In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
I've been on the road the last few days--the day after the election was the first time in my life I was happy to spend ten hours in cars and on airplanes, because I could, more or less, pretend for one more day that, when the votes were finally counted, Romney might still carry Virginia, Florida and Ohio--and even now, in my New Hampshire hotel room, I have only a moment. So here, briefly, is what I'd like to say:
1) I love you guys on Ricochet--just love you. Of all the places I've spent catching up on the web, Ricochet proved by far the most gratifying and informative. By following links posted here, I could read what really mattered. And even when I had only a few moments to skim posts and comments, I could see what my friends--and after this past campaign, we really are friends--were thinking and feeling. Put it this way. After a catastrophe like this, I wouldn't want to be stuck in this hotel room all alone.
2) I've gone back and forth on the central question, which is--let's face it--whether the country is doomed.
When I was at Dartmouth as an undergrad, I interviewed the great British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge. Americans and Englishmen, he suggested, found themselves in the position of Romans in the fifth century, living as the world they cherished slowly crumbled. "Aside from Alaric's sack," Muggeridge said, "all the events would have been slow, nearly imperceptible. You can imagine two pink senators being toweled down in the baths, one saying to the other, 'Things aren't what they used to be, are they?'"
Muggeridge was mistaken. Things weren't about to get even worse; they were about to get better. Later that very year, John Paul II would visit Poland, Margaret Thatcher would move into Number Ten Downing Street, and Ronald Reagan would announce his candidacy.
After this week's election, though, I've begun to suspect that maybe Maybe Muggeridge was only off by few decades.
You know what, though? It doesn't damn well matter--it's taken me 48 hours to realize that, but now I see it. I have children--one will graduate from Dartmouth this coming June full of hope and expectancy, eager to enter American life with the same eagerness I myself felt thirty-some years ago. Even if the country is slowly descending--maybe it is, and maybe it isn't-- I intend to join millions of my countrymen, and all my friends right here at Ricochet, in doing my best to do my simple duty.
I intend to fight.
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Comments:
Nov '10
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Thanks, a timely epistle from our own Peter. Considering your title, however, I fully expected you to end ... as you came very close to doing, indeed in the end ...
Nov '10
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
If you'll pardon the intrusion of a "ways and means" thought -- after pondering our present situation I think our problem may boil down to 4 years of preaching to the choir.
Not that it hasn't been a good sermon. I feel like a conservative awakened. I've always been a conservative, but something about the last 4 years has kindled that fire, and I don't think I'm alone in this. The U.S. election has been a deep disappointment but it has not extinguished the flame; it has set my jaw and now I'm asking, "what to do with this pent-up conviction?"
And the answer came: It's time to let it out. To brave the halls of academia where I live & breath and engage openly on the level of core ideas (not nitpicky issues) with my fellow, largely progressive/liberal, academics.
The "choir" has to do some evangelizing. But I think our "apostles" need to lead the way. Some, thousands of you, have a real gift for "putting it out there" on the public stage. You need to preach less to the choir and more to the world. And we will follow.
Sep '10
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Thank you Peter, and thanks too, to the other posters here. Ricochet is a place of refuge for me. I have children, grandchildren and , recently, a much-treasured great grandchild; I can't let hopelessness overcome me. For them, and for you and yours, we must gird loins and fight on. But, just for a moment and to get it out of the way . . . {{sob}}
May '10
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Thanks Katie, but you know, I really did think the guy was going to win this thing -- in a squeaker in OH but pretty comfortably everywhere else. A punch to the gut that it didn't work out.
But on we go cuz we must.
Jul '10
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
May '12
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
There have been a few bright truths over the past days:
It is very hard to defeat an incumbent.
Folks in the swing states were just so beat up by the ad warfare -- they wanted it to go away more than they wanted to get out and vote.
One of the solutions? We need to search out the best (not most) conservative instructors who are women, black, hispanic, asian, young, etc. and have them teach "correct principles" and values in their native tongues and cultures. So many are outstanding spouses, and have great families. So many parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters DO share these V&Ps. We have to fight the schools and community orginizers at the home level. Our weapons: the full pure truth, lifting, encouragement, and edification --- as families and individuals. We need to re-enforce those reasons why they came here --- and want to stay here. Not by manipulation or coersion, but -- through honest love and reason and rational persuasion so they may choose for themselves a better way. This will not be done by an ad compaign or slogan. Only by one-on-one or family teaching will this be accomplished.
Are we ready to help?
Sep '11
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Western Chauvinist
My sentiments exactly.
And mine as well. God has been asking me to not be so slack in one category of my life, and I have had a tough time obeying, and I mean for years. When I saw the way the election was going, a cold fear of what is to come crept over me. At the same time I had a strong sense that He was saying, “Fear not, fear nothing. I Am here. If you must fear, fear God…fear the consequences of not listening to or obeying me.” Ever since Tuesday I have had zero trouble with discipline in the area in question. This is not short term. It is a new era.
Apr '11
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Well done Peter. I doubt there's room in any Judeo Christian doctrine for schadenfreude, but I've been giddy since election night anticipating the utter shock, disappointment and betrayal the 'useful idiots' will experience when the degradation of our economy hits them first and hardest. Three Hail Marys and an Our Father!
Edited on November 9, 2012 at 6:44amMay '11
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Amen.
Jun '10
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Peter Robinson: ...
1) I love you guys on Ricochet--just love you. Of all the places I've spent catching up on the web, Ricochet proved by far the most gratifying and informative. By following links posted here, I could read what really mattered. And even when I had only a few moments to skim posts and comments, I could see what my friends--and after this past campaign, we really arefriends--were thinking and feeling. Put it this way. After a catastrophe like this, I wouldn't want to be stuck in this hotel room all alone.
Oh, Peter...you love us...I mean you REALLY love us...
Mar '11
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Which has been replaced by "Reality has a liberal bias", courtesy of Steven Colbert. And the kids believe it.
May '10
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Two thoughts:
Apr '12
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Aaron Miller: I, for one, believe America's government is already doomed. But I don't fret about it. We can handle it. We can start again, if given the chance. And the light of this world cannot be purged.
Any Christian knows the great war between Good and Evil has already been won, yet we are called to fight the battles. Weneedto fight the battles, for ourselves — not to end the struggle, but to live the struggle. The end is less important than the fight itself, because that is what makes us who we are.
Don't defend American ideals only when they are within our grasp. Defend them always because they are good, and because in defending them we become Americans.
Conversion must be chosen anew every day, every moment. It's not only true of faith in God. Every day, remind yourself who you hope to be. Choose to be American. · 1 hour ago
I'd put that up against Henry V's St. Crispin's Day speech.
Oct '10
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Schrodinger's Cat
3 hours ago
You read my mind.
We shall fight them in the universities. We shall fight them in the theaters. We shall fight them on the campaign stump. We shall fight them on TV. We shall fight them on the internet. We shall fight them in the public sphere.
I have a bookmark with a great quote from Churchill:
"Never, never, never give up."
Apr '12
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
I think Mr. Muggeridge was off on the period of Rome we are in. I believe there is an American Civilization, an offshoot of Western Civilization as Rome was to Greece. From my own reading, I would put us around 133 BC or perhaps closer to 44 BC, but somewhere in that range, although I do not think we have yet had our Marius.
Of course, with modern technology, things do progress faster. Perhaps Obama will be our Cæsar instead of just Tiberius Gracchus?
Rome continued to grow and spread its civilization, even after the Republic had fallen, and I think our civilization will continue, even though it may be the cynical, perverted version of our civilization that continues to spread.
Any other Ricochetti have an opinion on where we are? Many are the learned scholars upon this island in the sea of turmoil. Any historians or history buffs want to weigh in?
Edited on November 9, 2012 at 7:53amAug '11
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
I am happy to see Peter Robinson's fighting spirit re-energized. Uncommon Knowledge is such a great platform for exploring ideas that counter the liberal agenda, and broadcasting them to people who crave to learn. It is good that Peter is fighting fit, because he's the man to interview many quite marvellous people. It will be good to see him remain cheerful and confident.
I wonder if Uncommon Knowledge will be inundated with requests for interviews by conservative thinkers because they feel an urgency to be heard or if many of them will retreat from society. I hope not too many retreat.
Aug '11
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
God bless you, Peter, and God bless Ricochet.
Over the past 48 hours, I have felt pretty discouraged.
You (and you all) have reminded me that I need to drop that (which is a kind of self-indulgence), and get moving.
Jamie
Oct '12
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Schrodinger's Cat
4 hours ago
I hope you are not comparing Obama to Hitler.
Feb '12
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
I just got back from a foray into NPR territory (website). There is nothing out there for us, my friends. It is a wasteland more vast than the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. There is a complete frenzy of attacks on Mitt Romney for being the most vile person to ever enter the arena. No cited reasons, beyond the general accusations of lies, flip-flopping (as if they cared) and not having enough details in a plan that had no chance to work, if it made sense. We are doomed. These people are supremely confident in their righteousness. An armor impervious to argument. The only thing they agree on is that any Republican, who would self-identify as such, is wrong definitionally.
I need to regroup awhile, here in Ricochet, before I get back out there.
Any one got Maalox?
NPR
Edited on November 9, 2012 at 9:38amRe: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Doom happens when people let it happen. It is not primal forces tearing America apart, it's people. Change the people, change the path. I don't think we have much option but to keep fighting.
BTW, if you're still reading comments, Mr. Robinson, I'm a Dartmouth student, so if you need a Ricochet member to recover from the election with over a beer shoot me a message.