Prophecy rings true today
Does the following prophecy from the past ring true today?
“You are liable some day to have a president supremely lacking in the qualities of a statesman, and one who is egotistic, impulsive, of immature judgment, a mere glutton of the limelight, ready to barter away prosperity and even his country’s freedom for momentary popular applause.
“If he is an autocrat, such as he, for the time, will your country be. Instead of a mighty nation, great in her physical strength and greater in her moral qualities, you may have a strutting, confiscating, shrieking, meddling America.”
The above prediction might read as if it originated in 2016 or 2017. But it comes from a speech by U.S. Rep. Samuel W. McCall, R-Mass., s reported in the New York World, in its Aug. 23, 1907 edition.
A recent letter writer declared, “Let’s make America civil again.” I agree. If we wish to reclaim this mighty nation’s physical strength and moral qualities, we must end the strutting and shrieking. Instead, we all must practice conversing with our sister and brother Americans with civility, patience, and empathy, focusing on what unites us rather than on what divides us.
Arthur T. LaBar
Richmond
This story was originally published January 25, 2018 at 7:40 PM with the headline "Prophecy rings true today."