THE AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL presents an opportunity to move beyond the narrow band and expand our awareness. For the tendency to view things in isolation must change.
Events may create a false impression. But, as the song goes, however they seem, “It ain’t necessarily so.” Appearances can be deceiving: America is not in decline but in confusion.
Transitions are waves which ebb and flow between calm and stormy like a whisper or a howling wind. In the Great Republic, history shows these to be particularly difficult to navigate—a natural death, an assassination, a disputed election.
Misguided decisions can be made due to a natural death or an assassination. But the reverberations from a disputed election may cause a tsunami, a disaster set in motion by a political discontinuity—a misalignment of means and ends, where a minority rules a majority.
When FDR died, the Allies were months away from victory. Truman saw it through to the end. But had Roosevelt lived, the French position in Indochina would have been weakened without American support, and Vietnam would not have been subject to colonial rule.
Had JFK lived, the withdrawal of advisers from Vietnam would have continued with 1,000 out by December 1963 and the rest by 1965. But Johnson committed combat troops.
In 2000, had Florida not purged its voter rolls, or if the recount had not been halted, Gore would have been elected. Then a full, smooth interregnum raises questions as to whether 9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq would have happened.
In 2016, a perfect storm of chutzpah and complacency led to a slow motion and continuing catastrophe. As Alexander Hamilton noted, “Nothing was more to be desired than that every practicable obstacle be opposed to cabal, intrigue, and corruption. These most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one quarter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils. How could they better gratify this, than by raising a creature of their own to the Chief Magistracy of the Union?” (The Federalist Papers, No. 68) Yet the failure to understand that the Electoral College has two functions—popular choice and national security—allowed the man with fewer votes, plus the Russian Connection, to be raised to the highest office. But, as James Madison noted, “One advantage of Electors is, although generally the mere mouths of their constituents, they may be intentionally left sometimes to their own judgment, guided by further information that may be acquired by them….” (The Electoral College by Lucius Wilmerding, Jr., 180-181) Thus, the chance to make use of the final check on fraud was missed.
Confusion reigns in Ignorance, and its inhabitants speak loudly and curry a big mob. But there is more to being an American than birth in the United States, or through the lineage of one’s parents, or by naturalization. American citizenship is defined by rights and duties, and adherence to ideals even when inconvenient. Thus, beyond legalities, it is a state of mind.
Without memory, we are lost. Without memory, there is no sense of self, whether an individual or a nation.
After his ordeal, Job had a debriefing with God.
“Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?” (Job 39:27, KJV)
The Great Seal of the United States of America is a reflection of the fact that we are spiritual beings in material bodies. The eagle can mount up. But she can only make her nest on high with Divine Providence. For here, citizenship is about character—the union of thought, word, and deed directed toward a noble end.
To achieve true greatness in the material world, represented by the eagle on the Great Seal, we can no longer ignore the reverse side with the All Seeing Eye. To make our nest on high, there must be an American Renaissance, what Lincoln called “a new birth of freedom.” Then we can complete the mission and fulfill our destiny.
The Great Seal captures the essence of what we are meant to be. The Capitol reinforces the same. It is a temple of liberty, and the dome is a symbol of transcendence.
The influence of assertion and repetition cannot go unchecked. Reagan’s error must be corrected. The restoration—and enhancement—of the fairness doctrine is an absolute necessity. For anyone who doubts the power of unrebutted falsehood need only look at Afghanistan. President Biden acted as if the Chief Traitor’s agreement was legitimate when there were grounds for objection.
“As to corruption,” John Jay noted, in trying to imagine the unimaginable, “the case is not supposable…. The idea is too gross and too invidious to be entertained. But in such a case, if it should ever happen, the treaty so obtained from us would, like all other fraudulent contracts, be null and void by the law of nations.” (The Federalist Papers, No. 64)
Knowledge is the foundation of the American Republic. On the first page of The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton compared and contrasted two systems. One depends on “accident and force”; the other is guided by “reflection and choice.” Decisions based on the latter are open to nuance, while the former is chained to the reptilian brain where things are only this or that way.
The Framers were thoughtful, and they are not at fault if we fail to follow in their footsteps. As Drill Sergeant Hart, a Ranger, said regarding the Seven P’s, “Poor prior planning produces poor present performance.” Preparation is a prerequisite of survival, but the failure to consider more than the material prevents the merger of ideals and reality to create A NEW ORDER OF THE AGES.
(c)2021 Marvin D. Jones. All rights reserved.
1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6_eqxh-Qok [ “too many notes”]
2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ijhn3FlDQs [“It ain’t necessarily so”]
3) The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam, 79-84 [the significance of FDR’s death and French colonial rule]
4) JFK and
Vietnam by John Newman [the
rest by 1965]
5) https://fair.org/extra/who-won-the-election-who-cares/ [Gore would have been elected]
6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZVurT6ZiQY [ill-prepared for battle or diplomacy]
7) The remarks on the Great Seal and the Capitol are based on the work of Dr. Robert Hieronimus and William Henry.
8) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHdkRvEzW84 [Transcendence]
9) https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/21/us/reagan-vetoes-measure-to-affirm-fairness-policy-for-broadcasters.html [Reagan’s error must be corrected]
10) A NEW ORDER OF THE AGES [NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM on the reverse side of the Great Seal]
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