Presidents' Day

"History repeats itself"is a familiar phrase. In looking for a silver lining for the tumultuous time in which we live, I have had my eyes open for any ray of light. This weekend I was looking through a picture book* I bought before Christmas ~ I have been parceling out a few pages at a time to prolong the enjoyment of reading the book. And there it was...a sign that this time, too, shall pass. It is an excerpt of a piece written by a well-known poet. I will share who wrote it and when at the bottom of the page. If you're game, read through and take a guess. I wouldn't have known before, but I am glad I know now.

It is the fashion among dillettants and fops (perhaps
I myself am not guiltless,) to decry the whole formulation
of the active politics of America, as beyond redemption,
and to be carefully kept away from. See you that you
do not fall into this error. America, it may be, is doing
very well upon the whole, notwithstanding these antics
of the parties and their leaders, these half-brain'd nominees,
the many ignorant ballots, and many elected failures and
blatherers. It is the dillettants, and all who shirk their duty,
who are not doing well. As for you, I advise you to enter
more strongly yet into politics. I advise every young man
to do so. Always inform yourself; always do the best you can;
always vote. Disengage yourself from parties. They have
been useful, and to some extent remain so; but the floating,
uncommitted electors, farmers, clerks, mechanics, the
masters of parties - watching aloof, inclining victory this
side or that side - such are the ones most needed, present
and future. For America, if eligible at all to downfall and
ruin, is eligible within herself, not without; for I see clearly
that the combined foreign world could not beat her down.
But these savage, wolfish parties alarm me. Owning no
law but their own will, more and more combative, less
and less tolerant of the idea of ensemble and of equal
brotherhood, the perfect equality of the States, the ever-
over-arching American ideas, it behooves you to convey
yourself implicitly to no party, nor submit blindly to their
dictators, but steadily hold yourself judge and master
over all of them.

From Democratic Vistas

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written by Walt Whitman in 1871

(*Voices in Poetry: Walt Whitman, 1994, Creative Education, p. 19)