Our new blog from John J. Tierney & Guests - Join Us!
AMERICA IN PERSPECTIVE
The set of works to regularly populate this blog implies that history “introduces” the present and that, rather than being unique or original, events of the moment simply “echo” events of the past. This view posits the thesis that current generations have not “invented” reality but are just “doing it again,” under the erroneous impression that, somehow, in some way, they have “discovered” unique issues and are on the edge of new (and “great”) discoveries.
If the affect shatters the illusion that current “revolutionaries” are not new at all then the purpose of the Blog succeeds. It also succeeds if it destroys the myth that current movements have “new” thoughts or have discovered “truths” buried before. Furthermore, if it can erode the popular notion that a “utopia” is even possible under any circumstance it will also have some relevance for present and, hopefully, future generations.
But I am not sanguine or even slightly optimistic. I am pessimistic but not so much that I gave up the effort. I am defiantly of the notion that “history” can be “taught” universally but cannot be “learned.” It seems clearly that every generation has to “re-learn” the subject almost from beginning, in the faint hope that future generations will “apply” lessons that they took to their grave. But “dead men don’t talk,” and the secrets that they have discovered are forever gone, only to start over again by their children, and their children’s children, ad nauseam.
The title of this Blog was almost the Biblical phrase, “There’s Nothing New Under the Sun,” (Ecclesiastes 9:1) which would have been appropriate. The potential damage that such a notion might have on “progressive” ideology and action, hopefully, is overtaken by the reality that progress should be measured by history and that a healthy and “realistic” vision of the past is essential for new and brighter paths toward the future. If anything, the selections herein demonstrate that ideological thought will effectively harm progress and that ”isms” and all of their political baggage only interrupt progress and retard clear and realistic thought. Ideological missions are akin to currency, except that they are “fools gold” against earned money. Yet, they “attract” but only to “fools.”
There is, furthermore, a “natural selection” from history which claims a “reason” for humanity’s distinctions between wealth/poverty, war/peace, progress/stagnation etc.. Whatever interrupts that process should be interpreted as “artificial,” and therefore fraudulent in the historical scheme of “progress.” The recurrent failure of socialism, as an example, demonstrates this reality since the socialist doctrine claims that a utopian “equality” is achievable and that it can only be obtained through government. Capitalism and Democratic doctrines, by contrast, emphasize the individualistic and Libertarian side of human nature and demonstrate that wealth, stability and progress are best obtained by human behavior on its own, i.e., minus government or external supervision. It is no accident that nearly all human progress, from airplanes to anesthesia to computers, came through the private insight of descendants from western Europe.
This single fact of life is demonstrated by every historic era and by the profound differences between human societies. Still, the historic “process” is almost always lost or forgotten by nations, nowhere more evident than the American one.
This Blog hopes to both revive school back into “learning” and ideology into reason.
As one example: Woodrow Wilson, a profound scholar of history and politics, University President (Princeton), Governor (New Jersey), two-time US President (1912, 1916) and leader of the coalition that won history’s greatest war (at that time, 1918). Although the US never joined in Wilson’s League of Nations he still introduced this country to the political globe and “Wilsonianism” still drives the American purpose in world politics. In American political culture today the name Woodrow Wilson is almost universally condemned as “racist.” His name has even been removed from Princeton’s Center for Public and International Affairs.
So much for the “lessons” from history. “Ignored” is polite; repudiated is appropriate. For all his achievements (and mistakes) in today’s culture Woodrow Wilson might as well have never existed
Take “war,” for example, as a historic “presence.” General Eisenhower in World War II had tanks, airplanes and America, eventually, had Atomic bombs. In the Civil War, General Grant had none of these. Yet both waged war with what they had and that single fact, rather than technology, is what unites history. It’s a unification that needs the past, not one that ignores it.
Technology aside, America has perhaps the most “progressive” societal record in human history, going from an isolated and inward ex-colony to the greatest standard of living and a global “superpower” in approximately one life-time. Otherwise, why is this country the only one with trouble keeping people “out,” rather than within.
But this accomplishment was done through doctrines based upon Capitalism and political Liberty and without the fanaticism associated with the likes of Robespierre, Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Tse-tung, Fidel Castro and the hundreds of others who blindly led their people down dark and endless socialistic paths. They all promised the “rooftop” but could not even build a foundation.
Remember that the last century was absorbed by history’s worst calamities, destroying whole peoples and taking millions to their graves. These were against essentially two opponents: The National “Socialist” German Workers Party (Nazi) and the Union of Soviet “Socialist” Republics (Communist). Hybrids of each haunt the world today.
Today, a reminiscent type of fanatical “devotion” is evident on the streets of this country, inside burning cities, school teachings, the southern border, a propagandistic media and a political system corrupted with partisan bicker and fanatical beliefs; enemies vs friends instead of “colleagues” toward a shared goal.
Two of the best Inaugural Addresses in US history were Lincoln’s second (1865) and Kennedy’s (1961). They both ended with “clarion calls.” Lincoln’s “with malice toward none, charity for all,” Kennedy’s “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Today, in the current political climate, both are “reversed,” “malice toward all, charity for none,” “ask what your country can do for you.”
In 1950 the son of German immigrants and California dock-worker, Eric Hoffer, wrote The True Believer, a profile of the kind of group-sociology this book is trying to address. See if you recognize the personality: “All mass movements represent in their adherents a readiness to die and a proclivity for united action; all of them … breed fanaticism, enthusiasm, fervent hope, hatred and intolerance; all of them are capable of releasing a powerful flow of activity in certain departments of life; all of them demand blind faith and singlehearted allegiance.” These tend to confront society in “mass,” group behavior. They prefer “demonstration” versus “conversation.”
If you go there offer this Blog. But don’t expect them to read it; “book burnings” are also part of history’s fanatics. Like the word “school,” our larger society is fast becoming a “cultural asylum” in which historical relevance is being replaced by ideological comfort and “achievement” by “equity.”
This Blog hopes to both revive school back into “learning” and ideology into reason. I am not, however, terribly optimistic.
But I “write,” therefore “I am.” - Jack
Access all areas
By signing up, you'll get access to the full archive of articles that have been published before and every one that's still to come. Your very own private library.
Fresh content, delivered
Every weekend you receive either a log read or two or three shorter pieces. Stay up to date with new content sent straight to your inbox! No more worrying about whether you missed something because of a pesky algorithm or news feed.
Meet people like you
Join a community of other subscribers who share the same interests.