Differences

By Clyde N. Wilson

How much better off the American people would be if they could learn the difference between:

investors and speculators

the Constitution ratified by the people of the States and the one promulgated by federal judges

education and training

necessary taxation and an oppressive burden

national defense and foreign interventionism

law enforcement and war

justifiable borrowing and destructive, irresponsible debt

entertainment and moral debasement

celebrity and worth

status and wisdom

status and virtue

affirmative action and equal treatment under the law

a citizen and a non-citizen

a guest and an invader

a “conservative” and a conservative

public life informed by Christianity and politicized churchmen

And especially the American people would profit if they learned not to believe that politics is the realm of doing good. Politics is the realm of vanity, greed, lust, deception, and force.

I am not holding my breath.

Clyde N. Wilson is a contributing editor to Chronicles. A retired professor of history at the University of South Carolina, he is the author of numerous books, including Carolina Cavalier: The Life and Mind of James Johnston Pettigrew and Defending Dixie: Essays in Southern History and Culture. He is the editor of The Papers of John C. Calhoun.