Revisionist History of the US....:( (fwd)

Responding to msg by chen@intuit.com (Mark Chen) on Thu, 1 Sep  
4:47 PM

>This country's 
>"progress" is  really just a series of grudging 
>concessions made by authoritarian  power structures to 
>various nearly catastrophic crises.
>
>Good observation about periodicity, Jim, but I'd say 
>that the typical  span is much shorter than 100 years.


Jim and Mark,

Sound remarks about domestic upheavals.

Parallel to these, it should be added that internal strife has 
declined as US foreign interventions have increased.  From 
Teddy Roosevelt forward, whenever domestic strain builds, there 
just happens to be an urgent matter somewhere else that needs 
patriotic attention to our "national interests".

Soothing, addictive, social and economic bribes flow from 
warmaking -- industrial growth, jobs, education, research, 
technological advances.

A bitching citizenry is a happy citizenry where domestic 
Government affairs are concerned, but the most obedient people 
are those united against a foreign foe.  Lesson 1 of world 
affairs leadership.


John

> 
> Jim and Mark,
> 
> Sound remarks about domestic upheavals.
> 
> Parallel to these, it should be added that internal strife has 
> declined as US foreign interventions have increased.  From 
> Teddy Roosevelt forward, whenever domestic strain builds, there 
> just happens to be an urgent matter somewhere else that needs 
> patriotic attention to our "national interests".
>
The only point here is that it doesn't address what causes the internal
strife. A populace that gets what it wants is obviously not going to be
full of strife. It seems to me, what needs to be addressed is the issue(s)
that are causing the strife. In the case of both the Civil War and the
Vietnam War it was economic in nature. In the Civil War it was the difference
that abolishing slavery would have caused to the plantation systems in teh
south and the industrial systems in the north. The Vietnam case is a little(!)
more complicated in that we may still be historicaly too close to it to get
a clear picture of the cause/effects. However, I do believe that the failure
of the industrial - military - political machine to provide the kinds of 
freedoms and inexpensive life that people were expecting may have played a 
major role in the events of the 60's.

> Soothing, addictive, social and economic bribes flow from 
> warmaking -- industrial growth, jobs, education, research, 
> technological advances.
>
I think we all agree the political - military complex is run by back scratching of herculian proportions. This may be a little difficult to analyze because
it is involved in both the cause and the result in such a major way.

> A bitching citizenry is a happy citizenry where domestic 
> Government affairs are concerned, but the most obedient people 
> are those united against a foreign foe.  Lesson 1 of world 
> affairs leadership.
> 
Lesson 2 should be that the 'external' threat won't last forever and at some
point the real issues will blow up to such an extent that the poplace will
not be concerned about external events because they are so busy trying to
stay alive and make a living.