11 NOVEMBER - NOTES

Today is November 11, 2018, the centennial of the armistice ending the First World War. This is a somber moment we should all remember at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month. The most destructive war in history until then came to an end.

In a sense, the First World War was the first suicide of Europe. All of the five great powers that started the war in 1914 were devastated in ways. Three of them, the old monarchies of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia, did not survive. The ancient systems of power among the royal families and their supporting social structures in these three states collapsed. The countries that "won" the war found only Pyrrhic Victories. Britain and France lost millions of men and went heavily into debt. France, which declared itself the great victor, lost more men, percentage-wise, in the war (25% of all young adult men were killed, wounded, or missing) than any other nation. This was "winning." Among all the countries involved, some 9m soldiers were killed along with 8m civilians. Countless others were wounded, displaced, and lost.

Next to the incredible destruction, the tragedy of the war was the loss of the peace. The series of peace treaties made in Paris in 1919 were arguably the worst in all of history. Peace treaties are supposed to make peace. These set up another war, although certainly unintentionally. I have always believed it is best we do not know the future. However, in this case, I wish the Big Four of 1919 (Clemenceau, Wilson, Lloyd George, and Orlando) had known the future. They would have made a radically different settlement. I wish they had known that what they were doing in 1919 would be followed in two decades by another war that would make the hell they had just endured look like a spat.

The fight in the peace negotiations of 1919 was essentially between the Americans (Wilson) and the French (Clemenceau). The Americans stood for internationalism, the French for nationalism. Wilson's great dream was a League of Nations where the countries of the world would resolve their problems peacefully by reasonable settlements. The French, who had been fighting wars against great rivals for centuries, believed in national power, in their own necessity to secure their borders in an historically hostile environment. The result was the worst of all possible outcomes. Wilson got his League, only to have his own country refuse to join. It fizzled away. The French got the de-militarization and humiliation of their great continental rival Germany but with no way to enforce it. In the end, both Wilson and Clemenceau failed and their failure led to conditions creating an even worse war.

(Ironically the America-France roles are now the reverse of 1919. Trump is a nationalist who is withdrawing from numerous international agreements while France has become the leader of internationalism since the announced retirement of Merkel in Germany and the impending withdrawal of Britain from the European Union. Woodrow Wilson must be turning over in his grave in the National Cathedral.) 

In wounded, humiliated, and aggrieved but still powerful Germany developed a regime that brought together the worst of nineteenth century strains, racism, nationalism, militarism, and combined it with new technology. The result was a world cataclysm twenty years after 1919 the magnitude of which could not even have been envisioned by people like Wilson and Clemenceau. 

In spite of all the mind-boggling destruction of WWI and the heart-breaking failure of the peace, the First World War still played a crucial role in world history. Its great achievement was the victory of democracy over monarchism and its attendant social order. The three great western democracies (Fr., Br., U.S.) passed the test while the three ancient monarchies (Ger., A-H, Rus.) all collapsed, victims of their own internal failures. The importance of the rise of democracy cannot be overemphasized. Twenty years later, the strength of these democracies would be put to the test as they could never have imagined. One of them (France) collapsed in the face of aggression but the other two held fast and made the fight of their lives to win the day, by the hardest. In the Second World War, democracy prevailed over the worst that nazism, fascism, and aggressive militarism could throw up against it. Civilization was saved. And, that victory, as I keep saying, led to the Great Democratic Revolution of the post-Second World War period. So, we must say a little prayer of thanksgiving today for the armistice one hundred years ago. The morally right side won. May we never forget the sacrifices of the people who made that possible. 

 COURT HEARING, NOV. 19

I see a great excitement building before the upcoming court hearing before Judge Dickson, in Orangeburg, on Monday, the 19th. We should stop for a moment and be realistic about this hearing. In his notice, the judge said it was for him to hear arguments from the two sets of lawyers, as he said, until he got tired of listening. That is all this is, a chance for the lawyers to make their cases before the judge. Apparently, Dickson will not be issuing any decisions at this time. I expect it will be some time still before we get any decision from him. He has had this case before him for nearly a year and has a total of twenty-two sets of arguments before him. So, what we will hear on the 19th will be nothing new. There cannot possibly be anything new to say after all this build-up. Thus, we should have no unrealistic expectation of the hearing.

As I see it, Dickson has two choices. He can implement the state supreme court decision of August 2, 2017, or he can re-litigate the case. I cannot imagine any judge in his or her right mind who would want to reopen this can of worms. Besides, the SCSC decision is the law of the land. Just look at what happened in Judge Goodstein's courtroom. Just look at the standoff in the state supreme court. If the five greatest jurists in South Carolina found the case impossible, a lowly circuit judge would find it impossible too. It took the state supreme court nearly two years to come to a conclusion, and that was only after the chief justice himself realized that for the integrity of the court a resolution was mandatory. He made a compromise and agreed to return 29 parishes to the Episcopal Church. We all know Dickson is well aware of all of this. I cannot imagine he will do anything but enforce the SCSC decision. Moreover, TEC has given him two good ways to do this, a Special Master, and a professional accounting.

Bottom line, do not get your hopes up that anything will come of the hearing on the 19th. I think it will be some time yet before there is any resolution.

THE CULTURE WAR

We just went through our latest round of the culture war, the national election of 6 November. My initial reaction to the election was to see a stand-off with both sides claiming victory on election night. Then the day after the election two big factors hit me, President Trump's press conference and the news from Charleston. I knew right then that this was a big victory for the democratic side of the culture war. All of the information coming in since then confirms this. The democratic side of the culture war has taken the initiative and the anti-democratic side is reeling.

Trump's press conference was the strangest performance I have ever seen by a president. He appeared to be a wounded and cornered animal striking back at his real or perceived enemies. He was on the attack, even if it were disjointed and delusional. For all of his many faults, we do have to say that Trump has an uncanny genius for sizing up the political scene. Seeing his hour and a half rage told me he knew full well what had happened to him and his kind of politics. The American people had clearly rejected Trumpism and he could not stand it.

When I saw the results from Charleston, I could not believe it. I had to check several sources to confirm that the Democrat had actually won. I could not even remember the last time Charleston had elected a Dem to Congress. What is more, it was not close in Charleston County where Cunningham won 57% (60% would be a landslide). 

The Blue Wave last Tuesday turned out to be monumental. In the total vote of the nation, Democrats won app. 7% more than the Reps. Dems flipped 35-40 seats in the House of Reps, now to have a clear majority. Moreover, Dems gained 8 governors' chairs, and flipped 350 seats in state legislatures. Now, it is also true Reps kept the Senate, and even added 2 seats, with possibly 2 more. 

What this says to me is that on the whole the nation rejected Trumpism. This means that in the culture war, the momentum has swung to the democratic side. Thus, we are likely to see a strengthening of the reforms for ordinary people, as Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare. However, one should realize that Trump is packing the federal courts with reactionary judges who hold seats for life. We as a nation are still dangerously divided young/old, male/female, white/other, rich/poor, and urban/rural. 

Still, those on the side of expanding democracy, particularly in rights for and inclusion of all people in society, Tuesday's election is cause for rejoicing.