Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
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92 S politics and governance<br />
Lincoln continues <strong>to</strong> inspire in our time because he framed <strong>the</strong><br />
legalities <strong>of</strong> Constitution and war within a larger context <strong>of</strong> his<strong>to</strong>ry,<br />
obligation, human dignity, and fundamental rights.<br />
The multiple problems <strong>of</strong> <strong>climate</strong> change and sustainability<br />
will not be solved by this generation, or even <strong>the</strong> next. Our challenge<br />
is <strong>to</strong> get <strong>the</strong> name <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> thing right and do so in such a way<br />
as <strong>to</strong> create <strong>the</strong> possibility that <strong>the</strong>y might someday be resolved.<br />
Lincoln’s example is instructive <strong>to</strong> us because he unders<strong>to</strong>od <strong>the</strong><br />
importance <strong>of</strong> preserving <strong>the</strong> larger framework in which <strong>the</strong> lesser<br />
art <strong>of</strong> defi ning particular issues might proceed with adequate<br />
deliberation and due process, which is <strong>to</strong> say that he unders<strong>to</strong>od<br />
that <strong>the</strong> art <strong>of</strong> defi ning issues is a means <strong>to</strong> reach larger ends. In<br />
our time many things that ought <strong>to</strong> be and must be sustained<br />
are in jeopardy, <strong>the</strong> most important <strong>of</strong> which are those qualities<br />
Lincoln used in defi ning <strong>the</strong> specifi c matter <strong>of</strong> slavery: clarity,<br />
courage, generosity, kindness, wisdom, and humor.<br />
S<br />
A second example <strong>of</strong> leadership instructive <strong>to</strong> our time is <strong>the</strong><br />
his<strong>to</strong>ry <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fi rst one hundred days <strong>of</strong> Franklin Roosevelt’s<br />
presidency. In 1933 Roosevelt faced unprecedented challenges <strong>of</strong><br />
economic <strong>collapse</strong> and a deteriorating global order. His immediate<br />
task was <strong>to</strong> res<strong>to</strong>re confi dence in government, head <strong>of</strong>f <strong>to</strong>tal<br />
economic ruin, and possibly avert a revolution that many thought<br />
<strong>to</strong> be imminent. The period <strong>of</strong> his fi rst hundred days is a model<br />
for res<strong>to</strong>ring public confi dence, even though he did not solve <strong>the</strong><br />
underlying problems <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> economy.<br />
The phrase “<strong>the</strong> hundred days” was fi rst prominently used <strong>to</strong><br />
mark <strong>the</strong> time between Napoleon’s escape from Elba and his fi nal<br />
defeat at Waterloo in 1815. President Franklin Roosevelt used <strong>the</strong><br />
phrase <strong>to</strong> commemorate <strong>the</strong> period between <strong>the</strong> opening <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
73rd Congress on March 9, 1933, and its closing on June 17 (Alter,<br />
2006, p. 273; Cohen, 2009). Roosevelt assumed <strong>the</strong> presidency at