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History and politics

An unfortunate development in our culture has been a growing tendency to remember nothing older than yesterday. Everyone's promised fifteen minutes of fame has turned into fifteen seconds. The media has been bleating for a long time about the divided and vitriolic nature of the nation's politics lately, but it really is our natural state. But we forget easily, and here's why (in this case): From the Civil War through the Depression, the Republicans were basically in charge. Then from the Depression until maybe 1980 the Democrats were pretty much in charge. During both periods the minority party rumbled every now and then, but overall it recognized its lot in life and behaved itself. But since Ronald Reagan's election things have been much more competitive, which by definition has caused a lot more debate. This is not a bad thing. As Patrick Beard is fond of saying, "Controversy is only dreaded by the advocates of error" (Benjamin Rush). If you think you're right about something and are not afraid of defending it, then debate is a wonderful opportunity. So, for you history buffs out there, we find ourselves back in the 1800-1860 period, when political parties were about even and had to scrap for every vote. It was a time of lively and contentious debate. We live in a battlefield of ideas, and the worst thing that could happen would be for partisans to give up their ideas and strive for the inoffensive middle. The last time that happened it led to Civil War.

Letter from Iraq

Here is an excellent letter written by a Marine in Iraq, which I found through TimEllsworth.com. A lot of what the Marine complains about are the same things I griped about in my last job (and a lot isn't.) Call me an idiot ("Who is this idiot?"), but this helps persuade me that the situation there is better described as a post-war period than a war. Of course this does not mean men and women are not continually in jeopardy there, but the job we do in sealing the victory would progress better if we first acknowledged the victory. We need to adopt the attitude of Iraqi police recruits he describes: These guys' bravery and 'tenacity' is mind-boggling. The only issue I might take with the Marine's assessment would be paragraph six - I hear quite a bit about Ramadi and al-Anbar province on the news.

Anyway, if the U.S. is in this mission seriously, we need to remember that the post-WWII era in Europe lasted for 45 years. At the beginning it was very rough rooting out Fascist loyalists and your run-of-the-mill criminal activity (rent "The Third Man"; you won't regret it), and it remained tense through to the end because of Soviet-bloc opposition. It will be a long slog in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and anywhere else we end up, as new governments struggle to learn to crawl even after dictators fall in only a few weeks.

St. Celibart

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