“The spirit of which I speak creates imaginary and magnifies real causes of complaint; arrogates to itself every virtue – denies every merit to its opponents – secretly entertains the worst designs – mounts the pulpit, and in the name of a God of mercy and peace, preaches discord and vengeance; invokes the worst scourges of Heaven; war, pestilence, and famine, as preferable alternatives to party defeat; blind, vindictive, cruel, remorseless, unprincipled and at last frantic, it communicates its madness to friends as well as foes; respects nothing, fears nothing.”
Dear Reader: In my title, I have lied. The quote above was uttered in 1830, 183 years ago, by Edward Livingston, then a Lousiana senator and a friend of President Andrew Jackson’s. He was speaking of the politics of the day. It seems applicable now.
The quote is excerpted from Jon Meacham's ( @jmeacham ) “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House” (2008, Random House), p. 133.
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