Comment on the Belmont Club "The ghost of Christmases past"

Like the hobbits in The Shire or Butterbur in Bree they were sheltered and had ceased to remember it. Gratitude is the least sincere human emotion. For what they are about to receive Oh Lord may they be truly thankful. The worst thing is that the Europeans frittered away this opportunity. The United States gave them hundreds of billions of dollars worth of security for over half a century. This allowed the old wounds and grievances to heal and an economic miracle occurred. Instead of strengthening the roots of their civilization they spent the resultant capital as foolishly as any profligate.

What is amazing about the American military is how truly decent they are. Never in history has there been another comparable force that engaged in either combat or occupation duties and behaved so decently. They really will fight like lions in the morning and then volunteer to go paint an orphanage. The Marines say, "No better friend, no worse enemy."

Wikipedia continues to implode. They seem determined to in a small way prove the need for a knowledgeable elite by discrediting the wisdom of the crowd that an open source editing model depends on. The problem is that the verifiers of the elites in the institutions are now corrupt. We must fight the Gresham's Law phenomenon in which a small group of ideologues get to hijack a theoretically open intellectual marketplace like the wiki.

When my father was in Italy in WW-II Jascha Heifetz jumped into his foxhole when the Germans started shelling. We were all in it together. The Left hated and demonized Bob Hope and the decent performers who worked with him. They hate the common soldier.

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People can remember, they can choose to remember. When I was a freshman in college I sat on a plane next to an old man who told me that when he was a young boy he had listened to the old men talk of when they were young boys gathered at the train depot and telegraph office with the adults to wait for the casualty lists from Gettysburg.

This story shall the good man teach his son;

We are each a living link to deeds and generations that have meaning as long as we will them to. When people surrender to the anomie of the totalitarians they break the ties that bind them to the past and make them individuals in the present. When they reject all learning and experience that does not come down from above, as do Islam and the post-modern scientists of AGW, they are reduced to meaningless objects. In doing so they not only kill a part of their own humanity but they kill all those who went before. As long as I live the boys who waited for news from Gettysburg have a voice.

If you do not appreciate the past then you can not judge the present. Errors are to noted and corrected, in acknowledging them you gain both a normative improvement and establish credibility that increases the value of your future judgements. The Left always says that they criticize America to improve it but they lie because they rely on false data and false precepts in building their criticisms. Honest criticism should be welcomed

Marie Claude spoke badly here in two ways. First she could have framed her argument in less challenging manner. While this is not a Memorial Day observance the tenor of our hosts original post was about the need to appreciate unselfish sacrifice and the opportunities it offers to build a shared vision in liberty. Responding with a narrow partisan defense is as inappropriate as if an American was to show up at Bastille Day celebration at the French Embassy wearing shorts and a big hat and asking how much things are worth "in real money?" Second it would have aided the credibility of her argument in general if she had a more forthright attitude about what Europe's real problems are and how she proposes to deal with them. Otherwise all issues are reduced to meaningless tactical ripostes.

Dec 22, 2009 - 4:11 pm

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often associated above all with the creation ...

Don't you love the passive voice? This was written by an aspiring bureaucrat. Often associated by exactly whom?

OT, follow this; BHO is down to -21. http://tinyurl.com/preztrack. The Obamists want to control the conversation and keep everyone reacting in a panic. They issue messages that they are in charge and their enemies are in disarray. Do not believe them. The MSM gets everything wrong. They then get to cover a series of crisis and pretend that everyone was surprised. The Chinese also are far from invincible or rich or examples of successful central planning creating wealth out of air. They are teetering on the precipice of a collapse far harder than what hit the US 15 months ago. In China's case the economic irrationalities are deeper while in America's case to a considerable extent the crisis was artificially induced. Still given the sinking poll numbers and erratic performance of the client that they are deeply tied to they may be feeling like a someone tied to a drowning man. Remember if you owe the bank a million dollars the bank owns you but if you owe the bank a trillion dollars then you own the bank.

arkroyal,
(who will teach my story of the memories of Gettysburg)
Of course. I have taught HS History myself and used the story. Wish I could find a private school and get back to work.

Subotai Bahadur,
(whose daughter has necrotizing fasciitis)
There is nothing worse that can ever happen to you in this world now. The pain and fear are already behind you. May that thought be of some comfort and may she recover to health and joy.

Regarding the status of the constituent states of the EU, I mentioned this at #48 of "The mystery of Yemen".

Dec 22, 2009 - 8:08 pm