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Showing posts from July, 2017

Duty to Country

There is an old quote by Abraham Lincoln that goes something like this: “Knavery and flattery are blood relations.”  Indeed history has borne him out. Praise and mischief often go hand in hand. I’ve been turning this line over in my head as I read over the statement from the Boy Scouts of America after President Trump’s highly partisan speech the other night at their annual Jamboree. In it, the scouting organization reiterates its wholly non-partisan stance, and explains that the invitation to President Trump was extended, as it is to all Presidents, as part of the Boy Scout’s commitment to “duty to country” and “respect for the office of the President.” The scouting oath on “duty to country” hinges explicitly on two fundamental ideals: that scouts must obey the laws, and be good citizens. The speech was, in its most charitable description, strange, disjointed, highly political, and often personal and with very few nuggets of scouting wisdom. He was there because of the Boy Scout’