History « The Ramblings of An Eternal Student of Life

Monday, February 14, 2011

Current Affairs ... Foreign Relations/World Affairs ... History ...

I ran across this article today in “The Australian”, entitled “Why the West is on the Wane” by Michael Wesley. I highly recommend it! Back when I was a kid, the world was a battleground between two systems: our western mix of democracy, liberty, capitalism and open markets (with a twist of government regulation), versus the Communist world with its powerful doctrinal apparatus and a state institution that planned out and commanded as much as possible about economic, political and personal life. We all had faith that the west would win, but figured that the final victory would happen sometime well after the turn of the 21st Century.

So it was quite a surprise that the battle suddenly ended around 1990, with Communism the clear loser. Our system had clearly been vindicated, and it was just a question of mopping up until the whole world was a capitalist democracy. Well, who would have guessed that 20 years later it would become apparent that the sun is also setting on the West.

This is one of the most insightful articles on that topic that I’ve read. And who would be better poised to reflect on it than a commentator from Australia, » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 9:23 pm Read Comment (1) / Leave a Comment

Saturday, February 5, 2011

◊ Megaphone Mark in Cairo

Current Affairs ... History ...

The big national media machines (CBS, NY Times, Washington Post, NPR, etc.) and their staff seem quite excited about the recent uprisings in Egypt, giving them much air time and article space. This is quite similar to what happened a year ago when the masses took to the streets (unsuccessfully) in Iran. And there were more well-covered uprisings before that, including the various color-revolutions and velvet revolutions in eastern Europe in the 1990s and early 00s. Oh, and don’t forget Tienanmen Square in China back in 1989; again, much news coverage, but ultimately not a major change in how daily life was to be carried out.

I believe this fascination has something to do with the fact that these news companies are now managed by Baby Boomers who took their university educations in the late 1960’s, when uprising and revolution seemed in the air. Upset about Vietnam War conscription, they imagined the start of a new order, including the overthrow of the governmental and corporate powers in Washington and New York.

However, the unwashed masses outside the major campuses failed to join them, and the end of the draft in the early 70s soon quieted the scene. But we still have the music and culture of those youthful times; » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 5:10 pm Read Comment (1) / Leave a Comment

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

◊ My Abraham Lincoln Moment

History ... Society ...

I had lived in the Washington DC metro area from 1976 thru 1978, but I left to come back to New Jersey as to go to law school (and wound up staying). One of the last things that I did before leaving in late 1978 was to visit the Lincoln Memorial. When you actually live in or around Washington, you don’t make a big effort to visit all the usual tourist attractions; you figure there is plenty of time to get to them. I would drop in on one of the Smithsonians now and then, and I recall having a nice afternoon at the National Archives. But I hardly went out of my way to see the great monuments up close. They’d be there anytime, right?

As I was getting ready to leave, I decided that I should pay a visit to Honest Abe. I picked a late-morning weekday in the fall, when there would hardly be any tourists around. I wanted to have my “moment” with Mr. Lincoln. I wanted to feel the power of his presence, to stand in awe of his great achievement in saving the nation and setting African Americans on the path to freedom, and then losing his own life to a fanatic. I figured that would take at least 20 minutes if not the better part of an hour at his Memorial down at the far end of the reflecting pool on the Mall. So I climbed the steps that day and walked past the columns, stepping into the temple chamber. I approached the super-sized “portrait in stone” of the 16th President of the United States, the awe circuits in my brain tingling and ready to go. It was about to be me and Old Abe, contemplating the ages together.

Well, not quite. Turns out that I wasn’t alone, and that my companion at the site wasn’t there for awe-struck contemplation. An elderly African-American fellow » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 9:16 pm Read Comment (1) / Leave a Comment

Saturday, October 9, 2010

◊ RANDOM OBSERVATIONS

Current Affairs ... History ... Society ...

1.) Was the Vietnam war a mistake? It’s a question that still matters to us aging Baby Boomers. I had a thought on the subject the other day. It seems to me that there are wars that a nation has to fight. Those are the “holy wars”; where the other side is not just trying to plunder your bounty, but is trying to change your way of life. I.e., where the other side is trying to impose some sort of vision, be it religious (e.g. Christian or Islamic theocracy), or philosophic (e.g., Communist or Nazi fascist utopia). Whenever a nation or a tribe convinces itself that it has a plan for the world and that instituting that plan requires the use of firepower, about the only cure is to fight fire with fire. War is hell, but utopian visions that require belligerence are an even worse hell.

The USA fought the Vietnam war because it was trying to stop Soviet Russia from instituting its Marxist-Leninist vision, which indeed had been promulgated through the use of firepower and other belligerence. Was Vietnam really a Marxist holy war? It was being fought by Asian visionaries; but what was their vision? Did Ho Chi Minh want to see collective farming in California? It seems to me that the Viet Cong and the Vietnamese Communists were a bit more pragmatic and nationalistically inspired. From what little I know, the “eastern mind” is quite pragmatic. It doesn’t dwell on grand visions of how humankind should live their lives. This can be seen in the difference between Buddhism and the major western / middle-eastern faiths. (But admittedly, there are forms of dogmatic Buddhism, and Buddhist holy wars have been fought).

It’s too bad that Kennedy and Johnson and MacNamara and Rostow and Kissinger just couldn’t seem to grasp this. » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 9:47 pm Read Comment (1) / Leave a Comment

Saturday, August 7, 2010

◊ Skip Gates – Lincoln Inspiration or Deconstruction?

History ...

I was watching the PBS summer re-runs the other night and saw parts of a two-hour series called “Looking for Lincoln”. It got me so interested that I went onto the PBS web site today to view the show in its entirety. I’m a bit behind the curve here, as this series was first aired on Feb. 11, 2009, on the eve of Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday. So it took me a year and a half to find out about LFL and watch it. Better late than never!

The show didn’t initially influence my own opinion of Lincoln. For the past 3 years or so, I’ve made an effort to study the American Civil War, so I wasn’t surprised to hear that Lincoln was not an abolitionist and did not see African-Americans as human beings fully equal with Euro-Americans. I knew that Lincoln’s first concern in the crisis that lead up to the Civil War was to preserve the Union, and his long-running (but hardly unqualified) opposition to the institution of slavery was driven more by political pragmatism than humanistic enlightenment or religious idealism. I also knew that Lincoln wished to make the black man go away in America; Lincoln’s formula, until late in the Civil War, was to free the slaves but send them back to Africa. While President, Lincoln initiated various projects to start that process, supported by federal aid. But none of them were successful.

Looking for Lincoln is hosted by none other than Professor Henry Louis Gates. » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 8:00 pm Read Comment (1) / Leave a Comment

Monday, July 26, 2010

◊ Some Ironies

Economics/Business ... History ... Society ...

In the July 23 review of my life and economic times, found below, I speculated that the American economy was heading for “a new equilibrium” whereby the big corporations and maybe 80% of the population would do just fine, and the other 20% of America would be shut out. That other 20% would be permanently stuck in poverty, unemployment, or under-employment at best. It would scrape to stay alive thru “off the books” activity and whatever government support might still be available (which will obviously decline over the coming decade due to huge federal deficits).

Here’s an article I read today by economist Robert Samuelson that seemed to affirm what I am saying. Samuelson notes that most major American corporations are doing just fine with regard to profits; but they just aren’t hiring. They are learning how to maintain a sufficient return on their invested capital without needing to expand their business base beyond what the big recession of 2008 currently allows. They have adjusted just swell to the recession.

The recent gyrations of the stock market also seem to affirm this; » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 7:58 pm Read Comment (1) / Leave a Comment

Saturday, July 17, 2010

◊ Lessons From Rome

Economics/Business ... History ... Politics ...

I realize that the fall of the western Roman Empire, and whether it has any parallels and lessons for America today, has been beaten to death in a stack of books, movies, magazines, op-ed columns and blogs. Despite all the discussion, there is no consensus on this topic. Some people conclude that the parallels between that ancient empire which once thrived between the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the North Sea, and the modern empire that has thrived since the 18th century between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans north of the Mexican Gulf, aren’t all that important. Others say that they are important, but that we have learned the lessons and are innovative enough to avoid Rome’s fate. Still others agree that there are some important parallels regarding decline, but are nervous about our ability to avoid it.

I’m not sure whether I fall into the second or third camp. Modern America still has a lot of innovative spirit and is riding the crest of an applied technology revolution that started over a hundred years ago and has not yet subsided. We might still come up with techno-fixes for much of what ails us. And yet, some of the parallels between what happened to Rome between the second and fourth centuries, and what is happening in the USA today, are compelling and even creepy. I think that they need more and not less public attention and discussion.

The Roman Empire is compelling because, well, it’s our family. » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 3:54 pm Read Comments (3) / Leave a Comment

Thursday, April 15, 2010

◊ Bad Moon: Complexity Up, EROI Down

History ... Science ...

There’s a pretty good article in the April, 2010 Atlantic Magazine about US Army General Stanley McChrystal and the war in Afghanistan (“Man Versus Afghanistan” by Robert Kaplan). In this article, Kaplan talks about an ancient philosophical debate regarding the nature of world history. This big question is whether impersonal environmental forces and uncontrollable social dynamics determine the fate of nations and societies, or is there a “social will” developed by our great leaders that transcends the influence of “guns, germs and steel” (recalling the book with that name by Jared Diamond, which expounds the environmental-determinism viewpoint so as to debunk the alleged glories of Western Civilization; how politically correct!).

This is an interesting question, one that too few Americans think about. I took several history classes while in high school and college, and heard various historical discussions while studying for my masters in economics. And yet, I do not ever remember this question being framed out and dealt with.

However, being an eternal student dedicated to keeping my mind growing » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 8:06 pm No Comments Yet / Leave a Comment

Sunday, January 31, 2010

◊ IS AMERICA LOOKING FOR A “MAN ON HORSEBACK”?

History ... Politics ...

I just read James Fallow’s article “How America Can Rise Again” in the Jan/Feb Atlantic Magazine, which provides a good summary of the sorry state of politics and government in America today. Fallows wrote his article before the recent victory of Republican Scott Brown in the election for the late, great Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat in Massachusetts, and probably was finishing his article as Republican candidates pulled surprising upsets in the New Jersey and Virginia governor’s races last November. Over the past few years, our political system has seen quite a few upsets and surprises, led by Barack Obama’s primary victory over Hilary Clinton, who had previously been considered a shoo-in. And then Obama trounced GOP candidate John McCain in the general election, a surprising turn when you consider the clean victory that the Republicans gained in the Bush vs. Kerry presidential race four years before. It’s all quite exciting for us political sports fans; it’s quite a spectacle. But is it good for the country?

Some people say that it’s just a function of the candidates involved; Obama has all that charisma, Scott Brown also has “the look” and the everyman image (with his pickup truck), and most of the losers involved just did not run good races. They came on to the public like, well, like losers (Martha Cokeley, Jon Corzine, etc.). It’s just an interesting coincidence that all of this back-and-forth between parties and candidate platforms has happened in the course of two or three years.

Obviously, I don’t agree. » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 11:45 am Read Comment (1) / Leave a Comment

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

◊ True Genesis

History ... Science ...

I was watching NOVA on PBS the other night, and it was about human evolution (the final episode of a 3-part series). So I now know that there was once many different types of humans, “hominids” as the biologists call them, just as there are a variety of different apes and monkeys. These included the Neanderthals, “homo erectus”, and the dwarf “Hobbits” in Indonesia. Our specific species, “homo sapiens”, was a late starter. By the time we evolved in Africa, the other hominids had already expanded beyond Africa, into Europe and Asia. But for a long, long time, we all lived together in Africa.

And then, around 200,000 years ago, the weather started changing; things got colder and drier. Some of the various human-like species disappeared, and our group didn’t do so well either. After 60,000 years of things getting cooler and dryer, a lot of Africa became barren. There weren’t many places left that could sustain homo sapiens; scientists analyzing the diversity of our DNA estimate that because of this, our gene pool traces back to only about 600 people! So it probably got down to only a thousand or so homo sapiens on the face of the Earth, at some point. The other millions of homo sapiens who had descended over many thousands of years from earier versions of hominoids had all died!

Hmmmm. If that’s true, then the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible wasn’t » continue reading …

◊ posted by Jim G @ 8:08 pm Read Comment (1) / Leave a Comment

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