DEMOCRACY LIKE RELIGION - REPORT FROM WITTENBERG (IV)

Democracy has no monuments. It strikes no medals. It bears the head of no man on the coins. This famous remark by John Quincy Adams about the egalitarian virtues of the U.S. political system has quickly become an unreachable ideal rather than accurate description of reality, at least according to Dr. Kersten.

In terms of public memory Americans happened to be exactly the same nation as everyone else, yearning for their own heroes, monuments and symbols. Results were easy to predict: Washington Monument, Mount Rushmore or Gone With the Wind are just a few examples of American desire to have, in spite of short timeframe, their past celebrated high enough. Adams himself, in a striking violation of his advice, is present on the obverse of the latest $1 coin.

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Sometimes this praise reaches the level of religious devotion. The sculpture of George Washington, displayed in the Capitol in 1841 (currently in possession of the Smithsonian Institute), was modeled after the statues of ancient heroes and in those times was outright offensive considering the amount of clothes .

Even more overt attempt to sacralize former heroes is the Lincoln Memorial, designed to look like the Greek temple and with the monument of the president clearly based on Zeus at Olympia. Even without the quasi-antique setting Lincoln has still more to do in American conscience with religious figure than ordinary politician – his legacy as the liberator of the slaves and defender of the nation together with his martyrdom (he was assassinated at the Good Friday) makes him the contemporary version of Jesus Christ. This link is being used even in Hollywood – in Nixon Oliver Stone frequently shows the protagonist in a prayer-like pose in front of Lincoln’s image, suggesting the viewer what to think.