[JULY 10 marked] the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, the French theologian who helped carry the Protestant Reformation into the heart of Europe . . . . Though Calvin was never the theocratic thug of popular imagination, neither was he a champion of individual freedom.
Continue reading "JULY 19 / Good introduction to John Calvin" »
He wrote in [Who Are We: The Challenges to America's National Identity, 2004,] of the "American Creed," and its erosion among the elites. Its key elements -- the English language, Christianity, religious commitment, English concepts of the rule of law, the responsibility of rulers, and the rights of individuals -- he said are derived from the "distinct Anglo-Protestant culture of the founding settlers of America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries."
Continue reading "DECEMBER 31 / Samuel Huntington (1927-2008)" »
FOR ALL HIS GIFTS, Barack Obama did not cause America to lurch to the left.
He was lifted into office by a long, slow tide of rising liberalism that had already swamped much of the rest of our civic culture and politics -- journalism, for example; education, higher and lower; many mainline churches; the popular imagination; and, of course, the U.S. Congress.
Now, finally and inevitably, it has reached the Oval Office.
Required reading
Extra credit
"What Would Winston Do?" Newsweek asks on this week's cover, a teaser headline for "Evan Thomas on the 2008 'Appeasement' Debate." Glowering from the cover, perhaps miffed at being so rudely used, is Sir Winnie, his own sweet Anglo-American self. 
On page 22, "The Mythology of Munich," Mr. Thomas sets out to answer the question on the cover. "Chamberlain's deal with Hitler has become shorthand for naive, weak leadership. But governing by analogy can be a mistake, too," says a subhead that fairly summarizes the article.
What's this all about? Munich was 70 years ago. Why is it in a news magazine this week?
The answer comes in the fifth paragraph:
The words "Munich" and "appeasement" have been re-interjected into the 2008 political debate, courtesy of President George W. Bush, who still entertains dreams of a Churchillian legacy. Addressing the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, during the 60th anniversary of Israel's founding on May 15, Bush warned against "the false comfort of appeasement" when it comes to Iran and its loud-mouthed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Bush did not mention Barack Obama's name; nor did John McCain when he joined the chorus the next day. But Bush didn't have to.
With the possible exception of MSNBC, Senator Obama has no better friends in the press than those at Newsweek. And with the presidency on the line, it would not do, these friends understood, to have a word like "appeasement" padding along behind their man like an unwanted puppy.
Thanks to William Forstchen, cowriter (with General Donald V. Bennett (Ret.)) of a Honor Untarnished: A West Point Graduate's Memoir of World War II, for permission to use the long quotation in yesterday's post. "The section you chose to quote is, in fact, my favorite, for it so clearly states what it was that our fathers' generation fought for and against. May we forever cherish their memories." Professor Forstchen's new book is Days of Infamy, cowritten with a little-known former Georgia congressman named Newt Gingrich.
JOHN D. HANCOCK served with the 62nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion, which landed in Morocco in November 1942. He and his outfit saw action in Tunisia, Sicily, France, Belgium, and Czechoslovakia. They were in North Africa and Europe for 32 months, then most of them returned home and resumed their lives, leaving behind their youth, their innocence, and friends who fell in battle. On this Memorial Day, my family remembers this good man, my father, and his comrades-in-arms, living and dead.
The things to read are Honor Untarnished: A West Point Graduate's Memoir of World War II by Donald V. Bennett, Jr., with William R. Forstchen; The Wonder of It All: A Memoir of an Armored Field Officer in World War II by Howard L. Carlson; and (if you can find a copy) The Story of the 62nd by William E. Ausburne, Jr.
From Bennett, pages 253-254:
"The front door cracked open, a middle-aged man looking out at us, wild-eyed. Hesitantly he came out and approached me.
"'Are you Americans?' he asked nervously.
"Smiling, I nodded.
"'Are you here to stay?'
(Click "Continue" under the picture.)
What explains this elaborate hand-painted copy of a wanted poster for John Dillinger, the notorious bank robber killed in Chicago in 1934? Is it a joke? Folk art? An ironic tribute to a criminal some Americans idolized? A sincere effort to alert the residents of Smut Eye to the danger, and the financial opportunity, presented by the famous Mr. Dillinger?
