It wouldn’t be the first time a political party nominated a general of unknown beliefs, says Kevin Gutzman.
A snippet:
In his retirement, ex-president Thomas Jefferson thought the rage for Andrew Jackson threatened America’s republican institutions. If so unlearned, ill-tempered, and violent a man could vault to the fore of the political system on the basis of martial fame, Jefferson feared, empire could not be avoided. Like other American revolutionaries, Jefferson believed that all constitutions degenerate, and the question was how to slow the descent from 1789 to an American dictatorship.
David Petraeus gives no sign of being a wolf in sheep’s clothing, nor does he seem a Marius, Sulla, or Caesar. There is nothing good, on the other hand, about our fellow Americans’ knee-jerk attraction to every famous general. It seems to indicate a desire to be commanded, to follow, to have someone to salute. With that in mind, Jefferson’s fears take on a new urgency.
