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:
Sep '10
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Cornelius Julius Sebastian
Until Big Brother pulls the plug anyway.... · 4 minutes ago
Then candle light in the sewers.
Aug '12
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
The nature, or the character of the good life has not changed, and is only partly determined by material conditions. This is the thing that the other side cannot see in its invincible ignorance. Their pursuit of the good through merely material or sensual things is a fruitless pursuit. Whether republicans or conservatives win or lose elections, many of the partisans aligned with these causes will continue to pursue a good life, which equates more or less, to a life in pursuit of virtue rather than mere sensuality or accummulation of the biggest pile of "treasures". Family, good character, hard work, prudence, magnanimity, courage, manners, honor, nobility, dignity, all of these continue even in circumscribed conditions. In military resistance training we were taught to take heart in small victories to keep our spirits alive. The free man/woman will always find a way to maintain a semblance of their freedom and dignity, and to poke and prod the invincibly ignorant prols who would overmaster them.
May '12
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Thanks for the upbeat post Peter. It is good to remember that whether we are generally in a state of decline or no, we can still enjoy the friendships and relationships of those we interact with regularly. A perspective on how great we still have it in the USA, compared to the horrid conditions of those of many societies in recent history can help us take heart that even those suffering in those conditions could take solace in their friends and the unchanging nature of their good God.
Aug '10
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Peter Robinson: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire...
I just might steal that phrase to be the opening line of my great novel.
Aug '10
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Pseudodionysius
Cornelius Julius Sebastian
Until Big Brother pulls the plug anyway....
Then candle light in the sewers.
That would cause a methane explosion.
Jan '11
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Sabrdance: "Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more, or fill the wall up with our English dead." Wait, that didn't quite go where I wanted it to.
"In the center they will break." No, that was Monday night's bad omen.
"Half a League, Half a League, Half a League and onward rode the six hundred...Into the Valley of Death" Hrmm... This isn't improving.
"Forward Men! For God's Sake Forward!" Wait, that ends about as well as "They couldn't hit an elephant from this distance."
"There's only two kinds of men on this beach, those who are dead and those who are gonna die." Darn it, still depressing.
"Nuts!" Is that CoC compliant?
Ah! "Damn the torpedos! Full Speed Ahead!"
I think that sums it up nicely. · 14 hours ago
This made me laugh for the first time since Tuesday about 10 AM. Thank you Sabrdance. Nice name too.
Apr '11
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Arahant: 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.
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? · 12 hours ago
Edited 12 hours ago
I have always said this. We are not at the end of the Roman Empire, but at the end of the Roman Republic. Rome finished its conquest of the Meditteranean basin by defeating and conquering the Greeks at the battle of Corinth in 146 BC. Having secured the neighborhood, and without true rivals, they quickly turned inward until men like Sulla, then Marius and finally Julius Ceasar took turns trying to annoint themselves "First Man of Rome". (continued)
Edited on November 9, 2012 at 8:43pmApr '11
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
We are on a similar trajectory since the collapse of the Soviets. Like Rome, we have no Carthage, Greece or USSR as a common foe to rally behind, and living comfortably knowing we are masters of our world, we have turned inwards. Sure there are things that come up (Marius rose by defeating a barbarian horde pouring in over the alps and we invaded the middle east after 9/11), but these don't represent the type of national rivalries that move civilizations. They are more a nuisance that needs to be dealt with, that nobody likes.
The truth is, like Rome, we are quickly finding out that the nature of your civilization changes once you are top dog and everyone both loves you (and needs you) and hates you at the same time. Therefore, the nature of our leadershipand institutions to deal with this new reality will also change. But the fundamental power of the US is indisputable (new Chinese military spending notwithstading) and is something we are just learning to cope with.
It won't be a 1-1 hisorical symmetry with Rome (nothing is), but the USA of the 1st 220 years is gone.
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
I knew you'd come back, Paules!
Sep '10
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Misthiocracy
Pseudodionysius
Cornelius Julius Sebastian
Until Big Brother pulls the plug anyway....
Then candle light in the sewers.
That would cause a methane explosion. · 6 hours ago
You require a permit to do that.
Aug '10
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Rome lasted over 500 years after the fall of Carthage.
If the USA collapses 500 years after the fall of the USSR, that'd be a pretty good track record.
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Peter, that was a wonderful post.
Apr '11
Re: In Haste on a Snowy Night in New Hampshire, Or, Duty
Misthiocracy
Rome lasted over 500 years after the fall of Carthage.
If the USA collapses 500 years after the fall of the USSR, that'd be a pretty good track record. · 13 hours ago
I'm stating that I think those who compare the USA today to Rome circa 400 AD are wrong. The paths both civilizations have taken - overthrow of a monarchy, conquering the natural land mass they inhabit, overseas expansion from wars and total primacy over their respective worlds, is similar enough that it now puts the USA in a time period where Rome threw off the shackles of republicanism because it became too difficult to govern in the new world they found themsleves in charge of. The USA will not totally collapse into trash bin of history, but will morph into a new type of governing body with a vastly more powerful executive and other institutions falling in line. Remember, Rome still had a functioning Senate throughout it's imperial history. Whether this lasts 100, 500 or 1000 years is anybody's guess. Wonder what VDH thinks!