“Antithesis of Democracy” (Or: Winston Churchill & Portland)
Churchill’s stunning relevancy
It is remarkable how we still encounter in Churchill words of astounding currency. A friend in Portland, Oregon asked for verification of a Churchill quotation: “A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril….” (“The Tasks which Lie Before Us,” House of Commons, 29 November 1944.) A good, solid maxim, but not out of the ordinary.
AND THEN my eye fell across what Churchill said a week later. Its current application, to Portland among other places, is remarkable. December 1944 Only two months after Greece had been liberated from German occupation, leftist elements of the government resigned and began an armed rebellion.…
