sen Dem leader. We will resist, and we won’t let him “work with” the fascist.
Great writing indeed. Letter got wide circulation at the time.
I tear up reading it every time, contrast it with my juvenile letters to my fiancee’ full of lust and whining.
" I know how strongly American Civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and sufferings of the Revolution. And I am willing — perfectly willing — to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt …"
LOL. Thanks, Chucky, for telling the white nationalist anti-government methbillies to shove their neo-confederate paroxysm up their spasming assholes in a way that they will never, ever, ever understand.
I’m new enough to “tracking” the political players that I don’t know his pitfalls. What’s he prone to doing?
A blogger at Balloon Juice excerpted a post by the blogger John Sclazi this morning, and it did me good to read it. Apologies if you’ve already seen it.
… “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”…
… I think both Parker and King understood that moral endeavors can be measured in years, decades and sometimes centuries. This is not an argument toward complacency; indeed I think it’s an argument against defeatism and fatalism in the face of setbacks and stalemates. We live in moments and days and it’s often hard to see past them, and it’s easy to believe when we are struck a hard blow that all is lost. All is not lost. The arc is long. Nothing is ever fully decided in the moment or the day. There are years and decades and sometimes centuries yet to go. The arc continues to bend, if we remember that it is long, and that we need to imagine it extending further.
We need to imagine that because of the second thing: The arc is not a natural feature of the universe. It does not magically appear; it is not ordained; it is not inevitable. It exists because people of moral character seek justice, not only for themselves but for every person. Nor is the arc smooth. It’s rough and jagged, punctuated in areas by great strides, halting collapses, terrible reverses and forcible wrenching actions…
Remember the arc is long. It’s not one moment or one day or even a year or four years, even when that moment or day or year seems endless.
Remember the arc is not inevitable. It needs you. You are more important than you know, if you don’t give in to despair, to complacency, or to apathy. Add to the moral weight that bends the arc toward justice. You can’t do it alone, but without you the work becomes that much harder.
Remember that those who are working to flatten the arc hope you give up and give in. They are relying on you to do just that. Disappoint them. Disappoint them in big ways. Disappoint them in small ways. Disappoint them each day, and every day, in all the ways you can. Do not consent to this flattening of the arc…
No time for tears. Time to get to work.
As for “prone,” this piece happens to describe my misgiving about the guy well. I’ve never been a hater (like those ideological purists out there), but his Iran vote will never be forgiven in my mind. To me, that vote alone disqualified him for becoming the next Senate Dem leader.
But we are where we are and he is what we have. And finally he started showing some fire recent days. I hope he will keep it up – because, again, this is where we are and he is the minority leader.
Words like this are truly lost on the Trumpenfueher.
My thought is that ultimately we will be fine as long as he doesn’t launch nukes to get us all killed and decimate the planet. It will be a long fight, but we will be okay.
I’ve been reading Scalzi and BJ for some time; two of the more valuable sites on the 'Net, imho. I’m also a huge fan of Charles Pierce, and of course, our gracious host here at TPM. I hope we are not on the verge of another civil war, but as some of us do remember our history, I’m certain we are not doomed to repeat it. (with apologies to G. Santayana.)
Sadly, he might as well be reading to a wall.
Definitely a good way to start things off. Plus it delayed having to tolerate Trump for a bit longer
Excellent article. Thanks for sharing.
If Schumer needs numbers (popular support) to get the job done, I hope to hell we can give them to him. I’ve been impressed by what he is doing over the last couple of weeks.
And I so, so, so hope that the severity of the situation we are in brings out his best political instincts.
Cane never disever my soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabell Lee. And all the night tide, I lie down by the side of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride.
You shoulda just plagiarized that letter. DWMW – Do What Monica (or Melania) Would.
Hah! You are werry crever grasshopper.