Is history repeating itself?

OPINION:

The mainstream pundits from both the left and right agree: every candidate in the GOP’s first debate won, including Donald Trump, who did not participate. And every one of them also lost, including Trump, whose jailhouse mug shot went on TV the next day. 

This ominous comedy recalls our election of 1860, which set the stage for the Civil War. The legacy of that tragedy still haunts us a century-and-a-half later. The Republican Party had eight candidates vying for the job of president. Abraham Lincoln — destined to be one of our two greatest presidents ever, and to be assassinated for it — began as an also-ran for the nomination.

Does history repeat itself? Sometimes, and sometimes not. Can we get through next year’s election without civil war breaking out? Or, for that matter, without world war III breaking out, for which the U.S. is notoriously unready. Can war be averted? Yes, and here’s how: “We, the People” had better get down on our knees and pray.

JOHN S. MASON JR.

Irvington, Virginia