How the Adamses predicted Trump
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| Title: | How the Adamses predicted Trump |
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| Authors: | Carol Berkin |
| Source: | Washington Post, The. 05/03/2019. |
| Abstract: | In 1820, Thomas Jefferson wrote that the debate over slavery was a "fire bell in the night" tolling the demise of the union. In 2019, the authors of "The Problem of Democracy" sound a different alarm: The cult of personality is destroying our democracy. Of course, many thoughtful Americans have already heard that bell pealing. What will come as a surprise to readers, however, is Nancy Isenberg and Andrew Burstein's assertion that John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, predicted our modern crisis. The authors argue that father and son witnessed, documented and fought to contain "the excesses they saw in unchecked democratic posturing and democratic pretense." The Adamses lost these battles; they could not prevent the country from embracing the demagoguery that gave us the Age of Jefferson, the Age of Andrew Jackson and, implicitly, the Age of Trump. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] |
| Database: | Regional Business News |
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| Abstract: | In 1820, Thomas Jefferson wrote that the debate over slavery was a "fire bell in the night" tolling the demise of the union. In 2019, the authors of "The Problem of Democracy" sound a different alarm: The cult of personality is destroying our democracy. Of course, many thoughtful Americans have already heard that bell pealing. What will come as a surprise to readers, however, is Nancy Isenberg and Andrew Burstein's assertion that John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, predicted our modern crisis. The authors argue that father and son witnessed, documented and fought to contain "the excesses they saw in unchecked democratic posturing and democratic pretense." The Adamses lost these battles; they could not prevent the country from embracing the demagoguery that gave us the Age of Jefferson, the Age of Andrew Jackson and, implicitly, the Age of Trump. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] |
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