It is very interesting, isn't it, how often current events reflect the
past, or people reach back into the past for precedents and support. It
is also somewhat slippery, sometimes, because changed times and
different issues in politics may not be so precisely parallel that
adapting a past policy to a present problem will work. I have heard
people preface a reference to the past with the phrase, "All things
being equal," when, in fact, all things can never be equal or the same.
 
I have never believed it true that history repeats itself, although we
can certainly learn useful things from history, and am more inclined to
agree with a statement that I once read but forget who wrote, that
history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
 
Still, this is an interesting subject, both concerning the Kentucky and
Virginia Resolutions of 1798 and also about the usable or abusable past.
Let's please keep focused on those aspects of Virginia history and of
historical relevancy and not get tot aking sides on current political
controversies as we have a tendency to do.
 
Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
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Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
http://www.lva.virginia.gov <blocked::http://www.lva.virginia.gov/> 
 

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