This week marks the 24th year since Islamic terrorists murdered thousands of innocent civilians in New York City. But it is also the anniversary of another tragic event that changed the course of history in America. On September 6th, 1901, President William McKinley was shot by an anarchist assassin. He died on September 14th.
In the same way, certain events, like the JFK assassination, the moon landing, and 9/11, are burned into the memories of people today. For my grandfather, who was 7 years old at the time, and my grandfather’s generation, President McKinley’s murder is a memory they carried with them their entire lives.
In 1896, America was a divided nation. The burning issue was whether or not the dollar should continue to be linked to the price of gold.
The Republican Party, led by William McKinley, felt there should be no change. Ever the radicals, the Democrats, led by William Jennings Bryan, felt we needed to modify the approach and link the dollar to the price of silver, also. The American people chose to leave things the way they were and elected McKinley.
Today, America is also divided.
Some of the issues dividing our country are:
– Whether or not “ chicks with dicks” should be allowed to prance naked in girls’ locker rooms and to dominate women’s sports.
–Whether or not grown men should be allowed to dress up like women and go to public libraries to twerk in front of small children at Drag Queen Story Hour
-And whether or not those grandmothers who stand near abortion clinics silently praying that the women entering these clinics will relent from murdering their unborn children are, in fact, dangerous fascists and should be imprisoned for life.
That is where we were as a nation in the late 1890s, and this is where we are now.
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