Satayana Would Be Proud

The great poet George Satayana once wrote that "those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." It’s clear that President Bush is aware of exactly that. Matt Drudge linked to an article that describes how President Bush and his advisors are looking to the past for guidance in policy decisions. I’ve heard educators accuse Bush of being an "anti-intellectual" several times – it’s things like this that should put such notions to rest. Academia has, in many cases, tried to ramrod conservative thought as being somehow against intellectualism, completely ignoring the wide variety of conservative thinkers who actually have something of value to say. While it’s true that conservatives distrust academia, it’s not because they don’t value knowledge – it’s because academia tends to ignore common sense. When a supposedly brilliant "academic" like Cornel West at Harvard can release a shlocky self-servicing rap album and still be treated seriously, it’s a sign that the ivory tower of academia is about as structurally sound as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. While academia critizes President Bush, Bush is more concerned with leadership than building some kind of "legacy" for himself. In the end, that’s exactly what a President should do – concentrate on what’s right and let history write itself.