I was dreaming last night about Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the fire-bombing of Dresden. There was clearly an element, a large element, of vindictiveness involved in these events.
It seems clear to me that a large percentage of US citizens become extremely bloody-minded in times of war. In many ways, Jackson was not a nice man, but he was a very effective president -- effective in achieving his goals and the goals of those who elected him.
I keep harping on Mead's essays about Jacksonians, Jeffersonians, Wilsonians and Hamiltonians. The Jacksonians are the ones who are really bloody-minded. Think of the Trail of Tears (ordered by President Jackson). According to Mead, when the US is engaged in war, the Jacksonian mode becomes predominant.
What 9/11 changed is that before 9/11 we did not think we were engaged in war, and after 9/11, we did, and we have become very bloody-minded - not all of us, but the Jacksonians have, and the Jeffersonians become Jacksonian when provoked. |
