[lit-ideas] The Revolution that became the USA
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 07:54:05 -0700
Andreas,
I just happened upon my name in the note that inspired Irene to laud Morris
Berman. Upon reading your note I discovered some interesting errors. The
most egregious is that you assume "Conservative" to be an absolute idea. It
isn't. "Conservative" means taking a position that says things ought to
stay the same. It is Oxymoronic, by the way, to say there can be a
Conservative Revolution. Liberal initially embodied standards of Freedom,
Human rights and a variety of views advocated by our founding fathers.
Today a Conservative can say he wants to keep those Liberal ideas advocated
by our founding fathers. A modern-day American Conservative embraces the
Liberal ideas of our founding fathers, the Liberal ideas fought for in their
revolution against a tyrannical Britain. One needn't go on to call for a
further revolution to retain the Liberal ideas of our founding fathers. It
wasn't Liberal to be revolutionary. That is nonsense. Our American
Revolution fought to establish certain Liberal ideals and the modern
Conservative wants to retain them.
What does that leave for the person who wants to be a modern Liberal? That
is an interesting question. He can become an anti-American Leftist and
incorrectly claim that means "Liberal." He can become a welfare-state
advocate and claim that means "Liberal." He can imagine that the Revolution
rather than the Liberalism of our founding Fathers is the key activity and
Revolution for the sake of Revolution comprises Liberalism. He can claim
all sorts of things mean Liberal. But the term became famous in America as
embodying a number of ideas that are now implicit in the concept of Liberal
Democracy. We Conservatives want to retain those Liberal Ideas advocated by
our forefathers. Leftists, incorrectly calling themselves Liberals, want to
destroy the Liberalism of Liberal-Democracy and replace it with they know
not what.
We American Liberals now call ourselves Conservatives and believe the
American ideal: American Liberal Democracy is worth fighting for. Leftists
want to tear America down. America for them is a bad idea growing worse.
Leftists like Morris Berman see us in the most negative of terms. And they
want to replace us, I repeat, with they know not what. You won't hear any
good recommendations coming from any Leftist. Replacement for the sake of
replacement; revolution for the sake of revolution seems good to them. It
doesn't seem good to those of us who value the revolution that became the
United States of America. What we have here is better than anyone else has
in any other nation. Detractors from around the world continue to flock to
come here.
It doesn't validate anything to find that a 20-something doesn't know
history. Conservatives would like to get rid of the Leftist hold on modern
education and get back to the Little Red School house concept where valid
subjects are taught. That she didn't know about our revolution is one
further reason for criticizing Leftist experimentation.
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Andreas Ramos
Sent: Sunday, August 13, 2006 9:50 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] A Revolution in the USA?
A few years ago, on the Fourth of July, a bunch of friends got together for
a picnic and to
watch the fireworks. The sun went down and the fireworks went up.
In the group, there was a 20-something and after a while, she said "yes, but
why are there
fireworks? What's the connection?"
There was a long awkward silence. Finally, I said "well, it's to celebrate
the American
Revolution."
She scoffed "Oh, c'mon, there's never been a revolution in the US."
And that caused a great deal of nervous laughter, because, well, she was
right. She can well
be excused for thinking there has never been a revolution in the USA.
Lawrence and his
friends would certainly deny any revolution ever happened.
The history of the USA and the UK is very odd. Only because of history books
do I know that
the British also had a Glorious Revolution. But if I ignore history books,
then who could
possibly imagine that the British ever had a revolution?
The French had a revolution, and everyone is well aware of that, even 200
years later.
Germany tried to have a revolution in 1848, but it was crushed. What might
have been if they
had been successful? The Russian Revolution and later, the Chinese
Revolution threw the 20th
century into turmoil.
But a revolution in the USA and the UK? Really now.
The US thinks of itself as a progressive country that is an example for
others. Yes, during
the US revolution, it was. But like Soviet revolutionary slogans, the idea
has remained
while the leadership has replaced it with its opposite.
The Nazi were also revolutionary. Revolutions aren't always leftist: there
have been
conservative revolutions, monarchist revolutions, theist revolutions, and so
on. The
Fascists wanted to install a New World Order (starring only themselves).
Similar to
Revolutionary France vs. Everyone Else, it became Fascists vs. Everyone
Else. The Soviets
were first allies with the Nazi (unbelievably) and then, just to show that
the Goddess of
History is a joker, the Soviets became allies with the USA. WWII was
essentially an upstart
country trying to seize land and other countries resisted. The UK and the
USA were the
conservatives of the 1900s. The USA beat down every possible form of
socialism and social
justice in the USA with Red Scares, witch hunts, and, well, just plain
shooting them. There
are very very few Americans who are revolutionary, even in the sense of the
original
American Revolution.
The USA, born in revolution, became the leading power for conservatism.
Perhaps it was
slavery that killed the revolution while it was still a baby. The men who
led the revolution
and signed the Constitution were slaveholders. Life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness,
but only for the elite. All others are dogs. The American revolution limped
on throughout
Jackson and up to Lincoln, where the boil finally broke. The North won,
but... it was the
Southerners who had led the revolution and had the high American ideals.
They lost and
Northern industrialisation wiped out the country gentleman farmer. Up to the
early 1830s,
90% of Americans worked their own farms and were self-substaining. After
industrialization
(and even up to now), 95% of Americans work for somebody else. The idealists
of the
revolution lost and were replaced by merchantilists and industrialists.
As people became workers, they became politically passive. The elites write
the laws and use
the laws to protect their property (and that property includes land,
minerals, factories,
and the workers in those factories.)
Thus the USA and the UK and other industrialized nations that were born in
revolution and
liberty have become essentially conservative. Even the Soviet Union, born as
the Russian
Revolution, became conservative by the 60s. Conservative countries only join
together when
they have to fight wars against upstarts that threaten the system of
exploitation and
ownership. They joined together to defeat the fascists and Tojo Japan (and
rightly so: both
were destructive enterprises.)
The conservative countries keep citizens under control by using the
revolutionary slogans
(democracy, rights, liberty) and even uses them against revolutions that are
indeed
progressive. Ronald "The Great American" Reagan used these very ideas to
attack the
Nicaraguan Revolution, which has overturned a hated authoritarian
government.
Thus we have the USA, where conservatives despise "Liberals". Liberals, of
course, were the
revolutionaries who created the USA, fought the War of Independance against
a British
aristocracy, and wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, some of the
finest documents
in world history. Those liberals are now widely viewed as treasonists. If
alive today,
they'd be hunted down, locked up in Guantanamo, and tortured forever. George
Washington,
Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and others used terrorism to fight
authority, fought a
guerilla war while hiding among the population, and called for others to
overthrow
established governments sanctioned by God. Clearly enemy combatants.
It isn't only the US that has developed this way. Communist China is (very)
quickly turning
into a capitalist state.
Quite a reversal, no? A political movement, born in revolution, becomes
conservative and
uses the slogans of revolution as justification to destroy further
revolutions, thus
becoming ever more conservative.
That's why a 20-something can scoff and say there's never been a revolution
in the USA.
yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com
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