Edward Mendelson writes:
Mendelson writes earlier in his article:
Yes, The Mueller report will be issued. Yes, attempts to bury and debunk the findings with take partisan stage. And, yes, denials and accusations and bilious slander will echo throughout. There will be noise and smoke and unbecoming words. Regional courts and grand juries will pick up threads and carry on the inquiries. The wreck that is our current government with take on water and list even further.
Future historians will have a trove of written words -- briefs, documents, articles, and books -- to sift through and analyze. Judgments will be made. Those who learn from history -- that small number of scholars and citizens -- will wonder how it happened, how it got to be the way it did.
"In the two years since the 2016 US election, it seems ever more clear that Thucydides is the greatest historian not only of empire but also of contemporary politics. This excerpt is his account of civil war in Corcyra, 427 BC—and, equally, of politics in America, AD 2018:"
Revenge was more important than self-preservation. And if pacts of mutual security were made, they were entered into by the two parties only in order to meet some temporary difficulty, and remained in force only so long as there was no other weapon available. When the chance came, the one who first seized it boldly, catching his enemy off his guard, enjoyed a revenge that was all the sweeter from having been taken, not openly, but because of a breach of faith. It was safer that way, it was considered, and at the same time a victory won by treachery gave one a title for superior intelligence. And indeed most people are more ready to call villainy cleverness than simple-mindedness honesty. They are proud of the first quality and ashamed of the second.
Love of power, operating through greed and through personal ambition, was the cause of all these evils. To this must be added the violent fanaticism which came into play once the struggle had broken out. Leaders of parties in the cities had programs which appeared admirable—on one side political equality for the masses, on the other the safe and sound government of the aristocracy—but in professing to serve the public interest they were seeking to win the prizes for themselves. In their struggles for ascendancy nothing was barred; terrible indeed were the actions to which they committed themselves, and in taking revenge they went farther still. Here they were deterred neither by the claims of justice nor by the interests of the state; their one standard was the pleasure of their own party at that particular moment, and so, either by means of condemning their enemies on an illegal vote or by violently usurping power over them, they were always ready to satisfy the hatreds of the hour. Thus neither side had any use for conscientious motives; more interest was shown in those who could produce attractive arguments to justify some disgraceful action. As for the citizens who held moderate views, they were destroyed by both the extreme parties, either for not taking part in the struggle or in envy at the possibility that they might survive.
The recent calls for a second civil war by members of the Republican faithful, a reckless and dangerous rhetoric replete with target practice, dog whistle calls for malevolent action against opposing politicians and reporting journalists, and the persistant everyday practice of blatant lying and naked denial of facts and truth, have set the stage for an idiot's war that could easily break out without forewarning.— Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, translated by Rex Warner (Penguin, 1972; pp. 242–245) in What Thucydides Knew About the US Today, by Edward Mendelson, The New Yoerk Review of Books, October 29, 2018, 12:20 pm
Mendelson writes earlier in his article:
In the third book of his History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides describes the outbreak of civil war on the northern island of Corcyra in 427 BC:
"There was the revenge taken in their hour of triumph by those who had in the past been arrogantly oppressed instead of wisely governed; there were the wicked resolutions taken by those who, particularly under the pressure of misfortune, wished to escape from their usual poverty and coveted the property of their neighbors; there were the savage and pitiless actions into which men were carried not so much for the sake of gain as because they were swept away into an internecine struggle by their ungovernable passions." (op cit)I don't know what is in the wind. The hot-air provocations of foolish men and women broadcasting bellicosity who think their bully hawkish threats and intimidatiion only make their payday salaries more secure, are hurting so much more than their intended targets.
Yes, The Mueller report will be issued. Yes, attempts to bury and debunk the findings with take partisan stage. And, yes, denials and accusations and bilious slander will echo throughout. There will be noise and smoke and unbecoming words. Regional courts and grand juries will pick up threads and carry on the inquiries. The wreck that is our current government with take on water and list even further.
Future historians will have a trove of written words -- briefs, documents, articles, and books -- to sift through and analyze. Judgments will be made. Those who learn from history -- that small number of scholars and citizens -- will wonder how it happened, how it got to be the way it did.
