“A republic, if you can keep it” – Benjamin Franklin

“Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst.” – Robert Heinlein

The Roman Republic began to come to an end when time honored government traditions and boundaries were discarded in the service of a worthy objective. 

About four hundred years after the founding of the Roman Republic, in 133 BC, Tiberius Graccus was elected to the office of tribune. He saw that large numbers of Roman citizens had no land and no place to live. Slaves and money flooded into the Republic following the victory over Carthage. The slaves displaced free men, who could no longer find work, and the money drove up the price of land and increased taxes. These poor people were forced off their land and had to work as sharecroppers for the rich. They had no way to improve their status. This was also a problem for the state because only landed citizens could be drafted to serve in the legions.

A group of Senators sympathetic to the plight of these poor citizens proposed splitting up public lands and giving workable plots to worthy people. The citizens so gifted would be required to work the land and would be prohibited from selling it. The Senators wrote a bill, the Lex Agrera, to enact this idea, and they chose Tiberius Graccus to present it directly to the Assembly thereby doing an end run around the Senate. This bill was strongly opposed by the rich patricians of the Senate because many of them were leasing big plots of the public land and would be required by the proposed law to give those lands back to the state for redistribution.

Tiberius tried to have the proposed law read to the plebian Assembly in preparation for a vote, but another tribune, Marcus Octavius, vetoed the reading of the bill, as was his right as a tribune. Traditionally, a tribune would rescind his veto after making a speech explaining his opposition to the measure, but Octavius did not. He made it clear that he’d make the veto permanent and prevent the bill from ever becoming law, openly flouting the clear will of the people of the Assembly. Thus, one of the oldest traditions of Rome was violated.

Tiberius responded by putting a bill before the Assembly to have Octavius deposed as tribune. There was no law against doing this, but it had never been done before and crossed another traditional boundary. With this move, Tiberius alienated even his supporters in the Senate, the ones who had proposed the Lex Agrera in the first place.

 After Marcus Octavius was removed from office the Lex Agrera became law, but then the Senate, which was in charge of Rome’s budget, refused to fund the effort to re-distribute the land.

Tiberius was again stymied, but he came up with a new strategy. It so happened that a large area of land in what is now Western Turkey fell into the hands of the Roman people at the death of the king there, who was a client of Rome. Following Tiberius’ lead, the Assembly seized control of the land and the king’s treasury for the purpose of funding the redistribution of Roman land. This again flouted tradition since the Senate was supposed to control the money and foreign affairs.

Then Tiberius, nearing the end of his one year term as tribune, proposed that he be re-elected as tribune so as to continue the land re-distribution plan. This was yet another audacious and unprecedented move, and it alarmed the Senate, who thought that Tiberius was trying to make himself king. Indeed, he had usurped much, egging the plebian Assembly on to take more and more of the Senate’s prerogatives. The Assembly now controlled foreign policy and the money, and Tiberius seemingly controlled the Assembly. With repeated re-election, he would be king in every way but name.

The vote to enable Tiberius’ re-election was to be put before the Assembly, but a mob of patricians and their clients lead by one of the Senators pounced on Tiberius’s supporters just as the vote to re-elect was to take place and beat them down with clubs, killing 300 of the plebians along with Tiberius.

So, things escalated in a contest of brinksmanship, smashing one unspoken traditional rule after another, until the issue was settled with violence. From that point on the Republic was often ruled by violence since people had learned that violence settles disputes in a way that civil discourse and proceedings no longer could. Partisan politics of the conservative Senators trying to keep power with the elite class, while the tactics of the Populares, who looked to the lower classes for support, divided the people and classes into warring factions. For nearly 100 years things were unpredictable at best and brutally bloody at worst. Finally, the stage was set for a tyrant to take power.

Author’s Note: This is my annual reposting. I have made modifications due to excellent input by Ricochet members.

I read “Day of Infamy” by Walter Lord when I was 11 years old. It is still the best first-hand account of the attack on Pearl Harbor. A great read, you won’t be able to put it down.

At 8 am on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, the 183 Japanese planes of the first attack wave descended on Pearl Harbor. Admiral Nagumo’s attack fleet was less than 100 miles from Pearl. Luckily the Enterprise, the huge American aircraft carrier, was at sea. Not so lucky was the fact that the American battleship fleet was anchored and inert, tied up in a neat row called Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor. The battleships were huge sitting targets. Even if someone had sounded an alarm when the planes were spotted on radar, it wouldn’t have made that much difference as it takes two hours for a battleship’s boilers to come up to full pressure so she can move properly.

All of the battleships at Pearl that day had dead cold boilers. Completely tied up at anchor, after coming up to full boiler pressure, it would have taken another 45 minutes with the help of multiple tugboats to get a battleship away from Battleship Row and moving.

It was Sunday morning and almost everyone was attending Sunday morning services. However, to this fact and everything I stated in the preceding paragraph, there was one exception. The Battleship USS Nevada had about one-third of her crew and one officer and one quartermaster aboard. The boilers of Nevada were at about half pressure. She was making repairs, even on Sunday morning.

The Japanese planes of the first attack wave descended without any warning whatsoever. Seeing the sitting ducks on Battleship Row, the pilots converged instantly for the attack on the American ships.

Nevada was the last ship on Battleship Row in position 8. Ahead of her at anchor was the Battleship USS Arizona. In the first 15 minutes of the attack, a bomb struck Arizona perfectly penetrating her forward deck armor and exploding her forward ammunition magazine. The entire ship detonated in a huge explosion. The explosion killed 1,117 of her crew of 1,400. Half the ship was gone and the other half was a burning inferno.

All of Pearl Harbor was mad confusion. People running everywhere trying to get to their posts, pinned down by strafing Japanese planes. On Nevada, the highest ranking officer was Ensign Joseph Taussig, Jr. He was the youngest officer, just out of the Naval Academy, he had only been on Nevada a few days. Also aboard was Quartermaster Chief Robert Sedberry, a man with many years of experience. Ens. Taussig manned the forward anti-aircraft battery himself. A shell smashed his leg, it would later be amputated. Still conscious, he continued to command the anti-aircraft defense. Meanwhile, Sedberry and others made the decision to take the ship into action. They must swing the ship free from her berth without the aid of tugboats, without two hours to bring the ship to full steam, without a civilian harbor pilot, without the navigator, and without the captain. Sedberry manned the helm.

She got past the burning remains of Arizona just barely. As Nevada slowly pulled free of her anchorage and steamed down past Battleship Row wild screaming cheers were heard all over Pearl. There she was, the Nevada moving! She was heading for the harbor mouth. She was heading out to sea for the counter-attack! As she got about dead center of Pearl Harbor, out of the sky came 171 Japanese planes, the second wave attack.

The Japanese pilots of the second wave were greeted by a riveting sight. Most of the American ships were in flames but a single American battleship was moving out to sea. They knew very well that this ship had 14-inch guns on board. These guns could fire accurately over 20 miles. This ship could do over 20 knots (about 23 miles per hour). In three hours at full speed, she would be in range of their attack fleet. A single 14-inch shell could pierce the unarmored deck of any one of their aircraft carriers. One shot might easily sink a Japanese carrier.

The entire second wave descended on Nevada. It is interesting to note that it is not as easy to hit a moving target as it is to punch holes in a sitting duck. However, Nevada wasn’t moving that fast and there were 171 planes to get her.

Soon Nevada was on fire from one end of the ship to the other. She had been torpedoed and was taking on water. Ens. Taussig, although severely wounded, continued anti-aircraft fire at the Japanese planes. Chief Quartermaster Sedberry had been radioed a final order. If Nevada sunk in the harbor channel she would plug Pearl Harbor for a prolonged period of time. Most of the crew had already abandoned ship. The Quartermaster and a few men guided the huge ship towards Hospital Point just inside the harbor mouth to the east. There they beached Nevada in the sand like a giant canoe. Still conscious, Taussig was carried off the ship.

What is significant about this? Why am I relating this story? Simply because human events, their outcomes, and their significance, are so hard to predict. At first, you might think Nevada‘s short but glorious cruise a total waste and insignificant. However, because she was moving when the second wave appeared, most of the Japanese planes wasted their bombs attacking her. If the Japanese pilots had instead found all of the American ships out of action, they would have immediately turned their attention to the rest of Pearl Harbor’s extensive military facilities. The dry docks and fuel tank farm most of all. Back in Tokyo, Admiral Yamamoto received the full report. He was furious about the second wave and its failure to bomb the dry docks or fuel tank farm. He said:

“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”

Because of Nevada, most of Pearl remained intact and was fully operational in short order. With Pearl Harbor’s facilities, the American fleet quickly recovered. At the Battle of Coral Sea, the Japanese found themselves to be less than invincible and suffered major damage. With the help of a brilliant American code breaker, the American fleet ambushed the Japanese fleet at Midway. This battle crushed the Japanese and broke the back of their fleet. Midway was the measure for measure for Pearl Harbor. Nevada‘s short but heroic effort did more than just lift the spirits of the men fighting and dying at Pearl that day. She made it possible for the counter-attack to take place.

One should always remember that G-d is in control of events. Sometimes we can foresee events and sometimes not. It is therefore important to serve in the moment both dutifully and creatively. Leave the rest to G-d. This is why freedom is so important. Even a young ensign or an old quartermaster might make contributions that affect the outcome of the entire war. When men are free, they hold themselves to a higher standard than any tyrant can obtain from his lackeys. No matter how much power the tyrant holds, the free man will prove superior.

Nevada beached and burning at Hospital Point.

Authors Note: I first posted this in 2012. I made some small changes for a repost in 2013. No changes but a minor title change for 2014. No changes but a little grammatical polishing for 2015 and 2016. The photos of “Battleship Row” and “Nevada free and heading for the harbor mouth” were added in 2016. Small changes have been made for 2018 because of the perceptive comments of Ricochet members on the 2016 and 2017 edition.

During this time of national mourning at the passing of President George H.W. Bush, many have called this the end of an era; an era of decency, of country first, of selfless service to our fellow man. It is true that the 41st President, who came of age abruptly at the start of World War II and ended his long period of public service overseeing the fall of the Berlin Wall will be remembered for his humble kindness, his understated strength, and the “kinder, gentler nation” he set out to establish. But this is not the end of an era, as the pundits and television philosophers would have us believe.

Just as President Bush firmly believed the man elected President was the custodian of the Office, we the people are the custodians of this nation and I think we forget how much power we hold. As Lincoln said in his speech at Gettysburg, “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” So we elect leaders-in this case a President-for the moment: to fight, to lead, to make peace, to unite. But it is also our duty to hold them, and each other, to a standard of decency and virtue, and the man should never outshine the office of which “we the people” established.

Analysts have made countless comparisons of the elder Bush to President Trump regarding decorum, trying to juxtapose adjectives to demean the current president’s unrefined style. But I find it interesting that people who see everything through the prism of Trump never take a moment for self-reflection about the impact their words make on public perception. The same can be said for some members of Congress, for the so-called experts on television and newspapers, for late-night comedians who confuse condescending lectures for jokes. So we must not let a small class of people define decency as meekness under threat of losing our traditional values, but to be steadfast in the fight for self-government, self-determination, and open, civil discourse about the path forward for a still-great nation and not succumb to tantrums of identity politics, race-baiting, and hypersensitive P.C. culture.

Watching the memorial service, I was struck by the image of the flag-draped casket of the president held firmly and marched down the Cathedral aisle by eight stout servicemen and followed by generals of each branch of the military. As a veteran, the ceremony it held a special solemnity to it. As an onlooker, it was clear how much service to our nation meant to President Bush. As a young man, he fought for that flag and what it represents. He honored it through public service in the CIA, as a congressman, a Vice President, and a President. Just as this one man modeled a lifetime of service for country, so too do we have the responsibility to honor the sacrifice of all who make the journey to their final resting place under a flag-draped casket, or the field of a foreign land watched over by the American flag. It is our solemn duty to engage the gears of discourse to promote permanent and enduring moral truths, prudence, and a society free of the yoke of an increasingly-restricting government. It would be more than a wasted opportunity to step aside and set this great nation adrift, or worse let it be commandeered by despotic forces.

So, is this an end of an era? No. President Reagan, who was honored at his State Funeral at the National Cathedral in 2004, said in a famous 1964 speech, “Now we have come to a time for choosing.” We can choose to grow the prominence of civil discourse by encouraging new voices in support of traditional values, self-reliance, and first principles-such as here on Ricochet. We engage with our community leaders and school boards and support and vote for public officeholders who commit to small government and encourage an open marketplace of ideas instead of a death sentence of a society of victims. We may be losing The Greatest Generation of which the majority experienced the sacrifices of war, but today we have selfless men and women who voluntarily trade their well-being in the name of duty, honor, and country. We can honor them, and the office of which George H.W. Bush was a faithful custodian, by passing on the torch of freedom.

President George H.W. Bush oversaw the closing chapter of the Cold War along with the closing chapter of a certain order of American politics, but his passing is not the closing of the American chapter. We mustn’t mourn an end of an Era, because it isn’t one. This is a time to reflect on our history: the transgressions and the righteousness, the victories and the defeats. We can use it as a springboard to begin a new chapter, sparked by the flame of the past that may never be extinguished as long as it shines as a beacon for liberty the world over; that the oppressed know freedom’s flame has a home here. We are blessed living in this great experiment: man can accept the responsibility for self-government and be the master of his own destiny. The era of honor, duty, decency, and service continues for now. Our nation depends on it. As Reagan said in that same speech, “You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We can preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we can sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.”

Let us now make certain we do all that we can do, and let a new chapter begin.