Lessons Essay

     The Sixties was a time of great learning through trial and error. Americans and their leaders should learn from the experiences of the Sixties specifically, civil rights, presidential elections, and war.
     The Civil Rights era of the Sixties taught many valuable lessons.  For instance, Americans should learn from the segregation laws that, if a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.  To show, Martin Luther King said, "One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." Our leaders need to learn not to make unjust laws because they have not worked well in the past.
     Secondly, war in the Sixties should teach us some of the biggest lessons of all.  For example, we should learn that it is not as easy as it seems to fight a "guerrilla army".  When America fought in Vietnam, we never really did know who the the Vietcong were.  That led to an uncertainty about the war and the overall failure of it.    Americans should also learn that if a native army is failing before we intervene, it will fail again if  we leave.  We saw this happen during Vietnamization.
     Lastly,  Presidential elections in the Sixties marked the start of televised debates. Through these we learned that the American public will vote not always for who is the best candidate for president but sometimes who has the best aesthetic appearance.
     In sum,  Americans and their leaders should learn from past experiences. Especially the experiences of the Sixties because it was a time of great learning through trial and error.