tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12159522.post116848996787293872..comments2024-01-03T15:30:05.586-05:00Comments on Home in the railroad earth: Was Santayana Wrong?steve on the slow trainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18257811143869341854noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12159522.post-1169251878924703442007-01-19T19:11:00.000-05:002007-01-19T19:11:00.000-05:00I think Santayana's quip, like most short, punchy ...I think Santayana's quip, like most short, punchy "truths" is just about as useless, but no more so, than other such blather. That said, another saying I like is that a good definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different result. <BR/>The use of force on problems which do not lend them to a solution by force seems to me to be one of those insane sort of repititions.gerry rosserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06095232815291651669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12159522.post-1169093875645782222007-01-17T23:17:00.000-05:002007-01-17T23:17:00.000-05:00Peter, I had hoped you'd respond to this post. I ...Peter, I had hoped you'd respond to this post. I agree that sometimes the indiscriminate use of history's "lessons" is another form of ignorance, though not in the cases of Wolfowitz and Bundy--their problem was not so much ignorance as obsession. <BR/><BR/>And an amazing qoute from Chronicles. As for your question, I wonder, too. Of the current presidential contenders, Barack Obama comes closest. Of any recent president, FDR probably understood his times the most thoroughly, and I'm afraid his understanding of the times led him not only to the New Deal, but to the internment of Japanese-Americans.steve on the slow trainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18257811143869341854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12159522.post-1169029819589176052007-01-17T05:30:00.000-05:002007-01-17T05:30:00.000-05:00(I meant to wonder out loud: Who today has "unders...(I meant to wonder out loud: Who today has "understanding of the times" to know what we ought to do?)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12159522.post-1169029710259167162007-01-17T05:28:00.000-05:002007-01-17T05:28:00.000-05:00I enjoyed this post -- so much I wasn't aware of.Y...I enjoyed this post -- so much I wasn't aware of.<BR/><BR/>Your last paragraph is a great summary. Perhaps the indiscriminate use of history's "lessons" is sometimes another form of ignorance.<BR/><BR/>"And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment." - 1 Chronicles 12Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com