The Mentor Enterprises / ELMS
CIVIC MENTOR / National Element / Philosophical Analysis &Synthesis #01 /
CIVIC MENTOR / National Element / Philosophical Analysis &Synthesis #01 /
Formulation of CM-Strategic Social Theory / The Logical Bases of The American Nation /
Posted: 21 Apr 14
Major Revision: #77
8/5/14/FRI/3:00 am /PST
A BRAND NEW DARK AGE...
IF the United States Had LOST Her Civil War
Meditating on the Crucial Effects the U.S. has on Total Human Existence,
on What Her Subtraction Would Have Done to This Life,
and on How We Can Best Use These Insights.
Meditating on the Crucial Effects the U.S. has on Total Human Existence,
on What Her Subtraction Would Have Done to This Life,
and on How We Can Best Use These Insights.
***********
Proposed:
A Logical Basis for
An Upgraded American Social Strategy
Civic Mentor / National-Level / Strategic Thrust
An Essay in the Public Service
By
David Nelson
***********
The better we grasp and appreciate exactly what the world almost lost...
the more likely we will be to appreciate our great good luck
in what the world won instead ...
and to act, accordingly.
On this life-journey,
acting and thinking in basic
accord is a very good thing to do since
more than one person is always involved
and we're all trying to achieve much the same things.
This becomes especially critical when
a WHOLE nation is involved,
where the stakes
are highest!
***********
All Original Content © 2014, The MENTOR Enterprises / ELMS, All Rights Reserved on this entire document -- "A Brand New Dark Age -- if the US had lost her Civil War" -- BUT, I hereby waive those rights, to this extent: You may freely copy and pass this along -- and are urged to do so -- as long as it's all done free of charge, unchanged, you include this statement, AND you inform me as to how it is being used -- at YOUR convenience but hopefully, soonest.
Author's Note
Friends, so sorry this "Contents" page isn't hyper-linked to the other sections. I know this is a large article and I so want to make it easier for you. But, I've tinkered with it for hours and I simply have to shift gears to other project-phases. I hope you will forgive the unintended discourtesy and plow through. As soon as my knowledge grows and time re-opens, I will fix this.
Contents
Foreword
The Questions Addressed
SHORT CUT: If You're in a HurryDear Readers
Precis -- A Nation Redeems Itself and Its Word Before All Humankind -- An Eternal Mission
Methodology -- At the Front Gate
Synopsis with Hypothesis
Author's Prejudices -- Where This is All Coming From
I. Introduction (An Earnest Heads-Up)
Summary of Section 1
A. Purposes of this Essay
A. Purposes of this Essay
B. Statement of the Problem
C. Major Premises
D. The Setting -- The Civil War at its Essence -- Broad Contours of an Existential Struggle
E. Side Note: The Echoes From a Loud Bang, Arguing Blame or Finishing the Healing, At Long Last?
II. Overview and Thrust (Through a telescope: A New "Dark Age" Averted)
Summary of Section II
A. 10,000-Foot View
A. 10,000-Foot View
B. Closer to Home
III. Specifically (Under a microscope: A Partial Inventory of Horrendous Threats Avoided)
Summary of Section III
A. Just Suppose the Absolute Worst Had Happened
B. BEHOLD A NIGHTMARE AVOIDED -- but wait, there's more
C. Had Things Gone That Way, We'd Have Known All We'd Have Lost!
Summary of Section III
A. Just Suppose the Absolute Worst Had Happened
B. BEHOLD A NIGHTMARE AVOIDED -- but wait, there's more
C. Had Things Gone That Way, We'd Have Known All We'd Have Lost!
IV. Conclusions (Through the telescope again: Bringing it all together)
A. A Great and Heavy Darkness Forestalled
B. A National Soul Triumphs and Self-Fulfills
C. Still Intact and Secure
D. The Constitution IS Us. It Made US an US and a U.S.
E. A "New Golden Age" Instead of a "New Dark Age"
F. Moral of the Story
V. Stars and Stripes Forever! (Boiling it all down: A Nation's Great Victory, Humankind's Priceless Heritage)
A. The Blessing
B. The Symbol
C. The Vision
D. The Eternal Mission
***********
FOREWORD
Understanding what would have happened
had a thing not existed -- is a very good
way of understanding why it does,
so as to make the most of it.
1. Have you ever SERIOUSLY considered what the world would be like had the United States been suddenly subtracted from the Human Equation by her Civil War? Did you realize that was even a genuine possibility?
2. HOW DOES A "NEW DARK AGE" STRIKE YOU?
3. COME. Reason with me. Let me show you how this could have been ONE of WORST things to have EVER happened to the FORWARD MOMENTUM of human PROGRESS (a chain-reaction awesome in scope, a monumental set-back)
4. AND THAT IT ALMOST DID HAPPEN!
Let me lay out the scenario for you.
5. THEN, LET'S SEE if this doesn't make you better appreciate the precious thing humanity has inherited and what we're supposed to be doing with it. (I have a few suggestions)
THE WORLD MAY NEVER LOOK
QUITE THE SAME
EVER AGAIN!
*************
THE QUESTIONS ADDRESSED
This essay tries to address, sufficiently, three interesting questions whose answers could be of GREAT personal, national, and global importance toward the betterment of individual and collective human well-being:
1. What Would Have Happened Had The United States Lost Her Civil War?
*************
SHORT-CUT
IF YOU'RE IN A HURRY
IF YOU'RE IN A HURRY
You might find Section III, the very heart of this essay, to be especially enlightening and provocative -- because it gets right down to "brass tacks" (or for purists, "the nitty-gritty") -- systematically inventorying and briefly exploring -- many of the real and potential components --
of
an unprecedented national and global disaster which stood nearby -- primed and ready
to UNCOIL and RUIN us
beneath the haunting specter of
"NATIONAL SUICIDE"
but which
"GREW US UP, MAGNIFICENTLY,"
as a NATION, instead
*************
We often fail to truly appreciate what we have,
until we've lost it and sadly found
that we can't have it back!
until we've lost it and sadly found
that we can't have it back!
***********
Dear Readers,
I believe the message of this essay will prove to be extremely important -- to you, personally -- almost immediately, during and following a serious reading -- and to our society, as a whole.
1. For many reasons, I have undertaken to develop this essay publicly -- despite the need for lots of major revisions (and despite the incredible pressure which open work generates). I believe it to be that important! Now, at long last, it says pretty much what I needed it to say -- but doesn't look and function quite the way it needs to, yet. So, it's time to re-frame and simplify everything for maximum and economical reading CONVENIENCE and most-enjoyable COMPREHENSION -- and as a permanent referent.
2. AMONG MY VERY NEXT STEPS: First I need to get back to building Civic Mentor / Neighborhood-Level Element -- integrating essential things this essay has enabled me to figure out as I built it -- but then, if not before, I will likely convert this document into a website section of the Civic Mentor / National-Level Site, complete with internal hyperlinks (not available here) which will allow you to get to desired sections rapidly and move around within the text more efficiently -- improve smart-phone support -- and make it easier for me to reference those sections in other Civic Mentor System-components -- THEREBY, CONTINUING THE PROCESS OF CONVERTING BEST PRINCIPLES INTO BEST PRACTICES FOR PRACTICAL, DIVERSE, WIDE-SPREAD, DAY-TO-DAY CIVIC APPLICATION.
3. MEANWHILE:
For all intents and purposes, it's quite complete and should be a straight-forward read -- with a very logical organization for this preliminary, but utterly crucial document.
4. AND, I BELIEVE, WITH UN-SHAKE-ABLE SINCERITY, THAT THIS WORK ESTABLISHES A FOUNDATION ON WHICH WE CAN BUILD A HUGE WORLD OF IMMENSELY PRACTICAL, WHOLE-LIFE-ENHANCING-AND-PROLONGING THINGS. You'll see.
With warmest regards,
David Nelson
Fellow Citizen of the World
Just an ordinary human being
who happens to find himself in
an extraordinary situation
P.S. Thank you for visiting here by the thousands. Please pass this along, via the Internet and traditional means -- if you agree that that would be a very good thing to do -- and provide feedback. Your opinions -- yea or nay -- matter big-time!
***********
PRECIS
"The unexamined life is a wasted life" -- Socrates
"The unexamined life is a wasted life" -- Socrates
***********
"GROUND-ZERO" for a MODERN NATION
Forged in the Deadly Furnace of Existential Civil War
National Re-Birth Accomplished, Death Averted
Society & Humankind Revolutionized and
Stabilized at an Increasingly Higher
Stabilized at an Increasingly Higher
Level of Existence
Than Ever
Before
*******
Than Ever
Before
*******
***********
DEFINITION AND REVOLUTIONARY IMPACT OF
"U.S. GROUND-ZERO"
ON
THE ENTIRE HUMAN SPECIES
"U.S. GROUND-ZERO"
ON
THE ENTIRE HUMAN SPECIES
A. BY "U.S. GROUND-ZERO," I MEAN
That time-period (between 1861 and 1865) where the nation nearly "perished from the earth" -- LITERALLY -- in a tough existential civil war which not only preserved the nation from disintegration out of existence, but substantially transformed it and, thereby, the entire human condition, into some things quite remarkable, indeed.
A civil war which was fated to be brought-on by a disaffected, rebellious, highly organized, and powerful secessionist movement among eleven States of the Southern region -- styling themselves "The Confederate States of America" -- and who sought to break the nation's lawful, historic, binding Constitutional "contract" among the States -- even by force of arms -- so as to form an independent slave-nation.
This, combined with a number of other illegal and provocative acts, prompted the national government, "the UNION," to move to enforce that contract and suppress the rebellion with an armed response -- so as to preserve the nation from utter RUINATION and complete COLLAPSE -- which such breach, nullification, and voiding of the contract would have induced -- and which took just over four, hard, belligerent years to accomplish.
By war's end the nation was so fundamentally different from what it was before
and so similar to what it is now, that it makes sense to treat that period
as the "ground-zero" starting-point for today's America and
to look there first, down in the basis of everything,
when trying to understand the nation, with
a view toward enhancing it.
(That which came before were but crucial preliminaries, in this sense)
B. IMPACT ON THE HUMAN SPECIESto look there first, down in the basis of everything,
when trying to understand the nation, with
a view toward enhancing it.
(That which came before were but crucial preliminaries, in this sense)
Victory produced such astounding, unforeseen changes as to be safely considered REVOLUTIONARY in nature. Changes which dramatically altered the meaning of the terms, "American" and "Good Human Being," making them more consistent with the nation's most basic moral principles and better suited to productive, modern existence.
The Civil War was the SECOND American Revolution
and it PURIFIED the FIRST
and it PURIFIED the FIRST
(So, in a real sense, the U.S. had two birthdays in the year 2014 -- its 238th and its 150th!)
FOR THIS WAS THE WAR by which the American nation bravely began to KEEP ITS MOST SOLEMN WORDS TO ALL HUMANKIND, famously uttered during her FIRST Revolution, nearly a century prior -- with her strong, proud, and enlightened claims that every single human being is "created equal" and has the "unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
For nearly a century, fate had contrived to paint "hypocrisy" in red, white, and blue -- BUT NO LONGER.
FROM THE MOMENT the nation REDEEMED those words, it became MORE TRUE TO ITS OWN SELF -- to Its highly-idealized, highly-principled, carefully-designed nature -- to its glorious, built-in compulsion to endlessly pursue self-perfection -- and the betterment of humankind.
FROM THE MOMENT OF VICTORY, THE NATION WAS FINALLY FREE TO BACK-UP EVERYTHING IT SAYS TO THE WORLD. By freeing the slaves, the WHOLE nation became FREE to act as its better nature was always insisting it should. And, it became more logically consistent in all its relations -- internally and externally -- thereby, reassuring the world (and itself) that it could be reasonably and seriously counted upon to continue striving to back-up ALL ITS SERIOUS UTTERANCES.
MANY MAJOR BEHAVIORAL EXPECTATIONS fundamentally and quite properly changed. For the world seems to function better when the nations can reliably predict and respect the behaviors in themselves and others. Choosing the right words, and fully backing them, continue to be great national challenges, even to this day -- but the self-perfecting efforts never end, though they may waver, at times.
AND, OF COURSE, ANY FUTURE COMBINATIONS OF STATES will think long and hard before ever flying to war -- EVER AGAIN.
C. A VICTORY FOR ALL HUMANKIND
CLEARLY, THIS IS "GROUND-ZERO" for the NEW and drastically-altered nation which now BLESSES our days AND our world:
And victory made most everything else much better -- like opening one more great, enlightening "relief-valve" -- and achieving yet another HUGE ADVANCE UP THE LADDER OF NATURAL EVOLUTION FOR THE ENTIRE HUMAN SPECIES -- (both immediately and at gradually increasing speed, across the generations) and caused preponderantly favorable changes in the "GREAT HUMAN CHAIN-REACTION" which continue to propagate, accelerate and self-perfect, even to this very second -- significantly influencing the quality and duration of the individual and collective life-experience for the entire species, through time.
D. IMPACT ON TODAY'S FUTURE
IF WE CAN OPTIMIZE THE ACCELERATION and DIRECTION of that MOMENTUM -- always moving it toward FAVORABLE CHANGE -- and away from UNFAVORABLE CHANGE -- then the possibilities for human betterment -- will quite likely, in good time --
only become limited
by the
immutable laws of nature
and by
fate's overriding agenda
A STRATEGIC
APPROACH FOR PRODUCING
A BETTER "NATIONAL-ACCORD"
CONCERNING THE VERY MEANING OF
THE AMERICAN LIFE-EXPERIENCE
OUTER CONTOURS OF THE APPROACH
A. OUR MOMENTUM seems ESPECIALLY likely to ACCELERATE, if we can AGREE on EXACTLY WHAT the American life-experience actually MEANS.
To do that properly, I believe we must systematically re-formulate, analyze, re-synthesize, internalize, and widely disseminate an updated, reliable, and concise, but carefully accurate factual story from myriad, sometimes unclearly connected fragments (as has been attempted by this essay) -- a story which sufficiently GRASPS and interprets the essentials surrounding that period, in light of what we NOW KNOW about the situation and how it's affecting us now -- and how it seems likely to affect the evolving future.
The story is a monumental, well-documented, and utterly fascinating episode of life's truths and is probably one of the most INSPIRING and IMPORTANT stories history has to tell. So much is explained about our present and likely future national states-of-existence -- which affect, in turn -- directly and indirectly -- every single aspect of individual and collective day-to-day existence under the influence of this nation, specifically, as well as the general aspects of existence for the species, as a whole.
INNER CONTOURS OF THE APPROACH
B. AT GROUND-ZERO THE VERY PIVOT-POINT, FULCRUM, ORIGIN of our NEWLY-PURIFIED "NATIONAL NATURE,"
THAT WAR WILL ALWAYS set the TONE for interpreting virtually EVERYTHING that followed from it to the present day -- and beyond -- into the vast, distant future, by virtue of its particularly serious, severe, cataclysmic nature and its profoundly grand impact -- on The Constitution, the national psyche and hence, the characteristic behaviors of the nation -- and, thus, on HUMAN LIFE'S REALITIES within which these are anchored, generated, applied, and refined.
- THE LEARNING OPPORTUNITY: To carefully and thoroughly examine that moment is to open oneself to some of life's greatest, most amazing possibilities -- for so much more makes sense afterwards -- no longer quite so puzzling or threatening -- at the very threshold of our present, blessed form of existence.
- THE DIRECT PAYOFF: It becomes so much clearer how each rational human being can greatly amplify their power over their own existence by amplifying the nation's power.
- THE STRATEGIC CHOICE: To not take the look -- and it DOES takes scarce time from busy life, I know -- well, it must be something like shuffling and stumbling and bumbling through life with chains around both ankles, one hand tied behind one's back, one ear plugged, and one eye tightly shut.
- BONUS: Understanding what was involved in forever breaking cruelest physical-chains -- should help break cruel metaphorical-chains, as well. Life-lessons tend to transfer across life, often in unexpected ways.
- CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTOR: NATIONAL SELF-KNOWLEDGE IS CRUCIAL KNOWLEDGE IN PURSUIT OF THE "GOOD LIFE."
- CIVICS TRAINING-OBJECTIVE: We simply must understand how and why our social systems HAVE TO operate the way they do -- and how our own personal life-operations impact the whole world -- and how the world impacts individual and collective life, in return.
- NATIONAL COORDINATION: On this life-journey, it is surely best if we can ALL pass through the same basic starting-point -- so as to proceed forward -- at all best speed -- for life is a brief, one-shot deal -- toward the same general end-points -- namely, better and better tomorrows -- greatly aided by sharing the advantages -- of approximately the SAME BASIC UNDERSTANDINGS among ourselves.
- A CRITICAL STRATEGIC RESOURCE: This essay seeks to ESTABLISH AND DEFEND such a starting-point on the path to GREATER COMMON UNDERSTANDING, APPRECIATION, FULLER MUTUAL RESPECT, and thus, FULLEST ACCORD.
- THE UNIVERSAL RISKS: For "not-knowing" OR "not-understanding" OR even "NOT having" a "SENSE OF NATIONAL GENERAL AGREEMENT" at all -- risks one's wasting, most tragically- -- so very much of what one would never have wasted, had one only stopped to consider. And that imposes the further risk that the species will be denied possibly very important "might-have-beens" -- in the opportunities lost -- quite unnecessarily.
Socrates is Right!
We can't help but waste what we don't understand
And THIS Nation is a TERRIBLE thing to waste
ALL THAT CAME BEFORE
THE THINGS THAT CAME BEFORE THE WAR were but the essential preliminaries of youth. Here is where a great nation came of age; underwent a most painful, costly, but necessary maturation; ripped out its worst building-blocks; began anew -- much the wiser;
and
in the Process
in the Process
Helped to ELEVATE, REDEEM, and ENNOBLE
ALL of HUMANKIND
ALL of HUMANKIND
Excluding
No One, Especially
If They Are Paying Due Attention
No One, Especially
If They Are Paying Due Attention
METHODOLOGY
At the Front Gate
"... that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom..."
1. STYLE: As I must, I intend to continue refining this -- with major numbered revisions -- until there is nothing left to do -- to suit my larger, overarching purposes for this writing. When I reach that happy point -- all will know -- for the revision numbers will no longer increase -- at least, not by the hour or day.
(Numbering helps me keep track of draft-versions and others to judge when they might wish to take another look to see how I and my ideas are maturing -- and where they might wish to stimulate and otherwise aid the development process). THIS DOCUMENT IS A SYSTEM-BUILDING IDEA-PROCESSING UNIT.
ULTERIOR MOTIVE: I hope the style and coloration of this material are not too distracting. This is a founding document which I need to be this way for much "heavy-lifting" in the system-building to follow-from and refer-back to it. Most truly, I so need to be as precise, thorough, and clear as possible -- in trying to say what I believe is worth existing to try to say -- wide-open to continuing, refining inputs of the common wisdom out there.
2. TRUTH-BASES: ALL the material presented here is as logically valid, philosophically sound, sufficiently thorough, and as historically accurate and FAIR as I can make it -- for the time being (since I'm still growing) -- and ought to be profoundly interesting, thrilling, important, and immensely PRACTICAL and RELEVANT to all.
3. TRUTH-CLAIMS: My truth-claims are all easy to double-check. The historical record is extremely well-documented and widely accessible. I've explored it and examined it quite thoroughly. It's been a very compelling "place" to visit and spend much time, over a life-time. And I do believe my logical and reasoning processes are wide open to your fair examination and evaluation. Though I confess, I haven't finished sorting through the entire Human Knowledge Base on this topic, yet.
4. APPLICABILITY: I believe I am correct enough -- to reach some reasonable and reliable conclusions -- and to use the contents of this essay -- as a solid basis, for SUGGESTING -- within the approximately eleven other Civic Mentor subsystems, presently under development -- including all the other components of this "CIVIC MENTOR / National-Level System-Element" -- MOST EXACTLY -- how that reasoning can be put to very good and very practical work for us. Good work which is certainly being done well -- already -- but, which I think can and might be done even better -- if I can just say it to you right -- i.e. convincingly enough -- along with sufficiently effective PRACTICAL demonstrations.
SYNOPSIS
with
HYPOTHESIS
HYPOTHESIS
I want
to share with you
A COMPLETE VISION
of Brightest Human Possibilities
Knowledge we can really use and build upon
to share with you
A COMPLETE VISION
of Brightest Human Possibilities
Knowledge we can really use and build upon
-- AND REACH THE STARS WITH
Consider These Basics About Our National Character
This very America
was "invented," by means of her
ingenious CONSTITUTION -- a BINDING CONTRACT,
Master Working Blue-Print, and Operating Manual for
"A HUMAN GREATNESS-MACHINE"
which turns the people into a most effective self-government,
and keeps them that way
which turns the people into a most effective self-government,
and keeps them that way
- THIS "national treasure of national treasures" -- the nation's "very immortal soul" -- intricate -- brilliant -- powerful -- wise -- moral -- enlightened -- inspired -- rational -- scientific -- logical -- systematic -- thorough -- durable -- complete, but self-correcting -- which authorizes the individual States to even exist at all -- defines and guarantees their republican natures -- frames, guides, and coordinates their behavior -- keeps them tightly bound together -- causes this nation to be a reliable force (for good) to be reckoned with -- provides the people with necessary and sufficient government products and services, efficiently, but without unduly oppressing them -- converts their collective wisdom and will into RATIONAL, actionable proceedings -- protects the people, body and soul -- enables their social systems to function -- and insures to the people fullest expression of their minds and optimization of their power to freely think, discover, feel, and figure out good things to do.
- In other words, the SUPREME law of the land ENTIRELY EXISTS in order to afford the people their best humanly possible chance to live out the best possible life-experience -- also known as "the good life" -- within a dangerous, unpredictable, but golden world and universe.
- All of this never would have or could have existed without a clearly-codified constitution -- in our PARTICULAR case -- though it's certainly not essential in ALL cases -- but in ours, for sure. For example, our eternal friend, ally, and mother country, Great Britain, with a history far longer and more tumultuous than ours, has long had her own "greatness machine" -- an uncodified constitution -- successfully stable and productive -- built around an ancient monarchy -- which we don't have. She didn't "spring into existence," by deliberate design, as did we -- but evolved over many centuries -- yet she is one with whom we share very similar, complementary human values -- many of which we inherited from that great nation -- and built into our own. A good idea is a good idea.
- For that matter, we share the greatness (and weakness, perhaps) of any and every nation which gives some of its people and ideas to us -- AS WELL AS from the careful assessment of the lessons of history, human nature, philosophy, government and public administration, economics, science, and many other disciplines -- as was conducted through the eyes and hearts and genius of some of the best thinkers of their time and all time -- both here and abroad -- during the "Age of Enlightenment" of western civilization -- and beyond -- to this present day.
- One particularly sterling example of the extraordinary greatness of The CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM is that a national Presidential election was successfully conducted, on time, even in the midst of a great civil war! TRULY REMARKABLE!
- INTERNALLY, by and large, the nation remains in the hands of the "best and brightest," for they arise, voluntarily and competitively, from the ranks of a FREE people -- and remain in power by the common wisdom and will -- in order to serve the greater good. There are always exceptions, but time and the Constitutional system sort out all things.
- EXTERNALLY, it is true that the quality of relations -- among all the nations -- ebbs and flows with the passage of time -- and with constant changes in circumstance -- (friends become adversaries and vice versa -- for a time) -- but in the long view -- these changes are ALL transitory -- (most enemies WILL become FRIENDS) -- and disagreements -- over complex things -- are often unavoidable -- but these all tend to have time-limits.
- BUT, IT IS UNDENIABLE that OUR DIFFERENCES CAN NEVER SUPPLANT THE ETERNAL TRUTH -- THAT WE ARE ALL ONE PROFOUND FORM OF LIFE -- marvelous, flawed, evolving, self-perfecting, uniquely-gifted -- and permanently interconnected by our common natures and inevitable mission to survive and flourish -- so as to continue a most remarkable life-experience -- long and well enough -- to mature into something better and better -- until all best possibilities -- including luck -- have been exhausted.
- And, our Constitutional system insures that we will always try to behave rationally and morally toward ourselves -- AND -- toward the other nations and peoples with whom we share this world -- and offers our best chance of doing so, deliberately, successfully, and consistently through time -- growing, in wisdom, at every step along maturity's path.
- Truly, humankind stands on the shoulders of the ancestors and the now-living -- and the "great human chain-reaction" -- continues to spin merrily along -- taking (even dragging) us into the very future -- which it is helping our destiny to shape for us -- in large part, thanks to the national victory, 150 years ago.
VIRTUALLY ALL OF HUMANKIND AND HUMAN HISTORY HAD A PART TO PLAY IN CREATING THIS VERY AMERICA -- this crucial stepping-stone -- and
have a VITAL STAKE in her continued successful existence
and some of the very best life-lessons are embodied within
her Constitution, to blaze the best possible path
for the generations to embrace and follow.
Those who predict the FALL of an "Empire"
may be guilty of under-estimating a
People's AGILE Nation of LAW
-- Unique unto Itself --
and the POWER and INEVITABILITY
of Human Growth and Maturation!
America firmly shuns Empire by its very nature.
History's Greatest Lessons Are Taken Quite Seriously Here
and Become Burned-into Written, Binding Memory.
==========================================
BUT -- THE VERY CRUX OF THE MATTER
A FOUNDATION OF SAND
IS NO BASIS FOR A NATION
WORTHY OF THE TITLE
THE STRAIGHT, FAST PATH TO RUIN
- Break that contract JUST ONCE -- PROVE it could be broken -- and the whole nation would "fly apart" into conflicting pieces -- into fragmented, unfounded States and other things -- perhaps a multitude of little confederacies would form -- far weaker and more vulnerable than ever -- attractively exposed to foreign intimidation and take-over -- the Presidency and Congress abolished -- internal little and large wars endlessly breaking out -- no orderly way to settle disputes and form constructive consensus (even no United Nations for a similarly fragmented larger world) -- the need for passports and permissions to even move about -- inconsistent (thus, unfair) administration of justice -- brutal law enforcement -- and so very much more. (I can think of 59 possible links in a dreadful chain-reaction, so far -- laid out for us in Section III of this essay)
- And speaking of injustice, add this: PERPETUATION AND SPREAD OF THE WORST KIND OF HUMAN BONDAGE -- CHATTEL SLAVERY -- AND UTTER REVERSAL OF HUMAN PROGRESS -- FOR REMOVAL OF AMERICA WOULD HAVE REMOVED A VITAL, INEVITABLE STEPPING-STONE TOWARD EVOLUTIONARY FULFILLMENT OF HUMANKIND'S BEST POSSIBLE DESTINY -- no longer a readily available and powerful ally in aid of the eternal human struggle -- and so much else at stake in that awful, necessary, yet wondrous world-shaking cataclysm.
- The absurdity of a loose confederation of power had been tried before the Constitution burst on the scene and sorted it all out -- once and for all -- or so it was thought at the time. Turns out, everyone wasn't convinced.
- Had the former enemy won, it would have shown that "the contract" wasn't worth the paper on which it was written. Other States, then, would have been free, perhaps compelled, to also withdraw -- and would have done so. The tremendous internal and external forces -- which The Constitution keeps focused, contained, and balanced -- are simply too great for this not to have happened -- else, why have a constitution, at all? Was this not why it was created, in the first place?
- In other words, THIS NATION WOULD HAVE CEASED TO EXIST -- BROKEN! RUINED! USELESS! DEAD! ANNIHILATED! OBLITERATED! WIPED OUT! "GONE-UP!" KAPUT! A NEW MYTH! DISQUALIFIED! LIGHTS OUT! FINITO! FINIS! FINISH-LINE! ADIOS! A BIENTOT! AU REVOIR! AUF WIEDERSEHEN! SAYONARA! SUBTRACTED! DELETED! ERASED! NO MORE! IRRELEVANT! GOOD-BYE! FAREWELL! SO LONG! CURTAINS! DARKNESS! MUCH CONFUSION! EMPTINESS! VACUUM! NARY A TRACE! DEEPLY-MISSED! A FADING MEMORY! HELLO CHAOS! A HISTORIC SET-BACK! BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS! A NIGHTMARE! A DISASTER! A CALAMITY! A CATASTROPHE! A VERY DARK DAY, INDEED -- and ALL HUMANKIND WOULD HAVE ETERNAL REASON TO DEEPLY MOURN THE SETBACK -- AS IT SLUMPED INTO DECLINE -- INTO AWAITING DARKNESS -- STRUGGLING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO START OVER -- TO TURN THE LIGHTS BACK ON -- well into the vast future. A new mantle of sadness and misery would, even now, be draped across the shoulders of our entire suffering species of life.
- What would this very morning be like for you and me -- if we individuals even existed at all? I have concluded that we would very likely be enduring a "brand new dark age" -- but far worse than ever -- for by the 19th Century -- the world had already reached an unprecedented level of complexity and interconnectedness -- when this new horror would have broken upon our heads. In other words, a whole lot more to go wrong than before and in a lot more places, at the very same time. THE WHOLE BALL GAME WOULD HAVE BEEN CHANGED -- WITH SOME VERY TERRIBLE, VERY POWERFUL NEW PLAYERS ON THE FIELD.
- COULD THIS DISASTROUS CHAIN REACTION HAVE REALLY HAPPENED? ABSOLUTELY! IT ALMOST DID! The enemy was extremely formidable, well-resourced. and highly-motivated. And, the so-called Confederacy was completely unified, ready, and determined to break the contract and maintain its cruel, but self-serving social strategy -- at all costs -- based upon the barbaric institution of slavery -- and the bankrupt calculations and impulses of racism. They, both willfully and inadvertently, inflicted a lot of pain, destruction, terror, and death. They did many barbaric things. Shameful things. Immoral things, as a matter of policy. They celebrated many triumphs in the war, as they had confidently expected. To everyone's horror -- during a large portion of the war -- the initially, fairly evenly-matched combatants often found themselves powerless to retain the upper-hand for very long -- producing a desperately hot, very long, and intensely bloody, back-and-forth struggle -- prolonging the contest.
- While the Union was obviously sufficiently powerful, it was internally conflicted and, thus, seriously impeded in flexing its full strength, for a time. Many of the people flinched a lot, it seems, at every horror. And, with a lesser man at the helm, all might have been given over, without a squeak -- perhaps during some inevitable downturn -- or even before any battle was ever joined at all.
- But, we proved to be "Fortune's Favorites" for, among other things, we had ABRAHAM LINCOLN -- that utterly brilliant, peace-loving, humane, honorable, courageous, steady, kind-hearted, compassionate, good-humored, gifted, gentle man -- our 16th President -- who understood the DANGER -- and who reluctantly ACCEPTED both a grave responsibility AND a civil war -- as INSISTED upon by the people's enemies -- and DEMANDED by the very highest principles -- and who promptly proceeded to make himself the GREATEST OF WISE WARRIOR CHIEFS -- among so many other remarkable qualities! (Even the enemy grew to admire his humanity and to sense and envy his greatness, if not to fully understand these special attributes)
- In the face of this admittedly exceptional example, who DARES say one human can't save a world? VERY, very lucky for US that we had such a thing as an Abraham Lincoln who could show us the potential for greatness that a human soul can contain -- that the "ordinary" human being can CHANGE self into something really quite extraordinary ---- AND a Constitutional System which unlocks our better personal and public natures as nothing else ever could, at least in our unique case.
So, thanks to the glory of VICTORY and circumstance, we are NOT being crushed under abject misery -- but instead, are STILL helping to light the world -- BIG-TIME -- A MUCH MORE MORAL NATION -- SELF-AWARE -- full of POWER and GOOD WILL and OPTIMISM in service to the very highest possible of causes == HUMAN WELL-BEING and BETTERMENT == continuing to help lead and empower human progress through its present "golden age."
THE HYPOTHESIS
So, counting our blessings -- EXPLICITLY -- is an essential thing for each American -- in fact, every thinking human being, anywhere -- to carefully do -- unless "hopelessly" trapped by dire need for rescue -- and with no meaningful blessings to yet count --
BECAUSE...
Then, the day-to-day trivialities of our complaint, will be seen for what they truly are. We will keep our "eyes on the prize" -- focused -- undistracted -- our energies concentrated and diligently applied -- always to the good -- motivated by some degree of gratitude and reciprocity -- in celebrating:
EXACTLY HOW LUCKY WE ALL ARE THAT THIS IS THE WAY OF THINGS -- by reaching fullest agreement that to BEST INCREASE our own chances for living a "good life" -- then, such chances MUST BE SHARED AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE -- placing and keeping them within the realistically-attainable reach of all -- and insuring that there is plenty of willing, even enthusiastic help available for doing so -- with as much needful rescue, as can be effected -- all over the earth -- for self and family and other social groupings and national and global betterment -- further elevating our MIGHTY selves...
AS ONE MAGNIFICENT SPECIES OF LIFE -- so as to be far more likely -- to be able and willing -- to do everything we can -- to use our blessings -- including our enormous mental powers -- as humans are wont to do -- if free and aware and knowledgeable -- to insure that what we experience and leave behind will only be better than before -- and never worse.
Never again taking for granted fate's incredible, sometimes capricious, kindness -- nor the fragility of human existence and luck -- nor underestimating the basic goodness and worth and power of the human species.
ONE HAS TO WORK VERY HARD NOT TO SEE THE HAND OF FATE IN ALL OF THIS!
As Stephen R. Covey so aptly says:
"The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing."
***********
AUTHOR'S PREJUDICES
Where this is all "coming from"
ABOUT THIS "HUMANLY LOVE" THING -- The well-being of all ought to be a sincere, DELIBERATE goal for us all. And it tends to work much better if it comes from the heart -- automatically -- so we don't have to keep reminding ourselves to see everything through the "good will lens." It functions as a mighty lubricant for humankind's squeaky "social machinery" -- and rocket fuel. It gives us breathing room and permission to make and learn from honest mistakes -- which often happen as we try to figure out and do whatever the right thing is -- and so inevitable and crucial to the growing process. For, as I just said, this promises US ALL a much better world -- to a degree which would be difficult or impossible to achieve without it. Is there a better path? If so, I've never heard of it. "Love" is a very, very popular sentiment -- for good reason -- may as well stretch it as far as she can go.
We each can only do our absolute best for ourselves and those we most care about, if, and only if, everyone around us, who can, also does -- without it, we can get only so close -- and no farther. And, for those who haven't yet reached their optimum ability for this (and who has?) -- well that, too, can change for the better, because we each are ever-maturing -- and we will so-change -- for the much better -- ESPECIALLY, as long as the vital ingredient of "good will" (humanly love) is carefully included, cultivated, and maintained -- so as to help rather than hinder any one of us, thus, ALL of us.
In this game of life, truly, everyone matters. We each bring much to the table -- and we each have much we need to take away, as well.
As Stephen R. Covey so aptly says:
"The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing."
***********
AUTHOR'S PREJUDICES
As you will find, this is NOT an instrument of BLAME, but one meant to HEAL and ENRICH. It is a concerted attempt to honestly analyze our situation -- express reliable conclusions useful to the future -- and help synthesize PRACTICAL courses of action -- which will enable us to better do -- what we all crave -- namely, to create the best possible future for ourselves and for those whom we love. In my case and, I trust, for countless others -- around this world -- who deliberately embrace and prize the concepts of deep HUMANLY LOVE, RESPECT, and AWE (since everything is much better and more fun that way) -- that means a much better world for ALL HUMANS.
ABOUT THIS "HUMANLY LOVE" THING -- The well-being of all ought to be a sincere, DELIBERATE goal for us all. And it tends to work much better if it comes from the heart -- automatically -- so we don't have to keep reminding ourselves to see everything through the "good will lens." It functions as a mighty lubricant for humankind's squeaky "social machinery" -- and rocket fuel. It gives us breathing room and permission to make and learn from honest mistakes -- which often happen as we try to figure out and do whatever the right thing is -- and so inevitable and crucial to the growing process. For, as I just said, this promises US ALL a much better world -- to a degree which would be difficult or impossible to achieve without it. Is there a better path? If so, I've never heard of it. "Love" is a very, very popular sentiment -- for good reason -- may as well stretch it as far as she can go.
We each can only do our absolute best for ourselves and those we most care about, if, and only if, everyone around us, who can, also does -- without it, we can get only so close -- and no farther. And, for those who haven't yet reached their optimum ability for this (and who has?) -- well that, too, can change for the better, because we each are ever-maturing -- and we will so-change -- for the much better -- ESPECIALLY, as long as the vital ingredient of "good will" (humanly love) is carefully included, cultivated, and maintained -- so as to help rather than hinder any one of us, thus, ALL of us.
In this game of life, truly, everyone matters. We each bring much to the table -- and we each have much we need to take away, as well.
David Nelson
The Mentor Enterprises / ELMS
***********
I. INTRODUCTION
SECTION I -- OUTLINE
Summary of Section 1
A. Purposes of This Essay
Rationale Behind the Purposes
B. Statement of the Problem
1 Our Supreme Existential Risk
2. The Longest View
3. What We Now Know and Need to Know
4. The "Then-Now-Later" Connection
5. Our Strategic Choice
C. Major Premises
1. A Great Mistake
2. Eternal Relevance
D. The Setting -- Explaining The Civil War at its Essence -- Its Broad Contours
1. A Grave Matter
2. The Furnace of War
3. The National Standpoint
4. The Enemy Standpoint
5. The Gauntlet Thrown Down
6. AND THEN CAME THE WAR -- INTO THE STORM! -- An American Iliad
One of the most significantly noble undertakings of all time
6.1 So it was a classically IDEALISTIC war of good against evil.
6.2 The mother-nation, in the gifted hands of a masterful President
6.3. And oh, the magnificent, incredibly HEROIC and STOIC soldiery on both sides:
6.4 And, let's not overlook the legendary valor of our Navy
6.5 And, the electrifying political atmosphere
6.6 Yes, most, as it turns out -- after much disagreement -- came to see
6.7 In other words, it was a full-fledged, genuine, vicious, no-holds-barred, very HEAVY, MAJOR WAR.
6.8 And then, at WAR'S END -- the victorious Union armies
6.9 And the leader who led us, safely, through the storm. What of him?
6.10 ONE PARAMOUNT MORAL OF THE STORY:
6.10 ONE PARAMOUNT MORAL OF THE STORY:
And, how can we NOT stand in deepest awe and wonderment -- and feel the greatest humanly pride?
7. One Nightmare Ends
8. Another Nightmare Begins
E. SIDENOTE -- The Echoes From a Loud Bang...Arguing Blame or Finishing the Healing? At Long Last?
1. Small wonder that bitterness is hard to wipe away
2. And the strongest lessons we ever learn in this life are at mother's knee and by cultural immersion
A Sidenote within a Sidenote
a. Adding Fuel to Legend's Fire
b. Social Participation and Exposures
c. Hence, Escalation Became Inevitable
d. The Mercy of Ferocity
3. Yet, if we're lucky, we realize that the NOW-LIVING did not do the misdeeds and...
4. Our ONLY task is to admire whatever there is to admire and...
Fundamentally
5. We are all "children of total circumstances"
6. It took a "super-human" chain-reaction, in which ALL participated...
7. No one, now living, has any responsibility for what their ancestors did...
8. And, if we are all "children of TOTAL circumstance," then the only way to change the "child" is to change the circumstances
LET THE HEALING ACCELERATE
So We Can Break Our Final Chains and Soar
So We Can Break Our Final Chains and Soar
***********
SUMMARY OF SECTION I
Introduction
Together, With The CONSTITUTION -- the U.S. Civil War, its "GRANDEST ENFORCER" -- Anchors Our Society, Safely and Securely, Within its Total Reality. They Set the Tone for Most Everything to Follow -- and Always Will.
A Ground-Zero Partnership!
(Just a few sour notes remain to be screened out --
and then the "music" can really soar!)
A Ground-Zero Partnership!
(Just a few sour notes remain to be screened out --
and then the "music" can really soar!)
I primarily seek to set up a context which should help you draw deeper meaning from the other four Sections. I start the discussion at a very broad, humanistic level -- and zero in on the main topic through a logical progression -- onward -- quickly, but thoroughly -- through the broad contours of the Civil War. In this systematic sort of an approach -- I am attempting to leave out nothing important. I have high hopes for a favorable impact of this bulletin on the national dialog and collective world-view and I explain much of my overall reasoning, here.
LOGICAL STARTING POINT:
Herein is the Starting-Point to the thread of Logic that runs through this entire essay:
I try to show, below, that The American Civil War redefined what it means to be an American -- and a good human being -- and that we can only improve ourselves just so far -- and no farther -- unless we understand those definitions -- more fully -- which means a fuller understanding of that WAR. (For this reason, this is the sensible starting place -- from which to begin re-evaluating our heritage -- today -- for it is, I believe -- most urgent that we do so -- as you shall soon see).
- And just as importantly, I think The War also brought forward a NEW, upgraded mission for the entire world to tightly embrace -- namely, optimal advancement of HUMAN PROGRESS -- toward fulfillment of -- SUSTAINED HUMAN WELL-BEING -- for the species, as a whole -- which means -- for each and every single individual -- anywhere -- INCLUDING OURSELVES. It puts forth the insight that -- we are all interconnected -- within a single -- GREAT -- HUMAN NETWORK -- and are fully engaged in -- ONE single, GREAT CHAIN-REACTION -- which began with the very FIRST humans -- and will continue to run forward until the very LAST. We have a vital, inescapable "chain-linking" social-function, among some others -- our "ONLY ***" choice (more or less) is whether to be a good link or a bad link,****** Though a fuller discussion of "free will" needs to be considered -- at a later time -- probably in a future work on a Civic Mentor / National Element Essay (i.e. "The Meaning of FREEDOM").***
- Whatever we each do -- or fail to do -- affects everything else -- both now and into a future which will outlive us -- and which naturally extend from the very existences, behaviors, and influences of our ancestors, for better or worse -- a job we carry forward for ourselves and all the humans to follow from us (the Civil War is but one more, especially vivid, proof of this).
THE RISKS:
I try to make it crystal clear that this is a matter of LIFE and DEATH for our whole species of life (even ALL Life) -- as our astounding technological advances make it ever-more-clear -- almost daily -- that our Universe and fate -- are confronting us with gravely serious INTERNAL and EXTERNAL hazards and golden opportunities, many of which we had long been totally oblivious to or underestimating.
- Our blessed species simply MUST get its act together -- we must harmonize our efforts -- rooting out -- once and for all -- the puny, ridiculous -- as well as the more serious -- things that divide and weaken us -- which dilute and waste our combined strength -- and divert our collective wisdom from -- proper preparations for -- whatever may come our way -- thereby weakening us enough -- that there may not always be a "we" -- to worry about it.
- All matters settled by a HUMAN-EXTINCTION EVENT (sudden or gradual) -- which might have been completely manageable -- by a species of life -- which might have made itself -- worthy and ready to endure -- but which wiped us out, instead -- because we squandered -- the chance -- while we still had it.
THE PUNCH-LINE:
Specifically, you will begin to see why I believe it's so important that everyone get it perfectly straight that our Civil War was not just a piece of ancient history. It has eternal relevance which no generation should ever, ever forget NOR underestimate -- not if they wish the very best for this nation and world -- and, hence, for themselves and for those who hold their hearts.
- And, this first Section fully explains why I say this. I point out that the former enemy's "great mistake" in bringing on this war was their failure to appreciate how much was at stake -- besides their merely declaring their independence -- so as to keep doing as they pleased -- no matter what.
- The U.S. would have DIED -- with profound global consequences -- had they succeeded. A contention I fully support in later sections. We can't afford to make an even worse blunder with our future -- when even more is at stake.
I then go on to summarize some of the large issues that made that war and followed from it -- to explain basically how it came to be -- and WHAT it came to be -- providing sufficient details for the reader's use, as reading proceeds.
AFTERMATH:
Finally, I offer an analysis of the grumbling, war-related bitterness, that STILL persists in some minds and poisons some hearts, even to this very day -- and try to offer an understanding perspective which I hope will aid the healing, at long last -- to maybe help extinguish the remaining, smoldering, but still potent, embers -- so the nation can move forward, in fullest accord -- and much sooner, rather than much later. I believe this is so serious that it must be addressed, here, in this very early stage of the essay.
***********
A. PURPOSES OF THIS ESSAY
1. HERE'S WHAT I HAVE TO SAY:
I think I can and should offer a plausible, partial collection of general AND specific ideas as to the horrifying possibilities, probabilities, and certainties -- had our much beloved, respected, and admired nation been destroyed by her brutal Civil War (1861 - 1865), only a century and a half ago -- which is certainly not long ago in a typical "national life-span."
I think I can convincingly show you how a special kind of nation, such as ours, could have been virtually erased from history -- with a high degree of certainty and, very nearly was -- and, which in our particular case, would have posed many enormous, predictable, unpredictable, and ever-mounting difficulties for all humankind
2. THE VERY HEART OF THE MATTER:
What follows are my careful observations and informed suppositions (General, in Section II; Specific, in Section III, below) -- a somewhat random and surely incomplete survey of the potential components of bitter tragedy -- which, thankfully, did not come to pass -- but which I firmly believe certainly could have -- and almost did -- had the grave error of DISUNION triumphed.
I intend to stress, extend, interpet, and apply this all-important point and lesson of "unity and structural integrity" -- AGAIN AND AGAIN -- down into our very neighborhoods -- even deeply into our families and individual selves -- and build collective wisdom -- by entertaining sufficient public and private discussion of these things and their implications -- within future, increasingly practical and personalized "Civic Mentor subsystems" -- to follow -- SOONEST!!! (This fabulous Internet was the crucial ingredient I had been long waiting for and anticipating, and its advent couldn't have been more perfectly timed, as far as this Civic Mentor project is concerned.)
3. MY PRIMARY GOAL AND WORRY:
Upon completion of their reviews, I trust that readers, fellow citizens of this world, will look upon our common situation with profound gratitude and relief that things are going the way they seem to be going. Things didn't have to turn out the way they have done and are doing They could have been a lot worse. And, this ought to make us supremely confident that they can be made even better.
a. Yet, the great "human engine" isn't quite running "on all cylinders." Some "cylinders" are clogged by self-sustained hauntings from the past and groundless fears for the future -- born of uncertainty or over-certainty -- as well as from the occasional (and, sadly, sometimes regular) harsh stings of reality -- or of the other countless configurations of conflicting possibilities and realities that confound a dynamic mass of many individual intellects -- which partially constitute the more controllable aspects inside the totality of the human life-experience.
b. Judging by fate's trajectory, thus far, however, this clogging will surely clear away, sooner or later -- since, largely, the absence of growth is death and -- and the rational tend to sense this, with increasing clarity -- though we're all at different places in our maturation -- BUT WE ARE FIGURING OUT -- WITH INCREASING RAPIDITY -- HOW TO SPREAD -- GOOD LIFE-LESSONS -- MORE EFFICIENTLY -- BY CREATING AND THEN, LEARNING HOW TO USE AND NOT-USE THE GREAT ADVANCES -- SUCH AS THIS INTERNET BLESSING -- THAT CONNECT US EVER-MORE TIGHTLY TOGETHER, AS ONE GREAT THING -- SOUL-TO-SOUL -- so we can all GROW WELL -- AT BEST SPEED -- both young and old -- so as to ALL PULL together in the SAME generally sensible direction.
c. But unclogging sooner is much better than later or never -- for the good of those "cylinders," themselves, as well as -- for the larger social machinery with which they are -- so importantly integral. The sooner we can harmonize ourselves, the sooner humankind can fulfill its best potential -- and failure to do so would be a tragic waste of golden opportunities and an unconscionable welcoming of grave risks (see the next subsection for details).
d. Perhaps, this essay is part of the "repair plan" I was fated to put forward -- for whatever it may be worth. Dreams sometimes do come true -- especially if we keep trying to do the essentials that they seem to call for.
AND, BECAUSE THERE IS STILL SOME HEALING LEFT TO BE DONE
4. LAST, BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST:
This bulletin, in addition to the other purposes, tries to offer a perspective which might prove helpful to the healing process, so we can better favor ourselves and those who are destined to follow from us. One can only hope.
RATIONALE BEHIND THE PURPOSES
I THINK IT'S VERY HEALTHY to examine how things might have turned out, had one of humankind's greatest blessings, the United States of America, been suddenly subtracted from this world -- and from the human equation -- as almost happened. And, I think it is DANGEROUS not to know this -- and believe this essay makes that case -- and more.
Such an exercise virtually guarantees that a careful reader -- who is new to this line of reasoning -- will never look at life and this remarkable nation in quite the same way, ever again. (If I've written this well enough)
One gains startling revelations -- with priceless new practical insights -- when one gets to inspect and ponder the very process -- by which that subtraction -- would have been accomplished -- and how each negative consequence specifically degrades the entire human condition. It all makes so much sense! You can't help but love this country, once you've peeked under that tent.
The "mere" tearing up of The U.S. Constitution would have triggered and energized an inevitable, crushing chain-reaction of breath-taking magnitude and gravity.
- Once we look closely at the whole situation, here, we are unlikely to ever again take for granted our great good fortune.
- Whenever we next have reason to look at or think of that truly sacred document, we will never again fail to marvel at its brilliance.
- Our every subsequent decision and act should take on a much larger significance. Somehow everything -- may come to seem -- what they truly are -- parts of something ever so much more important.
And we will likely prize -- more sincerely -- every precious, instantly-evaporating moment -- we've been so luckily allotted -- so as to experience, more fully -- such an amazing existence as this life-gift is -- at least for a little while -- until we have to move along -- and make room for -- the next in line -- in the place we worked so hard to prepare and enhance for them (as our ancestors did for us) -- as our hopefully fair-turn ends -- and the new begins -- or continues.
To read this is to change you for the much better, if that's what you needed -- I tentatively believe -- and fondly do hope.
I think the effort of writing this has done so for me -- and continues to do so.
I think the effort of writing this has done so for me -- and continues to do so.
B. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
1. THE LONGEST VIEW: Perhaps, others hadn't fully considered how serious, but auspicious, this mighty upheaval was, is, and always likely will be -- for most every single human being -- either directly, indirectly, or perhaps, both -- because of the far-reaching, influential, predominantly favorable (or well-meaning), presence of the U.S. on the world stage -- and the possibly even worse life-conditions for any living human, most anywhere, had she not been and is so-constituted.
a. Perhaps, with deepened awareness of this truth, we might ALL "take increased devotion to a cause" for which so many others gave "the last full measure of devotion" -- and might, too, more "highly resolve that they had not died in vain" -- in one of the MOST IMPORTANT POSSIBLE -- continuing causes -- this life AND COMMON SENSE ever require us to undertake -- namely, INSURING the survival and healthful maturation of the ENTIRE human species and fulfillment of its best potential.
b. EVERY human being belongs under the protection of at least this ONE universally-inclusive, unifying, self-directing IDEAL -- simply because they are one of US -- and, if we don't watch out for one another, then who will?
c. There is no escape, except death or vacuity -- and who on earth -- but the insane -- would ever wish to escape?
{ Forgive me if I seem to be straying from the subject a bit, but I'm thinking all of this will make greater sense to you, just a bit further down the page... it's all part of the story. }
d. In other words, our best guarantees of HUMAN WELL-BEING are worth our earnest, urgent pursuit -- and are within our ready reach -- if we will only all decide that this is so -- for HUMAN WELL-BEING IS -- the ONLY OBJECTIVE MORALITY we truly need -- above all others. (The simple test being, "does my act or omission, somehow, hinder or help human betterment?" -- Where "hinder" is the answer, the act or omission fails this test and is not moral. Simple. Universal. There may be exceptions, but they're hard to see from here -- though I am open to critique -- and further maturation, thereby.)
e. IS THIS NOT AN UNDENIABLY GREAT TRUTH?
That from the moment ANY ONE of us was born -- the entire world changed -- for better or worse -- and it will continue to do so -- long after we leave this life -- simply because we each came to be, as we did.
We all belong to ONE magnificent HUMAN chain-reaction and network -- an unstoppable totality -- which connects the very FIRST humans with the very LAST. Our every act -- good or bad, large or small -- ripples out from us -- and ricochets everywhere -- along that "tightly-chained human-network" -- changing things -- for BETTER or for WORSE -- far beyond any horizon -- we'll ever get to fully see -- and for long after -- we even forgot that we so-acted.
The only exceptions I can see, from here, might arguably be those rare, isolated cultures that are to be found, here and there -- at the outer edges of civilization -- and even they, in a sense, are affected by and affect the way things happen to be.
WELL, IF SO, THEN CAN WE NOT AGREE...
That favorable life-conditions are far superior and preferable -- where ANY SINGLE one or GROUP of us is personally concerned -- and that good acts are far more likely to yield favorable effects in return -- and that sending good acts along the human-chain -- positively increases the world's "inventory of the good" -- and squeezes-out the bad -- eventually, till none is to be found -- anywhere -- and is, therefore the most worthwhile thing we could ever do -- and therefore MUST do -- if we possess properly functioning brains -- and value being true to one another?
EVERYONE MATTERS TO THE WAY -- THINGS HAPPEN TO BE -- AND ARE BECOMING. We are each integral, inseparable, crucial component-sub-systems of the total human equation. We may as well change our world so that EVERYONE WINS -- than not.
(The American Civil War is the perfect case in point)
2. WHAT WE NOW KNOW AND NEED TO KNOW:
The more we learn, most every day, about -- how truly abundant, but utterly hazardous the universe is to human life -- the more urgent it becomes for the ENTIRE human species to understand how incredibly dangerous our divisive issues are to our continued existence -- failure here is one way to prove our unfitness for continued existence. The better we understand our advantages (such as this very nation) -- the more likely and able we will be to FULLY UNITE, CONCENTRATE, AND CONSECRATE OURSELVES, AS ONE MIGHTY SPECIES -- at our greatest possible strength-levels. Hopefully, this will afford us with sufficient power and wisdom -- to successfully meet whatever our larger collective fate has in store for us -- possibly WITH LITTLE OR NO WARNING. This is one bet we cannot afford to lose.
- Understanding and agreeing upon the meaning of The Civil War is a crucial thing for us to try to do -- in order for us to move forward -- from the same starting point -- so as to arrive at, approximately, the same much-to-be-desired end-point -- the best possible national life and best possible global contribution for the greater good of our common species. The War redefined what it means to be an American. But, I think there is a need for a lot more clarity in that definition -- for confusion was harmful, then -- and could be fatal, now.
. - Because of the profound nature, scope, depth, and magnitude of that cataclysm, it should come as no surprise that the society is still reverberating from the many shocks -- and the confusing and troublesome after-shocks. Large numbers of Americans still romanticize the "lost cause," as they imagine it to have been. They end up -- hopelessly pining for what can and should never again be -- and ignoring what a set-back and cost -- they, and the rest of the world, would suffer -- were their forlorn dreams ever to come true. Others don't see what all the fuss is about, thinking "ancient history" to be irrelevant to their very busy daily lives -- undervaluing and squandering priceless opportunities -- and overlooking avoidable risks -- through lowered eyes. Still others resent the treatment of enslaved ancestors and wonder why it took so long to address their pitiful, plaintive cries -- and why they still so often feel they are being begrudged their fair entitlement to the American Dream. Others see "treason" and wonder at the leniency. And many other permutations in attitudes and understandings.
. - All of these often conflicting views and attitudes have real and direct influence on the quality of our national, cooperative life together. They shape our thinking, which shapes actions, and produces reactions -- quite often, unfavorably -- and unnecessarily. All working to dilute our unified strength and weaken our chances to survive and flourish into an uncertain future. As I try to show, we simply must keep "mining" that War for all the value and virtue we can extract from it. While carefully shielding ourselves from the "dangerous, even deadly radiation" of destructive, counter-productive notions.
. - Knowledge, wisdom, and good will constitute our best shield of safety.
. - .It seems clear to me that there is a general UNDER-ESTIMATION of OUR case -- and as long as there is, we can pointlessly argue and "nit-pick" the pro's and con's, far into the future, and never come to the level of agreement we need to face-down such a daunting future, as ONE PEOPLE. More information needs to be considered, by more and more of the people.
.
The theory being, that the more we grasp and appreciate exactly what the world almost lost... the more likely we will be to appreciate our great good luck in what the world won instead ... and to act, accordingly.
This added information should help to make it abundantly clear
why the war has ETERNAL, DIRECT RELEVANCE
for the ENTIRE WORLD
3. OUR SUPREME EXISTENTIAL RISK: We will have no excuse if we go extinct or fail to develop and capitalize on our fullest potential, simply because we could not get past the irrelevant, so as to fully engage with the real. I think (or, at least, hope) a sensible way to proceed is to read this to the very end -- to see if I'm not on to something, here. I EXPLORE WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED -- SO WE CAN COUNT -- AND BUILD UPON -- SO MANY MORE OF OUR MAGNIFICENT BLESSINGS. And, by the way, The Internet is the very tool we'd been waiting for, to accelerate our unification (more on that, elsewhere).
4. THE "THEN-NOW-LATER" CONNECTION:
Some might argue that this wasn't the explicit cause for which the ancestors suffered and died. Agreed. Many, if not most, of these honored ancestors probably didn't look at the big picture in that way -- maybe couldn't, from their 19th-Century perspectives -- except for a few, perhaps, like President Lincoln. But, I contend that, as we collectively mature past those days, we can see much more clearly that our whole species is too tightly interdependent for this not to be the next most reasonable goal -- HUMAN WELL-BEING -- toward the greatest conceivable good -- which logically follows from -- and is completely consistent with -- the very purposes for which they deliberately risked their all.
5. OUR STRATEGIC CHOICE:
Anything less than PURSUIT OF TOTAL HUMAN WELL-BEING would be EXACTLY the wrong legacy to accept from The American Civil War, in my view. The generations are counting on us -- and we, on each other -- to build on the achievements of those who came before -- while shunning or distilling all error -- for this is OUR turn, our privilege -- to write this, the next chapter of human history -- and there's nothing wrong -- AND EVERYTHING RIGHT -- about doing our human duty -- at our humanly best -- so as to leave to those who follow -- always a far better world than the one we found -- when we first arrived -- as was done, so magnificently, for ourselves.
==================================
THE GREAT HUMAN CHAIN-REACTION
SIMPLY MUST NOT LOSE ITS MOMENTUM
Its taken too long to build and must be incredibly hard
to restart -- like pushing a boulder uphill
only to have it suddenly roll back down upon us
==================================
Consider on, if you please...
C. MAJOR PREMISES
1. THE GREAT MISTAKE:
Perhaps the former enemy's biggest error in The Civil War was failure to sufficiently appreciate -- that the Union was fighting for its very existence and moral compass. The South would not have necessarily died (as it didn't) had it lost, nor the North, per se -- but the Union, the very nation, certainly would have died in a tragedy -- and the whole world would have changed, beyond recognition -- and for the much worse, NOT the better. As far as the nation was concerned -- that war was truly a do-or-die, all-costs proposition. A nation that cannot maintain its structural integrity cannot long endure the stresses at that level of existence. The War re-validated this crucial, historical lesson for a world of studiously observant nations -- a world which wondered whether (and, at times, seriously doubted or even hoped-not that) this "glorious experiment" in democracy would endure.
Perhaps the former enemy's biggest error in The Civil War was failure to sufficiently appreciate -- that the Union was fighting for its very existence and moral compass. The South would not have necessarily died (as it didn't) had it lost, nor the North, per se -- but the Union, the very nation, certainly would have died in a tragedy -- and the whole world would have changed, beyond recognition -- and for the much worse, NOT the better. As far as the nation was concerned -- that war was truly a do-or-die, all-costs proposition. A nation that cannot maintain its structural integrity cannot long endure the stresses at that level of existence. The War re-validated this crucial, historical lesson for a world of studiously observant nations -- a world which wondered whether (and, at times, seriously doubted or even hoped-not that) this "glorious experiment" in democracy would endure.
THEY JUST COULDN'T BELIEVE THE UNION WOULD
FIGHT SO HARD! SO DESPERATELY! SO DOGGEDLY!
... and a Struggle So Mighty, Only Made the
Gains and Losses That Much More Precious
... and a Struggle So Mighty, Only Made the
Gains and Losses That Much More Precious
2. ETERNAL RELEVANCE:
The glorious victory in this nation's severest existential trial and struggle should not be taken for granted -- by any generation, regardless of ancestry. For this blessing, the United States, has long been an essential, indisputably strong, but never perfect nor invulnerable, source of greatest goodness in this world -- which must be eternally protected and nurtured at all costs -- by an enlightened people -- who understand and cherish their true heritage. Who recognize their great good fortune that things turned out the way they did -- and who understand how tentative this life can be -- in most every respect.
D. THE SETTING
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EXPLAINING THE CIVIL WAR AT ITS ESSENCE
Broad Contours of an Existential Struggle
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EXPLAINING THE CIVIL WAR AT ITS ESSENCE
Broad Contours of an Existential Struggle
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"Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." -- Thomas Paine
1. A GRAVE MATTER:
All of humankind (even our adversaries, past and present) had a very close call at wager on the outcome of The American Civil War and the possible downfall of the Republic.
2. THE FURNACE OF WAR.
The nation's former domestic enemies, the Confederates, were nearly as formidable and determined (and, certainly, as courageous) as its defenders. So, it took unparalleled vision; wisdom; heroic perseverance; an ocean of blood, sweat, and tears; vast treasure -- and much more good fortune -- to complete the task in our favor.
The nation had its hands full -- it had to fight hard -- and work herself through a lot of complicated things (in other words, "to grow up") -- to prove her worthiness to exist among -- and to even lead -- as things have turned out -- other nations -- and it took a furnace to temper the steel -- a steel we have needed, time and again, ever since.
And, an entire generation of Americans willingly paid these wrenching costs and built and saved a future beyond their wildest imaginings -- even if they never realized that that's what they ALL were doing.
3. THE NATIONAL STANDPOINT
The people's government faced the much harder and riskier task. It HAD TO "invade" the rebellious Southland -- and re-establish the law there -- State-by-State -- in all eleven "seceded" States -- or acquiesce in the nation's obliteration. If the US had not attacked -- its avowed and determined enemy, the so-called Confederacy -- would have won, by default -- and would have also shown that other parts of the nation could also break-away -- without effective sanction -- on most any self-righteous pretext, whim, or motive. The nation "invaded" because it was "attacked" in its very being, which was and is intolerable. How could it do anything less?
It is amazing that the Union was able to marshal itself for the task -- as rapidly as it did. This was clearly a function of INSPIRED LEADERSHIP -- fate's most timely gift to us of the great Abraham Lincoln. (It seems an almost reliable truism that the right persons seem to rise to the occasion -- almost the INSTANT we most need them -- yet more genius of our Constitutional System -- may it ALWAYS be that way)
The South had been preparing for this for decades -- the election of President Lincoln was just the perfect, long-awaited "excuse" to take the final, monumental step into civil war. The Union had been resisting, even underestimating, the imminence of civil war, up until the very last minute. Hence, cold reality had to force the "wheels of war" to start turning -- late, but apparently, soon enough.
It is also amazing that so very many "ordinary people" understood and believed in the stakes, sufficiently, to die or suffer serious wounding and every other kind of loss for themselves. This was a generation who faced and passed a grave test no other American generation ever endured -- and because of them, no other generation is ever likely to need to. (America is blessed to have had many "greatest" generations.)
4. THE ENEMY STANDPOINT
To win, the enemy obviously miscalculated -- (1) that it "merely" had to close itself to national authority -- and (2) vigorously defend itself, so as to wear-out all Union resolve -- (3) that its will, culture, soldiers, endurance, and war-fighting prowess -- were far superior to the rest of the nation -- (4) that the thinking, mood, and preparations for war had been developing, "sufficiently," for decades -- (5) that the immense apparent popular support had been carefully cultivated -- with all dissent even violently suppressed -- even to the extent of excluding President Lincoln's name from the Southern ballot -- (6) that, in its slaves, it enjoyed a labor advantage, which amplified the power of the soldiery and other resources -- (7) that its resources included the "appropriation" of the entire, vast national infrastructure situated at the South (effectively robbing the whole nation of what it had bought and paid for -- and then, using it against her) -- (8) that it felt it had a sufficiently wealthy economy -- (9) that it could coerce foreign intervention in its behalf -- and (10) that its vast strategic position was impregnable and overwhelmingly favored by the war-axiom -- that a well-prepared position is far costlier to attack than to defend -- and which was proved so true, yet again. (Total Union war dead far outnumbered the human costs paid by the Confederate enemy)
In effect, behaving as if the national Union were equivalent to a "social club," from which its members could withdraw, as they saw fit -- and as the mood hit -- no harm, no foul of any consequence -- to either them or to the other "club-members." It's easy to see why the enemy was so over-confident.
5. THE GAUNTLET THROWN DOWN:
So, from that high confidence spilled the defiant taunt --
"let us go in peace or come down here and make us surrender, if you dare"
-- an invitation which, thankfully and inevitably, proved irresistible. And so, U.S. Fort Sumter fell -- into the enemy hands -- that fired the cannons and cast the die. As Caesar supposedly said at the Rubicon, "Let the dice fly high." No turning back, now.
AND THEN CAME THE WAR
INTO THE STORM! -- AN AMERICAN ILIAD
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INTO THE STORM! -- AN AMERICAN ILIAD
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AND OH, WHAT A MAGNIFICENT STORY IT IS!
The Great Milestones
Ft. Sumter to Lee's Surrender / 12 Apr 1861 to 9 Apr 1865 / (3 yrs, 11 mos, 28 days)
President Lincoln's Assassination / 15 Apr 1865 / (A Very BAD Good Friday, in 6 days of Lee's Surrender)
Ft. Sumter to Official End / 12 Apr 1861 to 10 May 1865 / (4 yrs, 3 wks, 6 days)
CONSIDER: One part of society struggling, at maximum intensity, against the mother-nation in a cause which a large part of the people had convinced themselves -- or been "persuaded" -- was a good one. A cause to keep on doing a terrible thing -- cruelly and selfishly keeping many, many human beings in the -- soul-and-body-crushing grip -- of a most bitter form of -- life-long chattel slavery -- which most of the civilized world and much of the rest of the nation -- except for themselves -- considered to be immoral and should stop -- AT THE OUTSET. And, as understanding grew, even more and more previously-preoccupied fellow Americans came to agree. A long-neglected learning process moved into full play.
PERHAPS, FOREMOST, IT WAS AN INSTRUCTIVE WAR
spreading and deepening human esteem
for that most prized concept
FREEDOM!
spreading and deepening human esteem
for that most prized concept
FREEDOM!
6.1 In its fundaments, it was certainly a classically IDEALISTIC war of GOOD versus EVIL
General Ulyssees S. Grant, in referring to his feelings on General Robert E. Lee's surrender to him -- near war's end -- alluded to this, quite well, in his memoirs: "I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse." (A war with plenty of magnanimity and gallantry, too, such as what General, and later, President Grant showed, his whole, ultimately brilliant military career and always well-meaning life -- which ended so sadly and untimely -- yet, even his final scene was played with remarkable style and consideration for his family and nation. He was another very GOOD man -- and our good luck continued to hold.)
6.2. The mother-nation, in the gifted hands of a masterful President
whose incredible depth of character, brilliant leadership, saintly compassion, marvelous sense of humor, and profound eloquence -- led the nation to ultimate victory -- and with his ingenious, beautiful, and elegant words -- and inspired, humanistic polices -- further elevated the struggle -- into one of history's pivotal moments.
It was also an especially dangerous war -- "the first MODERN WAR" -- in large part, because modern technology had made weapons -- far more deadly-accurate at far greater ranges than before -- and when soldier-masses and ships confronted those weapons -- often employing obsolete or unavoidable tactics -- an unprecedented harvest of bloodshed, maiming, and death -- inevitably followed --
YET, THEY BOLDLY MARCHED OR SAILED FORWARD INTO THE STORM -- with unmatched, spectacular bravery, heroism. and devotion to duty, as they understood it! They could have only guessed, back then -- but we can surely KNOW -- THEY DID THIS THING FOR US, TOO -- ALL OF US. That's what ancestors do.
The AWESOME MIGHT of a great nation gradually
became aroused and FULLY engaged in a most fearsome business of utmost import!
became aroused and FULLY engaged in a most fearsome business of utmost import!
Truly this whole drama was theater of the first order --
as complete, full, and all-encompassing as anything ever needs to be
The generalship and lesser leadership (ranging from brilliant to seemingly idiotic) -- the management of the battle space and movement of large masses of humans, often at an inhuman pace, usually rushing into the arms of nothing good at journey's end -- the tales of derring-do and absurd flamboyancy -- the morbid, terrified curiosity and anticipation, in young hearts, of "seeing the elephant" for themselves (looking down the very throat of war) -- to test their mettle -- still naively oblivious to its horrors and terrors -- the conspicuously elaborate, colorful -- but usually drab, utilitarian variety of uniforms, hats, and styles -- to impress the ladies or do death's work -- the horrible, poignant death-scenes -- the shocking noise, often heard a hundred miles away -- the choking, blinding smoke -- the arduous crossing of rivers and mountains -- marches of hundreds, even thousands of miles -- all the goodies they loaded on their optimistic backs, only to drop these along the trail behind, as their weariness grew -- ever-learning, as they cast aside and created war's debris -- gradually turning themselves from polished rookies into ragged, "lean mean killing-machines" -- the sickly smells of ruined bodies -- the shrewdness -- the slow-loading but deadly rifle-muskets that sounded like ripping of cloth, when fired in volley -- the cavalry's faster-firing carbines -- ever-improving weaponry, evolving toward the level of today's efficient tools of death, with increasing speed -- the peculiarly logical regimens and confining inconveniences of the military life -- the horses and donkeys (poor, loyal, vital animals -- innocently caught up and damned in the suffering) -- the wagons and ambulances (carving and ruining roads and parked to the horizon) -- the vast, temporary tent cities -- the inhuman torture of the primitive, grossly unsanitary, inconsistent, often absent, practice of battlefield surgery and other "medical and psychological" treatment -- the wounded lying about, often for DAYS, awaiting the release of a lonely, bitter death -- many who had "gone-up" were left unburied or laid in shallow, unmarked graves -- or gone missing from their instant, merciful blasting to atoms -- or fallen from the catastrophic damage of musket-ball and bayonet and shrapnel penetrations to the body -- the anguish of families and friends never learning the fate or whereabouts of their loved ones, condemned to wonder, till they joined them in death -- or who learned that the worst (or second or third worst) had happened -- the much-dreaded misfortune of capture, rough handling, and hardhearted prisoner of war confinement -- the weather; scorching heat, drenching rains, the biting cold, sucking mud, stinging insects -- the supreme grand tours of the nation's countless nooks and crannies, more than enough information for one lifetime -- unimagined before war began to teach -- the amazing, thrilling battle scenes -- the frailty of clever plans -- large, organized masses haplessly exposing themselves to envelopment and destruction, by leaving the ends of their battle-lines "in the air" rather than carefully securing them where they couldn't be surrounded, surprised, and undone by some alert General -- the ambushes and snipings --- thousands upon thousands of throats issuing clashing cacophonies of screeching, spine-chilling, other-worldly "rebel yells" and rumbling, deep-throated, manly Union "Huzzahs" -- skirmishers out, skirmishers in -- awesome engineering feats like almost instantly bridging or damming or draining or diverting of rivers -- the heart-wrenching pleas for sanctuary from escaped slaves, most often mercifully granted -- the spread of deadly or debilitating disease and the countless dreadful woundings to mind and body -- the weeks of starvation and days of thirst -- the unbelievable acts of bravery in the face of hideous death -- the acts of mercy -- the acts of cruelty -- even much humor -- the great technological innovations -- the flags, bugles, and drums -- but, especially the flags, leading and inspiring countless charges into the fray -- the singing around the campfires -- the fraternizing of fellow Americans, soldiers "in blue and gray and butternut," across the battle lines, during lulls in the brutal combat with each other -- the way all the soldiers learned to throw up earthworks and dig trenches (an art perfected in WW1) for defense, almost instantly, using bare hands, bayonets and coffee cups, with astounding, terrified efficiency -- canned food without can-openers, "grinding" of coffee with the butts of muskets -- the boring, but prized "hard-tack" crackers -- the voluptuous smells of bacon frying over the fire -- the endless breaking and virtually instant repair of vital rail-roads and telegraph lines -- and so very much more -- and now, today, the sacred artifacts left behind and the treasured glimpses, re-imagined: photos (for the first time in war); eloquent letters home (a highly literate soldiery); prized family heirlooms and legends; bits and pieces of what was once whole and useful; broken relics, rusting war machines, and carefully-preserved antiques; statues, freezing notables in the very act of doing something extraordinary, with exemplary bravery and skill; thrilling Civil War reenactments that keep at least a taste of that reality alive and more accessible, so that knowledge and memory can be deepened by visualization aids; the endless, patriotic struggle to preserve venerable sites from relentless modern encroachments -- all to keep in existence, at the fore, the stark evidence that proves and gives texture to the fantastic truth that this profoundest of things actually did occur -- and to insure widest, fullest, heart-felt agreement that forgetting something like this is not an acceptable option for the rational to ever risk.
OH, THE SPARKLING, UTTER HEROISM OF IT ALL! AND THIS IS BUT A MERE GLIMPSE -- OF THE AWESOME BURDENS BORNE BY -- AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF AMERICANS -- IN THIS FIGHT-TO-THE-DEATH AMONG THEMSELVES!
6.4 And, let's not overlook the legendary, MAJESTIC valor of our NAVY
On the high seas, even around the globe, and in the strategically important mighty rivers and lesser streams -- supporting Army operations -- fighting, bombarding, and running past deadly fortifications -- ferrying troops and equipment -- convoy duty -- search and destroy -- vicious sea-battles between wooden-, cotton-, and iron-clad ships and boats and rams -- of amazingly varied levels of potency and ingenuity -- thrilling, courageous, important episodes. One such glorious victory -- where the USS Kearsarge finally found and sank the formidable Confederate raider, CSS Alabama, which was feasting on US merchant vessels far beyond our shores, for so long -- winning a fierce, dramatic English Channel sea-battle -- before thousands of amazed eyes -- along the French coast. Another saw Lt. William B. Cushing's breath-taking exploit -- stealing into enemy waters, by small boat, at darkest night -- to sink and destroy the new, powerful, trouble-some Confederate steam ram, CSS Albemarle -- by detonating explosives below its hull -- next to and just below its firing cannons! And, oh, that Vicksburg Campaign! And thousands of more undertakings. The Red River Campaign -- Mobile Bay and Admiral Farragut's: "Damn the torpedoes, full-speed ahead." And the long, arduous, boring, dangerous blockade duty that slowly strangled the enemy's vital foreign commerce -- and forestalled intervention -- and tracking down and destroying cleverly-designed, speedy, profiteering blockade-runners that managed to trickle into enemy hands some needful materiel and, yes, luxuries -- in return for cotton, smuggled in the other direction. The fall of New Orleans and the rough handling of other places that touched on or near a navigable water body.
6.5 And, the electrifying political atmosphere within the Union's turbulent, deeply upset populace...
within which the people struggled among themselves as to the meaning of and even the need for fighting the war -- or continuing it, after each costly failure or inevitable debacle -- intimidating all but the stoutest hearts. Some were even willing to let the "erring sister States go in peace." To make peace at any cost. Some only wanted to save the union -- while indifferent to the plight of the slaves. But most came to recognize and resent the indefensible, INHUMAN, globally-humiliating contradiction between the very heart of the Declaration of Independence and the inequality of treatment for so very many. If "all men are created equal," then how can this be the way things should be? Oh, what can we do to fix this? And, fate provided the answer, in its own good time.
6.6 Yes, most, as it turns out -- after much disagreement
-- came to see and commit to the need to fight and to win. It was a touch-and-go thing for quite a while, though. AFTER ALL, THIS WAS VERY MUCH A WAR FOR THE NATION'S CONSCIENCE. THAT SIMPLY HAD TO BE HARD -- TO MAKE SENSE OF -- ON SUCH A WIDE SCALE -- especially where communications technology and the exchange of even the simplest of ideas were still quite primitive. The President suffered no end of harsh, unfair, ugliest, and distracting criticism -- from every side -- as is an unfortunate American (or maybe simply human) side-effect of free speech -- in those with only a slice of the big picture or with ulterior motives -- and with the temerity -- to presume and insistently assert their -- unfounded superior understanding -- jostling the elbow of the surgeon doing the cutting -- (perhaps, THEY should be President?) -- but he still managed -- to maintain his super-human equanimity. Mr. Lincoln's re-election prospects (and he, himself) were torn, to-and-fro -- by much uncertainty -- shaped and distorted by the sporadic victories and discouraging defeats of his armies. Eventually, though, winning began to catch-on -- as the Union's best generals began to emerge, became seasoned, revised or replaced ineffectual strategies, and made themselves felt -- as the President's and people's experience and wisdom grew -- as the Union stiffened her resolve -- and as the enemy's awesome defenses and will and capabilities crumbled under the pressure.
6.7 In other words, it was a full-fledged, genuine, vicious, no-holds-barred, very HEAVY sort of MAJOR WAR, CLOSE CALL and "Learn-as-we-go" experience.
A human mind could not likely invent -- so mind-boggingly-impressive a story -- so intricate and compelling and grand -- so loaded with meaning -- nor more entertaining and enriching! Once you really start to look, you'll be hooked -- and it will make you a proud, marveling eye-witness, though from afar, to the full and exciting panoply of human heroism and villainy -- genius and depravity -- and everything in between -- which ACTUALLY TOOK PLACE -- a mere 15 decades ago or -- seven score and ten years -- or just under 8,000 weeks -- or 55,924 days ago... and counting! YOU WILL FEEL A STRONG SENSE OF DUTY TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND AND NEVER LET THIS MAGNIFICENCE BE FORGOTTEN. It is that extraordinary, uplifting, and interesting a thing to seriously study. And surely, almost all of the lessons-learned will apply, for as long as humans love a good, true, enlightening story about such a propitious ending to our "national adolescence" -- and about humankind's salvation and redemption.
THE WAR CHANGED ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS!
AND, IS STILL DOING SO!AMERICA COMES OF AGE!
6.8 And then, at WAR'S END -- the passing of the victorious Union armies
-- MISSION ACCOMPLISHED --
Among the war's final acts was the passing of the armies into history -- a large (but certainly not the largest) portion of whom -- except for those, elsewhere, on war-closing duties -- converged on Washington, DC -- to parade before the huge, cheering throngs of triumphant, deeply-relieved people -- who lined the streets and reviewing-stands -- which were festooned, absolutely everywhere, in red-white-and-blue -- and which were illuminated at night -- with jubilant messages of celebration. Cannons booming out solos, duets, and whole choruses of thunder, in the hundreds -- echoing -- with incessant joy -- through the streets and corridors of suspended government business
On the first day -- 85,000 members of the eastern Army of the Potomac -- took 6 hours to pass in review -- on the second day -- 65,000 soldiers of the western Armies of the Tennessee and of Georgia -- most Union armies tending to be named after major rivers -- also took 6 hours -- to pass by -- all fifed and drummed to the tune of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," among others -- as that voluntary, emergency, awesome "Grand Army of the Republic" -- which rose-up from the very ranks of an aroused and resolute people -- like a slumbering giant -- having fulfilled its duty so gloriously -- rapidly dissolved back into ordinary life -- whence it came -- the giant falls back into sleep -- never to be erased from the pages of history nor from the eternally grateful, unforgetting hearts of their fellow countrymen. Never.
Yet, one could also well imagine the bigger phantom army of the Union war dead -- around 360,000 strong -- who never got to see the day -- and who would have taken over a week to pass by. Oh, all the wonderful things they could have done, had they lived. And, how very much they gave up. How different would the world now be? Sad. But yet, here is even more glory with which to cover humankind. And, fate's agenda often turns out to be the wisest, it seems. All now at rest in honored peace.
6.9 And the leader who led us, safely, through the storm.
What of him? We all know the bitterly unfair fate which befell our beloved Abraham Lincoln -- our first assassinated President -- yet another mother's son, killed in the war -- one of the final victims. After all he gave us, the only reward he experienced was the briefest of glimpses -- mere days -- at the victory, whose accomplishment was his very reason for being. He never got to see California and so many other places he had mattered so much to -- and which mattered so much to him. Or the Grand Army's passing. Or much else of the country and people he saved -- though he yearned to -- had even said so, repeatedly. This good-hearted man who called, to the delighted surprise of bystanders, for the band to play "Dixie" as victory was celebrated -- since he decided that that favorite Confederate tune (their national anthem and battle hymn, of sorts), which he enjoyed so much, now, indisputably, belonged to the whole nation again (perhaps a little hint as to the healing he had in mind).
And his heart-broken people and world never got the chance to follow his progress on the grand national and world tours -- he would never get to take -- and never to be feted and showered with the honors he so richly deserved -- no chance to tell him, thank you -- a much tougher healing process, now -- peace and closure for themselves, a bit more elusive than before -- to have the chances, however slight, stolen away -- to, perhaps, touch greatness, as he passed by -- to breathe the same air -- perhaps he might have made eye-contact, smiled and maybe even said a few typically kind or funny words -- presenting a treasured-story to thrill all the descendants to come and interest the scholars -- and to have the enormous satisfaction of having done right, respectful, and proud by him. Instead, vile evil, born of the larger, vicious evil mind-set, reached out, in a cruel gasp of dishonor (with many more to come, long after the war had left living memory behind), and struck him down -- stole him away from his precious life and from his beloved people -- before the horrified eyes of his loving wife -- who was then condemned to the torture of a sad, "shell-shocked" loneliness, till her own tragic end placed them back together in despoiled, temporary graves for decades -- although now, they have "slept" for over a century, in appropriately-honored glory, within their magnificent family tomb, not far from their beloved Springfield, Illinois home -- which is now, of course, a land of cherished museums and sites of veneration.
We already knew he would "belong to the ages." But, to rush it -- to so meanly interfere -- to deny him his much deserved taste of the fruits of a peace he was so instrumental in achieving -- to leave the nation's fate in the hands of a far lesser man*, at such a delicate moment in the transition from a war footing to a just and lasting peace -- maybe such aberrations as the Ku Klux Klan might never have gotten traction -- completely shouted down for the immature and delinquent humans they were -- sent back to the "drawing board," so to speak -- SO MUCH LOSS IN THIS BLOW -- weaving yet another tragedy into a story that had already become tragic, beyond description. Only fate could be the author of such a poignant, TRUE tale of such magnitude -- from start to finish.
*And, in no way is this to disparage President Andrew Johnson, who replaced the slain President -- under the most trying circumstances. Since we humans are all the way we are, including imperfect, but primarily RATIONAL life-forms, we can be completely assured that ALL PRESIDENTS do the very best they can, under the total circumstances which surround, make, push, and pull on them as they do -- each an ever-maturing product of their times -- And when they are absolutely MOST needed to be so, they usually tend to be way AHEAD of their times and a blessing on the nation -- or so it seems, with few very debatable exceptions. And when they are not, there's always the next election. It's just that some "bests" are much better than others -- but fate controls the agenda. (We'll get more into this, once the Civic Mentor / National Element Essay on "Presidents and the Presidency" has been generated)
ONE PARAMOUNT MORAL OF THE STORY
6.10 And, how can we NOT stand in deepest awe and wonderment -- and feel the greatest humanly pride
-- that a TOTALLY ENSLAVED PEOPLE -- who endured SUCH A COMPLETE range of human misery and gross degradation -- FOR CENTURIES -- never gave up -- never fully surrendered the will to live, persevere, and hope. And, ever since their chains were broken -- that people -- TRUE AMERICANS, ALL -- decompressed, at long last -- now, so fully immersed in the blessings of freedom -- have demonstrated -- FOR ALL TIME -- a most remarkable example -- of the heroic resilience and power of the human spirit. What a most beautiful thing to discover and cherish about ourselves -- a thing we might have never known without the awful testing.
- And what are we to say to all the many long-gone enslaved souls -- who actually suffered centuries -- of bitterest bondage -- and wasted lives -- in the "land of pharoah?" Never to have known a modicum of justice or a day's peace in this life. And to the countless others -- who felt the dreadful, life-spoiling lash of racial hatred -- long beyond the end of the war?
- That their harsh, tragic ruination was meaningless? I think not. We can say, I think, that they forced America to face its worst features and to correct them -- too slowly, perhaps -- but as fast as circumstances would allow -- yielding the much wiser, invaluable -- humanistic nation it is today -- with these poor, unfortunate humans -- always to be remembered -- along with eternal lament sung for the tragedy of it all. Inadequate consolation, perhaps, but I suspect it's about the best the living can do -- and it IS a very big deal, when one has the luxury of the long view.
- The nation matures on the backs of those who suffer -- a fact of this particular kind of life -- as it learns and defines -- ever more sharply -- what it means to be human -- and ever-strives to figure out how to incorporate the lessons, properly. The Chinese, the Japanese, the Jews, the Irish, the Italians, the Hispanic people, Native Americans, Females, Gays, the disabled, the aged, and so on -- all the possible disparate, distinguishable human groupings "had or have to" suffer their "turns in the barrel," it seems. But each time -- the nation "fixed" itself, a little or a lot more -- and moved up another rung on the ladder -- ever-maturing -- ever-pursuing its self-perfection -- as that MIGHTY Constitution anticipated, allows, and drives.
- Before much longer -- we're going run out of groups to abuse -- making reasonable allowance and accommodation for any valued or neutral uniquenesses. Then, the nation will become truly fulfilled, even more transcendent, so as to shine its brightest, yet -- as did and does our GREATEST President, with his blessed stewardship of the nation, through her GREATEST crises. Then, think -- of all the untapped human power we will gain -- how much the waste of the precious will be lessened -- and what an enhanced blessing -- we will be able to pass along -- down all the generations to come -- once people are all free and inspired to be their very best. Everything matters, over the course of time.
========================================
REMEMBERING AND SAVORING
ONE OF THIS LIFE'S GREATEST STORIES
honors the great sacrifices expended
to elevate humankind, thrills
the soul, and bequeaths to
us a confident sense
of great things
yet to be!
7. ONE NIGHTMARE ENDS: ONE OF THIS LIFE'S GREATEST STORIES
honors the great sacrifices expended
to elevate humankind, thrills
the soul, and bequeaths to
us a confident sense
of great things
yet to be!
===
And so, as compelled by duty and steely determination -- having accepted the enemy's challenge to come down and fight and die -- a dare which was so arrogantly thrown into the face of the nation -- a hard-won, truly glorious victory finally crowned "a new nation...conceived in liberty -- and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." In this way, at long last, the 241-year old enslaved American nightmare passed through its additional-4-year, bloodiest, "final" phase -- ultimately lifting out a great evil and exposing miscalculations for what they were -- and ripping out, at least most of the causes and instigators of the war.
8. ANOTHER NIGHTMARE BEGINS:
Victory meant destruction of a way of life and -- which, from the resultant, violent chaos and hostility -- inevitably yielded a seriously destabilized region, largely at the South -- deeply troubled, disappointed, and bitterly conflicted for generations -- perhaps, subject to somewhat of a "siege-mentality" -- quite probably, with feelings of guilt and shame -- with no clearly apparent way to end all the stubborn hard feelings -- without the passage of more time (and infliction of more misery) -- than we humans can safely afford to suffer -- with so much left to be done.
E. SIDE NOTE: THE ECHOES FROM A LOUD BANG...
ARGUING BLAME OR FINISHING THE HEALING?
AT LONG LAST?
ARGUING BLAME OR FINISHING THE HEALING?
AT LONG LAST?
1. Small wonder that bitterness is hard to wipe away. What our ancestors did and who they were are inseparable from the life we now have. By defending and honoring them, we are honoring ourselves. And we surely would like to think that we would also be so honored and defended, once it's our turn to become ancestors. For those who sense any dishonor back there, I would guess that it's hard not to feel some of the dishonor painted upon themselves -- and, being human -- find it also hard not to feel compelled to, somehow, vindicate those dead, so we can feel our own selves un-condemned. To even angrily deflect blame onto anything outside of our affections, rightly or wrongly.
2. And, the strongest lessons we ever learn in this life, are often learned at mother's knee and from the culture into which we were immersed and nurtured -- which they learned at their mothers' knees, and so on. Small wonder that a person's awareness of ancient, no longer relevant, forces -- an awareness we've inherited -- can continue to have serious effect, far beyond the long-dead world that generated those forces, as it changed itself. Such lessons are nearly sanctified family trusts, for the unwary, when a beloved source is viewed to be -- almost sacred, almost infallible, completely correct, and almost irresistibly-binding -- even into one's adulthood -- bringing with these, the crippling disadvantages -- that come with -- accepting, as truth -- information completely out of context -- only applicable -- at best -- to another time -- and a far different world. Maturation and deliberate reduction of ignorance and ill will -- are more true benefits of real freedom.
(A Side Note Within a Side Note)
************ ************ ************
This brings up some persistent stumbling-blocks against the healing, which need to be settled -- before going on much further
While some of the following is often refuted, the record is easily checked...
a. ADDING FUEL TO LEGEND'S FIRE: Most certainly, the "innocent" suffered -- as is often claimed -- and which almost ALWAYS happens in war -- (as even children often know) -- to families and individuals -- ancestors all. Sadly, this seems to have bequeathed -- to the successive generations of captive young ears -- sad, angry, sometimes erroneous -- sometimes false -- stories -- sometimes exaggerated for effect -- thus, fueling resentment and blocking restoration of a "sense of nationhood, reconciliation, and balance" -- long after battle's end.
b. SOCIAL PARTICIPATION AND EXPOSURES: The undeniable truth was -- that almost the ENTIRE Southern society seemed to behave as if it were sincerely dedicated to and totally mobilized toward winning the war. There are relatively few innocent bystanders in a total civil war. Without a willing home-front, prolonged war is untenable. But, with it, much is possible... and much extra destruction (ultimately, perhaps, all of the destruction) certainly did ensue from the tenacious support of the people -- making them a clear, legitimate, increasingly urgent war objective.
c. HENCE, ESCALATION BECAME INEVITABLE: Non-combatants were absolutely crucial to continuation of the war effort and, as a consequence, increasingly came to feel more and more of the war's direct sting -- (but, peculiar to that war, rarely its lash) -- as matters came to a head in desperation. Anything that prolonged the fighting and the national destruction (i.e. the words, efforts, entreaties, and sacrifices of wives, children, the aged, the under-aged, the infirm, EVEN SLAVES, and those "KING-LIKE" creatures who lurked "safely" behind the lines, reaping all the benefits, while egging the fighting on -- and so on -- in addition to the vital war-supporting infrastructure) became fair game, needing to be neutralized, somehow.
Yet, national policy expressly (and typically for such a nation) restricted action against non-combatants to denial of property, supplies, and other supports -- thereby, making the war-experience utterly unendurable and weakening resolve in the people -- (both at home and on the front lines) -- while protecting the sanctity of human life -- rather than authorizing direct, physical harm to non-combatants, themselves -- AND ONLY in order to conclude the war, sooner rather than later -- NOT FOR VENGEANCE -- firmly shunning extreme cruelty and excesses -- so anathema to a nation "of the people." Yet, war is not completely controllable, despite best intentions -- which is another of its harsh risks -- especially in a CIVIL WAR -- (and another excellent reason to shun it in all but the most-just of cases).
d. THE "MERCY" OF FEROCITY: (1) A REBEL SOLDIER (or ANY soldier), who is worried about what is happening toward his family and home -- while also being deprived of needful materials of war -- is not likely to be a very efficient one on the battle-line. If he can be made to desert, all the better. Just stop fighting! Total war includes warring on the enemy's morale and support systems. (2) And, the harder the war, the greater the motivation to end it, at maximum speed -- and to temper the rush to resort to a civil war, ever again, as a "desirable" option.
One has to be mighty disingenuous or naive
to fix blanket-blame of wrong-doing upon the
shoulders of THIS NATION'S honored dead,
her people -- her soldiers, sailors,
businesses, politicians, and
her rank and file who
justify all things
worth doing!
to fix blanket-blame of wrong-doing upon the
shoulders of THIS NATION'S honored dead,
her people -- her soldiers, sailors,
businesses, politicians, and
her rank and file who
justify all things
worth doing!
And, BESIDES, that was a WAR Ended
Nearly Two Centuries Ago! THIS is PEACE!
Nearly Two Centuries Ago! THIS is PEACE!
Way past time to make it a full and truly
good and lasting peace and a
total disgrace not to and
utterly child-like --
good and lasting peace and a
total disgrace not to and
utterly child-like --
A Naughty Child.
For even a child learns
to forgive, to be forgiven,
to forget the bad parts,
and to move on.
For even a child learns
to forgive, to be forgiven,
to forget the bad parts,
and to move on.
************ ************ ************
3. Yet, as we mature, if lucky, we realize that THE NOW-LIVING did not do the misdeeds, nor experienced the heat -- and are, in no way, responsible for that, over which they had (and have) absolutely no control -- nor direct experience. We put aside the child-hood fairy-tales, realizing that any guilt or anger we feel are misplaced. We are only responsible for what we, ourselves do or fail to do. Those who judge us by ancient misdeeds, including our own selves, perpetrate an injustice. And, those who judge our ancestors -- without considering -- the obviously overwhelming forces -- which made them behave as they did -- also perpetrate an injustice -- failing to go far enough with their investigations. As in the entire human case -- they were who they were -- and did what they did -- because life confronted them in the way it did. And, THAT'S IT! End of story!
4. OUR ONLY TASK is to admire whatever there is to admire -- and honestly try to understand and learn from any misdeeds, so as to prevent recurrence -- to make peace with everything -- and GROW ourselves and our lovely common world into something better
The end of growth is death -- until that final moment, we can and do change. Our response need not be to take on added, misplaced guilt for the actions of others -- expending precious energy -- defending what no longer needs defending. Justice is its own best defense -- injustice its own self-condemnation.
We generate enough guilt for ourselves -- isn't that more than enough for one soul to bear and a big enough matter to rectify?
The end of growth is death -- until that final moment, we can and do change. Our response need not be to take on added, misplaced guilt for the actions of others -- expending precious energy -- defending what no longer needs defending. Justice is its own best defense -- injustice its own self-condemnation.
We generate enough guilt for ourselves -- isn't that more than enough for one soul to bear and a big enough matter to rectify?
FUNDAMENTALLY
5. We are all "children of total circumstances." Circumstances, surrounding that war, were beyond the direct control of any one of the ancients -- even an entire nation of them. It was a sum-total event. Everyone played the parts into which circumstance placed them. Though many of them didn't, many, North and South, even slave-masters, knew that this was not the best way to live -- but they just couldn't figure out how to lift the ancient scourge (didn't even have the power to) -- without destroying the entire society -- and worsening their own personal conditions -- and were probably dreadful of the unknowns with which it might be replaced -- but quite bravely doing what their understanding of circumstance -- somehow convinced them was the right thing to be doing.
IT SEEMS THERE IS FAR GREATER WISDOM AT WORK WITHIN OUR FATES THAN WITHIN OURSELVES
6. It took a "super-human chain-reaction," in which all participated -- all the "right ingredients" -- to produce the exact moment when circumstance itself resolved the issue -- by revealing and inducing the only available way an entire way of life, under such conditions, could be changed as drastically as required -- and that was by its painful utter destruction -- so as to make way for the new and far superior -- by means of A BITTER, SOCIETY-CLEANSING CIVIL WAR. Nothing else could have done it.
The nation needed to purge a festering, dangerously-infected sore. Everyone knew it was going to hurt -- while not realizing how very much it would -- but fate's heavy machinery was LOCKED in "automatic mode," as it pushed and pulled the nation through its fiery trial. Growing pains on a national scale are often hurtful, by nature and definition.
The nation needed to purge a festering, dangerously-infected sore. Everyone knew it was going to hurt -- while not realizing how very much it would -- but fate's heavy machinery was LOCKED in "automatic mode," as it pushed and pulled the nation through its fiery trial. Growing pains on a national scale are often hurtful, by nature and definition.
7. No one, now living, has any responsibility for what their ancestors did -- and can take none of the credit nor shoulder any of the blame. Others simply did what they did -- and BECAUSE they ALL did -- perhaps, DESPITE their best efforts and fondest intentions -- or BECAUSE of these -- we have the world we now have. AND WHAT A WORLD WE GAINED! It took the actions and reactions of all sides to have produced this astounding result -- while feeling their way along, in the dark. The drama of life has many acts -- all players "assigned" their parts by their fates. The national play had many authors. All essential, else the play would have turned out differently. And, fate's agenda, her script, overrides all others.
William Shakespeare
THEREFORE
LET THE FINAL HEALING ACCELERATE
So We Can Break Our FINAL CHAINS and Soar!
... waiting has been filled to overflowing
... waiting has been filled to overflowing
"This WHOLE Nation is Our Soil" -- Abraham Lincoln
***********
SECTION II -- OUTLINE
Summary of Section II
A. 10,000-Foot View
B. Closer to Home
C. Wisdom for the Ages
D. Casus Belli -- the Case for War
SUMMARY OF SECTION II
IN THIS SECTION, Section II, "Overview and Thrust,"
I try to move us far enough away from events -- to see the broadest outlines -- of the disaster that nearly befell humankind. I will contend that -- the death of the nation and --- the introduction of a new DARK AGE, over the whole earth -- were seriously plausible possibilities -- and that our progress, as a species, would have suffered, immensely -- and that the world would have become a far more evil, miserable place in which to try to live. I believe this brief Section is the necessary lead-in for the next Section, which presents and supports, in detail, the very case this essay exists to make.
I try to move us far enough away from events -- to see the broadest outlines -- of the disaster that nearly befell humankind. I will contend that -- the death of the nation and --- the introduction of a new DARK AGE, over the whole earth -- were seriously plausible possibilities -- and that our progress, as a species, would have suffered, immensely -- and that the world would have become a far more evil, miserable place in which to try to live. I believe this brief Section is the necessary lead-in for the next Section, which presents and supports, in detail, the very case this essay exists to make.
CLOSE AND PERSONAL:
I bring it all down to YOUR front doors. You, yourself, might not now exist -- and would certainly not be as well off as you probably are. You need to see and understand how relevantly crucial that war was and STILL is to you and yours -- EXPLICITLY.
I bring it all down to YOUR front doors. You, yourself, might not now exist -- and would certainly not be as well off as you probably are. You need to see and understand how relevantly crucial that war was and STILL is to you and yours -- EXPLICITLY.
A STARTLING TWIST:
I celebrate President Lincoln and his generation for their huge and priceless gift to us. WHAT WORDS COULD EVER BE SUFFICIENT? But, I also add another slant which might be shocking to some. I try to point out, from hindsight, that the enemy turned out to be an indispensable catalyst-to-greatness -- albeit, unintentionally -- who helped trigger the great events that created our present bright future -- especially in yielding a far greater nation than would have otherwise been possible. WE ARE ALL IN THE HANDS OF FATE.
THE ISSUE HAD TO BE FORCED, BEFORE IT WOULD -- OR EVEN COULD -- BE DEALT WITH -- that was the job of the Confederates. We could never have reached our present, high level of existence without the earnest participation of ALL the Americans of that generation. They took turns at striking the iron on the blacksmith's anvil. Even if the blacksmith's helper had no idea or wish for what was being created, his blows added to the finished result -- a major and, THANKFULLY, completely successful surgery to save the national life of an entire people and a better world-future -- by an uncomfortably thin margin.
I celebrate President Lincoln and his generation for their huge and priceless gift to us. WHAT WORDS COULD EVER BE SUFFICIENT? But, I also add another slant which might be shocking to some. I try to point out, from hindsight, that the enemy turned out to be an indispensable catalyst-to-greatness -- albeit, unintentionally -- who helped trigger the great events that created our present bright future -- especially in yielding a far greater nation than would have otherwise been possible. WE ARE ALL IN THE HANDS OF FATE.
THE ISSUE HAD TO BE FORCED, BEFORE IT WOULD -- OR EVEN COULD -- BE DEALT WITH -- that was the job of the Confederates. We could never have reached our present, high level of existence without the earnest participation of ALL the Americans of that generation. They took turns at striking the iron on the blacksmith's anvil. Even if the blacksmith's helper had no idea or wish for what was being created, his blows added to the finished result -- a major and, THANKFULLY, completely successful surgery to save the national life of an entire people and a better world-future -- by an uncomfortably thin margin.
"... the harder the struggle, the more glorious the triumph."
NATIONAL HOUSEKEEPING:
The War simply had to happen. There was just too much to untangle by peaceful means. It cleared the air, in a big way -- an atmosphere which had been clouded and troubling us for far too long -- and clarified everyone's understanding -- for ALL TIME -- that The Constitution -- our sacred covenant -- is never, ever to be broken -- and accelerated the gradual, widening recognition -- that all human beings have worth, which has nothing to do with how much one pays to own them. There is, indeed, such a thing as a RIGHTEOUS WAR. I think we owe ALL the courageous players in fate's drama a debt of gratitude. We can stubbornly cling to old and quite serious grudges -- but, why should we, when so much of the future is at stake? Any guilty parties are long-dead -- no one now living can be fairly blamed.
The War simply had to happen. There was just too much to untangle by peaceful means. It cleared the air, in a big way -- an atmosphere which had been clouded and troubling us for far too long -- and clarified everyone's understanding -- for ALL TIME -- that The Constitution -- our sacred covenant -- is never, ever to be broken -- and accelerated the gradual, widening recognition -- that all human beings have worth, which has nothing to do with how much one pays to own them. There is, indeed, such a thing as a RIGHTEOUS WAR. I think we owe ALL the courageous players in fate's drama a debt of gratitude. We can stubbornly cling to old and quite serious grudges -- but, why should we, when so much of the future is at stake? Any guilty parties are long-dead -- no one now living can be fairly blamed.
THE BOULDER ROLLS DOWNHILL:
Finally, in President Lincoln's own words, we can see EXACTLY and concisely what made the war inevitable. And, I remind us that our Founders -- who knew that the nation would eventually have to settle issues surrounding slavery -- issues they were in no position to resolve -- would have been deeply saddened to see their efforts come to such an unlovely end -- with the death of the new idea and nation that they had created, with such optimism and wisdom.
Finally, in President Lincoln's own words, we can see EXACTLY and concisely what made the war inevitable. And, I remind us that our Founders -- who knew that the nation would eventually have to settle issues surrounding slavery -- issues they were in no position to resolve -- would have been deeply saddened to see their efforts come to such an unlovely end -- with the death of the new idea and nation that they had created, with such optimism and wisdom.
A. 10,000-FOOT VIEW
1. First and foremost: As I try to show, in detail, in the next section -- I believe the loss of that war would have meant the death of the nation -- but even more than that.
2. With the loss of such a unique, potent, humanistic nation, voice, and practical example -- the world would now be a far different, far more unstable place -- a new "DARK AGE" would have surely descended -- like a black curtain of misery -- over all of suffering humankind -- as inferior, but powerful forces rushed-in to divide the spoils and fill the vacuum -- on an exceedingly rich and fertile continent.
3. Human progress not only would have halted, it would have reversed. A vital stepping-stone in the evolution of the entire species -- removed.
4. The strong, natural impulses toward human well-being and betterment might have been dealt a fatal, unrecoverable blow.
5. Any forces for good, world-wide, would have been terribly weakened, while the forces of evil and misery would have eagerly flourished far, far more than they have.
B. CLOSER TO HOME
6. THOSE NOW READING THIS (or not) might not have even come into existence AT ALL or still be alive and so well and so well-met and so happy and so secure and so knowledgeable and so potent and so hopeful -- AND SO FREE TO JUST BE -- AND TO GO THEIR OWN WAYS -- IN PEACE!!C. WISDOM FOR THE AGES
7. I (and many others) say, "BLESS ABRAHAM LINCOLN and the BRAVE GENERATION" who stood, sacrificed, suffered, paid forward, and died with him -- and the kind fate which loaned them to our entire world and the unborn generations -- just in the very nick of time. Lucky us!
a. And, in doing this calculation, it makes sense NOT to underestimate or undervalue the crucial role played by the other side -- FATE'S ESSENTIAL CATALYST to current greatness -- in setting-up, unleashing, and aggravating most of the pivotal events -- as lamentable, but inevitable, as they were -- that led to needful air-clearing -- sharpened clarity-of-understanding of EVERYTHING -- and the breaking of ancient chains on the future -- and thereby, helped to conspicuously unlock, invoke, severely test, and prove, yet again, the great truth -- at dreadfully costly, but instructive risk -- that HUMAN POWER and WILL COULD actually be summoned -- to create a much better world -- in MONUMENTAL, as well as lesser, TERMS -- a truth especially sweetened -- in this hugely important, tenaciously difficult case -- by the absolute certainty -- that it had actually done so ... and that the American people and their Military Capacity are AWESOME, SERIOUS FORCES with which to reckon -- EVEN (or especially) AMONG THEMSELVES -- they NEED their Constitution to keep their extraordinary power properly constrained and directed.
CRUCIAL, invaluable things we might NEVER have found out about ourselves, otherwise.
HOW MUCH MORE READY AND RESOLUTE (AND WISER) THE NATION IS, NOW, TO HELP ADVANCE CONTINUED HUMAN PROGRESS IN THE UNIVERSAL, ETERNAL REACHING FOR HUMAN WELL-BEING!!
b. THIS IS CRUCIAL, POSITIVE SELF-KNOWLEDGE -- which dropped out of a negative -- TO BE CARRIED FORWARD, TO GOOD EFFECT, INTO THE FUTURE.
c. For a war and victory to be just, there has to be an urgent injustice, only correctable by that war. "It takes two (or more) to tango." Even if we despise the injustice -- it forced us -- to dig deep down inside -- and -- to right great wrongs -- an achievement in which to take immense PRIDE -- and -- to discover that there truly was (and is) -- magnificence there, after all -- and we really, really needed (and need) to know that.
d. For there is much to learn and teach about being human -- and fate controls the curriculum and assigns the lessons -- and poses and grades all tests.
e. And so, the war came and pushed the nation onto an unexpected trajectory that has yielded our present, extremely favorable condition.
f. Fate's agenda at work, again -- teaching us, once again, that there is, indeed, such a thing as a GOOD AND NECESSARY WAR.
All sensible humanity owes them, and our happy fate, an eternal debt of gratitude.
8. As President Lincoln said in his second inaugural address: "Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came."
No nation can sit idly by and allow itself to be broken up -- and still call itself a nation, worthy of existence.
9. Our Forefathers, who "brought forth on this continent, a new nation" -- George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and all the other visionary heroes -- of a great idea -- would have turned and tossed in their graves -- had the absolute worst materialized -- despite their enlightened, noble, and strenuous efforts.
***********
Summary of Section III
A. Just Suppose the Absolute Worst Had Happened
B. BEHOLD A NIGHTMARE AVOIDED -- but wait, there's more
C. Had Things Gone That Way, We'd Have Never Known All We'd Have Lost! But, We'd Have Missed it Just the Same
SUMMARY OF SECTION III
GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY
Here is this essay's very heart -- extensively detailing the very case this essay exists to make -- a partial inventory and explication of woes -- which threatened to combine and doom the world -- to yet another age of abject misery. Much more could be added to this list, but perhaps, this will suffice, for now. It reveals EXACTLY how I'm certain the nation would have "perished from the earth," had it lost the War. And, it tries to show or imply how each negative consequence would have materially worsened conditions, both internally and for the wider world. Behold what was at stake. An age of darkness to trouble all of humankind far into the vast, uncertain future.
AT THE SUMMIT
It illuminates our understanding of how a "mere" piece of paper -- The Constitution -- can be and is much, much more than that. How it has advanced humankind to a much higher state of being than would be possible without it. Perhaps, most remarkable, is the realization that enough "ordinary" people -- sensed the reality behind very abstract concepts -- to grasp the utter importance of this struggle -- such that they most firmly and successfully insisted on protecting what that piece of paper stands for -- even at any and every cost.
THE REAL ENEMY
It was also necessary to examine the nature, motives, and behavior of the TRUE enemy -- the "Slave Power" -- the cabal of lofty, lustful, grossly selfish aristocrats -- and "wanna-be's" -- who held a sizable proportion of OUR people at the South (slave and allegedly free) by their throats -- and their seriously misled minds -- and brought the world into centuries of bitter grief -- for utterly mean and selfish purposes. It was willing to destroy the entire nation -- for clearly diabolical aims -- disguised beneath flowery talk of patriotism -- independence -- and "straw-man" grievances -- and by vicious control of information and freedom -- and manipulation of thought. And their evil was so horrid -- that it outlived them for far too long -- distorting the "Great Human Chain-Reaction" -- by corrupting -- the minds and hearts of their children's children -- with their unsophisticated-views and the utterly unjust ruination of the life-experiences of their victimized fellow humans.
IN THE ENEMY CAMP
How can we tell this story without such an examination of the TRUE ENEMY? It is also vital in healing ourselves, the living, -- that we fairly separate the prime-movers -- from the mass of good people -- whom they tightly held under their cruel sway and made to bleed for them. The Slave Power existed, did its very best to do its very worst -- and ultimately did what evil always seems to do -- so far -- ruined its own self -- by underestimating the better natures of the rest of us -- the "Power of the Good" -- which makes the "ordinary" human being quite extraordinary.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THAT COIN
After detailing what might have happened had the nation lost -- there is still more that thoroughness demands -- for those earlier details are based on 20-20 hindsight -- with the advantage of actually knowing what we now enjoy. But, there is another aspect to consider. Had the war been lost, then today would not have happened the way it has. It would be an entirely different "today." No one (WE, right now) could have had any idea as to all that was lost. We would only know that most of us had been born into a very disappointing world and sharply diminished hope -- and would surely yearn, with very little optimism, for the unimaginable time when the world would be as it actually is today. I take the liberty of trying to grasp, with you, what it might be like to be UNABLE TO EVEN IMAGINE WHAT WAS ALMOST LOST -- FOREVER UNKNOWN --- the future that blesses us so truly.
A. JUST SUPPOSE
================
================
that the ABSOLUTE WORST had actually come to pass
utter defeat and total capitulation.
Then:
THE UNITED STATES WOULD HAVE
SURELY
"PERISHED FROM THE EARTH!!"
SURELY
"PERISHED FROM THE EARTH!!"
RUINED! DEAD! GONE! ANNIHILATED!
The inferior, newly-won "principle" of disunion would have really gone to work
-- with nothing sufficient to reverse or overcome the error!
The whole structure would have come tumbling down.
-- with nothing sufficient to reverse or overcome the error!
The whole structure would have come tumbling down.
AND THE DARKNESS WOULD HAVE FALLEN...
- The ingenious Constitution would have been overthrown and withered away, along with the great nation it forged and sustains. A loose "confederation" had been tried once before and was thoroughly discredited as an impractical, hopeless, hare-brained way to form and maintain an effective, efficient, and JUST system of nationhood -- and was brilliantly superseded by our greatest national treasure -- the "keystone in the arch" -- "our nation's very soul" -- the U.S. Constitution -- which has survived many tests -- ever maturing itself and disciplining and stabilizing the society -- ever adapting itself, ever adopting the major lessons -- including what this severest of many trials taught. It is the reason it is correct to call the U.S. a "marvelous invention."
- Once broken in half, unhinged, and unconstituted -- the ENTIRE country WOULD have surely flown apart, completely, and become "balkanized" into fractious, warring States and groupings -- like Europe and all the rest had experienced through much time -- as each State's narrow, conflicting interests -- again trumped larger national ones -- as they had done, before the Constitution's advent. The tremendous internal and external forces -- which The Constitution keeps focused, contained, and balanced -- are simply too great for this not to have happened -- else, why have a constitution, at all? Was this not why it was created, in the first place? (A nation sprung. Like an old-fashioned watch with its coverings and screws removed. An invention...broken...useless -- a mere sum-total of parts, but no longer a purposive SYSTEM)
- Sure, other nations have had parts secede, and survived -- but none of these, that I know of -- had been "purely invented and constituted as a complete, perpetual unity" -- by a single, deliberately designed, and sanctified document -- a legally-binding contract and blueprint -- embodying an enlightened, carefully reasoned IDEA and a great people's highest HOPES and EXPECTATIONS -- yielding a nation that exists ONLY because of and so long as that legally-binding contract and blueprint remain in force -- which, once proved breakable -- with or without impunity -- could and surely would be broken again and again -- until the idea and hopes rapidly dwindled to zero -- the document turned to rubbish -- and the process of national suicide was completed. This modern nation was born of cool reason and deliberate design -- never by accident -- nor of divine nor inherited nor stolen nor purchased rights for the powerful few.
- That beautiful, humanistic Declaration of Independence -- forever shelved as an irrelevant footnote -- ever to remain the hypocritical-seeming, reality-contradicted -- source of global embarrassment -- in its magnificent, but empty claim that "all men are created equal" -- which the war had partially redeemed and preserved for humankind.
- The question of lawful freedom was largely settled by the war, but another century and a half was needed to sort out other key aspects and a fuller definition of real freedom, including -- freedom to be HUMAN; to be RATIONAL; to be EMOTIONAL; freedom from excessive want; freedom to mature into something better; freedom to choose, design, and live a good life; freedom to have a lot of chances; freedom to think your own thoughts, to believe as you will, to speak one's mind, freedom from danger, freedom of movement, time, place, being, association, conscience, will, to own and dispose of property, to create, to enjoy, to self-defend, to serve, to be served, to help and be helped, and other explicit and implicit civil rights -- to be and do virtually anything, EXCEPT to trespass on the lawful freedoms of another -- as far as they have been sorted out. And, with the nation intact, AT LEAST THEY COULD BE sorted out -- far better than they could be in the alternative case.
- The democratic ideal and pattern might have lost its allure -- for many of the world's watchful and disappointed nations and peoples -- as defeat exposed a shattering answer -- perhaps for all time -- to the crucial question as to -- "whether any nation, so-conceived and so-dedicated, can long endure."
- Abraham Lincoln, "the final President," would have surely been deposed and the Presidency abolished, as the neutered and overthrown Constitution resulted in the nation dissolving, fatally weakened, from under him -- leaving him with no lawful mandate and nothing to lead -- Gorbachev-style (with all due respects to Mr. Gorbachev -- and many respects are due him).
- The separate, weakened pieces of the broken body of the country would have become vulnerable to eager, opportunistic, and hungry foreign scavenging. Even formerly friendly nations might have been compelled to partake, rather than suffer disadvantages relative to the aggressively opportunistic.
- Our present newer States might never have formed -- perhaps new little conflicting "Confederacies" and orphans might have abounded, instead.
- Human rights within States and elsewhere might have lost any chance of establishing secure legal foundations -- and would certainly have become inconsistently and, thus, unjustly applied.
- Chances for world peace would have lessened -- perhaps, even totally vanished.
- A new and mighty world force for much evil might have arisen, like a dreaded phoenix, from the debris -- a victorious, extremely flawed Confederate States of America!!! (If it, too, didn't fly apart under the very principle of disunion it had just won)
- In which case, American Slavery would have received new life, rather than its death blow -- Perhaps, victory might have made the national enemy so powerful and feared as to be practically unchallengable from outside those corrupted member-States -- though, the so-called Confederacy's absurd, hateful, selfish, aristocratic, paternalistic, chauvinistic, intolerant, human-race and gender-based notions -- of the "good" life, disunion, and tyranny -- might have undone its own self, in the end -- by the fundamental fallacies embedded in its very principles and evil policy -- after fatally damaging -- the rest of the former nation and -- snuffing out a far better idea.
- But, had the so-called Confederacy prevailed AND endured, a powerful, invincible, aggressive slave empire might have emerged -- to spread, like a cancer, through the remaining, broken States -- perhaps, through Cuba, Mexico, South America, and Canada -- perhaps, through the entire world. Surely, the world is full of immature souls feeling no compunction about helping such an abomination to do its mischief on widest possible scale.
- For it was in the essential nature, interests, and thrust of American slavery that it had to expand into lucrative new, unspoiled cotton-lands or risk its strangulation unto death -- President Lincoln's original, hopefully bloodless, anti-slavery "containment" proposal rested on this assumption -- his later offers to buy and free the slaves, also rebuffed. All efforts for an honorable peace, stubbornly rejected -- by a fearful, self-conscious enemy -- and once cotton was eventually supplanted as the basis, other pretexts would surely have been found to maintain the revolting, one-sided advantages of human ownership.
- The "Slave Power" (ever ready to fight ridiculous and barbaric death-duels over "honor") was inherently greedy for, among other things, ever more money, ever more undeserved privilege and comfort, and ever more political power -- leading to its insatiable demands for more and more suitable lands to exploit and despoil -- very likely to include the lands of other peoples.
- Why not steal the lands of other peoples? What did "right" mean to the vicious enslavers, who so callously stole human-beings-from-themselves and even held their "own" people of the South in such despotic thrall? They were willing and content to have everyone and anyone bleed for their totally exclusive advantage (well, perhaps not their sex objects).
-- the ordinary, allegedly "free" white men, the barely-free white women, and the so-called "sub-human capital" -- all three groups, looked down upon as fully exploitable and coerced personal property -- in the willfully blinded eyes of the indenturing powers. They wouldn't even let Abraham Lincoln's name appear on the "Southern ballot" -- perhaps fearing what the people really thought -- and might have been willing to re-think -- as the good-hearted are wont to do -- given sufficient information, motive, time -- and FREEDOM. - Even now, remnants and echoes of their bitter legacy still linger -- all wrapped in distorted, romanticized notions -- still warping many of the minds and world views of their descendants -- still ruining the life-experiences of their victims -- by paying forward willfully careless disregard for the natural entitlement, in but a privileged-born few, to human dignity -- and still heaping yet more pain and discomfort onto the world's misery quotient -- even from beyond the long-closed grave.
- What a terrible "reason-for-being" -- few mortal causes are ever worse than fighting, dying, and destroying, in order to own and ruin other humans -- AND THEN, boldly defending the idea, for generations after the fact -- an idea which need not and MUST NOT be defended, any longer -- though sheer bravery was not wanting on either side -- among those warring, rather evenly-matched, typically-courageous, but far differently led and inspired, American soldier-brothers.
- Slavemaster and auctioneer would have remained viable career options.
- The western and connected States might have reverted to Mexico or been taken over by European or Pacific powers.
- New England might have broken away, maybe merging with Canada or others.
- Maybe the same for the old Northwest -- and for the newer, yet unconstituted States.
- Individual States would have less reliable ways to sort out differences among themselves or to efficiently insure their common defense -- some might have been absorbed or extinguished.
- Individual wars and other violent disagreements between States and groupings would have become inevitable.
- Individual States might have formed local and foreign alliances against other States.
- Travel between States would have become inefficient, involving passports, border guards, walls and gates, tariffs, conflicting regulations -- even denial of permission to proceed or pass through -- perhaps, with the mocking shout, "go around us."
- Interstate commerce would have become extremely problematic.
- A transcontinental railroad system (and land-grant universities), to further tie ONE vast nation together, might not yet have been completed (if even completable across the multitude of sovereignties).
- Intrastate and regional railroads, declining from the inefficient business climate -- would have left many parts of the nation in isolation. The existence, growth, and health of communities stunted -- even extinguished -- by exorbitant pricing -- and lack of easy access -- to essential goods, services, markets, and knowledge. Horse-drawn wagons and candles -- might have remained central to a primitive, suffering material life -- for a whole lot longer.
- The common language might have broken down -- crippling day-to-day communications and the most basic of interactions.
- The free-flow of ideas would have become sharply curtailed -- WORLD-WIDE.
- Sufficiently strong military alliances might well have been rendered inconceivable, resulting in weaker common military defense (if any) -- both here and abroad.
- WWI would have turned out differently -- if fightable at all -- Germany and other colonialist forces might have overwhelmed the weak through unchecked intimidation and aggression.
- Colonialism might have strengthened and spread further.
- Antisemitism and other nasty ideas might have won and spread, unchecked.
- Unchecked religious zealotry and confusion might have become an even more destabilizing force, than their present overbearing, mind-crippling curses.
- Communism, absolute monarchy, fascism, anarchy or other forms less responsive to the will of the people might have become more prevalent, with all the inefficiencies, misjudgments, and oppressions which that could mean.
- Arguably, WWII might not have happened (I suspect far worse -- continuous major warring, beyond number) or turned out far differently if it had.
- A United Nations might not have arisen to settle disputes and form constructive consensus -- peacefully -- or been seriously curtailed in its birth and ability to endure.
- The technological and scientific revolutions might have failed to continue or been seriously delayed or impeded in attaining their present, glorious rates of acceleration -- human creativity suppressed.
- We might not have had such dramatic victories in knowledge, health, entrepreneurship, management, electricity, such ease of mobility and communication, computers, The Internet, space exploration and exploitation, and other astounding human achievements -- as soon as we did -- if ever as fully developed.
- We might not NOW have as many new and exciting breakthroughs to look forward to, from any fields of knowledge -- the universe and nature ever to remain baffling, often bullying, capricious, and extremely dangerous mysteries -- and lost or squandered opportunities.
- The Panama Canal might not yet have been built -- among countless other profound innovations never to be realized, if even imagined (e.g. no Golden Gate Bridge, few if any super-highways, no Tennessee Valley Authority, no Hoover dam, and so on)
- Lesser treasures denied, but still hauntingly stunning thoughts: A far different California, no Disneyland, no Hollywood, and so on ... (just to get you started).
- The world economy would be far more inefficient and fragmented.
- Prolonged, severe economic depressions, world-wide, might have become a more frequent and deeper norm
- Unemployment might have become hopelessly severe and perpetual.
- Law enforcement would be far less concerned with such "trivialities" as Miranda rights, probable cause, habeas corpus, restraint of force and brutality, non-deadly tactics, modern criminology and ethics, warrants, and so on.
- Justice could have no hope of being administered evenly. Interstate cooperation, such as in the extradition of criminals between States, could have become hopelessly encumbered by red tape and the variability of local moods.
- Sophisticated social movements might have never gotten off the ground in addressing social pathologies, relieving pressures, and redressing imbalances.
- Environmental Protection, perhaps the most basic of knowledge and education, accommodations for the aged and disabled, labor laws, justice for Native Americans, succor for the destitute, sanitation and public health, and so on, would have been much slower to rise as governmental priorities -- if at all -- and been inconsistent among the fragmented former States.
- And, of course, racial and gender integration, equal treatment, and all types of anti-discrimination initiatives NEVER would have been governmental priorities -- within that abominable Confederacy or in like-minded States -- or for others stifling under their corrupting fingers -- criminally crippling human promise.
- Women would have remained as second-class (or even lower-class) citizens or personal objects -- with little hope of ever gaining equality of treatment and freedom to just be -- reducing human productive capacity by more than half -- owing to the losses in synergy (i.e. the way systems tend to be -- MUST BE -- MORE than the sum-total of their parts). Christopher Hitchens once said, I believe rightly, "that the very best way for societies, primitive or not, to advance and gain their best futures is to refrain from oppressing their female populations." (a paraphrasing)
- Boys and girls would have been socialized far differently -- leading to future generations of who knows what.
- Immigration difficulties would be more complex and handled with far less compassion. And, who knows what a far less attractive homeland might have done to the willing inflow of invaluable new immigrants, with their dreams, drive, and uniqueness -- which have grown the nation's power, charm, and versatility as successfully as they have?
- There might not be an efficient Coast Guard and other compassionate forms dedicated to saving lives, facilitating commerce, protecting the environment, and other crucial services.
- There might not have existed, in addition, even the other noble and effective forces that are so quick to respond to natural and other calamities, world-wide -- thereby giving humankind, among other things, vivid examples of its own best features, to emulate and mature by.
- And many more horrid losses and risks, in the ugly parade of unfavorable chain-reactions -- all leading to humankind's undoing -- and all threatened by the disastrous, misguided, and self-serving mischief, errors, subtractions, commissions, and omissions -- so painfully, selfishly, and foolishly ventured -- and so steadfastly, bloodily, and heroically repulsed -- not so very long ago.
But WAIT, there's more...
C. HAD THINGS GONE THAT WAY, WE'D NEVER HAVE KNOWN ALL WE'D HAVE LOST:
BUT WE WOULD MISS IT, JUST THE SAME
Perhaps, we'd all now be living in a world something like this:
C. HAD THINGS GONE THAT WAY, WE'D NEVER HAVE KNOWN ALL WE'D HAVE LOST:
Perhaps, we'd all now be living in a world something like this:
Eventually, all awareness forever lost that there ever once existed a people who tried their mightiest, to save an unimaginably bright future for ordinary human beings -- and almost succeeded. Facts, if remembered at all, perhaps only fuzzily and all distorted -- as just another of the countless unverifiable fables and myths of history. The truth that goodness actually could check and subdue the greatest of evils -- at least partially submerged back down into wild, baseless conjecture and away from proof.
Untold numbers and generations still suffering the solemn, artificial, alternative truth that "life is but a vale of tears." Robbing the species of all the good that those in misery might have done otherwise -- had they only been free to live in -- or under the benign influence of -- a land of hope and promise.
Untold numbers and generations still suffering the solemn, artificial, alternative truth that "life is but a vale of tears." Robbing the species of all the good that those in misery might have done otherwise -- had they only been free to live in -- or under the benign influence of -- a land of hope and promise.
Perhaps, most every waking hour tormented by a vague, but intense, unrequited, universal yearning for something better -- and sobered by the grim and hopeless certainty -- that life would remain a bitterly disappointing experience -- far into the vast, uncertain future.
The "good life," reserved for the few and mostly undeserving -- ever to be denied to the rest -- the ever-growing numbers of the poor and down-trodden, pining for and whispering to their descendants -- fairy tales and nursery-rhymes about -- the lost days of brighter possibilities -- and a DEAD and GONE, wondrous thing once called "the United States." ("Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall"... and nothing could put him together again -- all the king's horses and men... no where to be found)
The "good life," reserved for the few and mostly undeserving -- ever to be denied to the rest -- the ever-growing numbers of the poor and down-trodden, pining for and whispering to their descendants -- fairy tales and nursery-rhymes about -- the lost days of brighter possibilities -- and a DEAD and GONE, wondrous thing once called "the United States." ("Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall"... and nothing could put him together again -- all the king's horses and men... no where to be found)
***********
IF ALL OF THIS DIDN'T SERIOUSLY THREATEN TO BRING ON "A NEW DARK AGE," then the term escapes me.
BUT INSTEAD...
BUT INSTEAD...
Despite the worst that could be thrown at it,
The Constitution STILL triumphs
-- that war was but another test --
and, to this very day, it is still preserving and nurturing
the magnificent nation it established
1. The Preamble of the Constitution STILL says: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
2. The oaths of public and military service STILL begin with the words: "I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same..."
3. The Pledge of Allegiance STILL expresses our fealty to our flag: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, ONE NATION, under God, INDIVISIBLE, with liberty and justice for ALL."
THE CONSTITUTION IS US!
The Eternal Part of US
It Made and Keeps US an US and a U.S.
(May we never outlive it)
The Eternal Part of US
It Made and Keeps US an US and a U.S.
(May we never outlive it)
4. CONSEQUENTLY, THE NATION HAS ADVANCED -- TO A MUCH HIGHER STATE-OF-BEING -- THAN EVER BEFORE -- AND CONTINUES TO CLIMB AND MATURE
- by virtue of an inspired, confident national character; such courage and bravery; such resourcefulness; such collective wisdom; such great good will and luck; and a firmly reinforced, much "more perfect Union" --
- lifting itself up by the boot-straps, from the depths of utter catastrophe --
- far stronger than before --
- re-forged, hardened, and proven in the harsh testing-fires --
- gently welcoming and easing the return of its erstwhile bitterest enemies back into the embrace of the national family --
- shook-off profoundest damage and grief --
- licked its wounds --
- ever striking-off more and more ancient chains of greatest shame and error --
- in tireless pursuit of self-perfection --
- blessed with the resources of the time and place --
- and proceeded to help usher in --
- WITH AWESOME SPEED --
- a new and better "GOLDEN AGE,"
- than humankind has ever seen --
- and is still relishing.
MORAL OF THE STORY
If anything defines "greatness" and "a healthily-maturing, lucky society and humanity," I think this certainly does.
And so, the great human chain-reaction continues, in reasonably good order... toward fulfillment of its grandest potential.
And so, the great human chain-reaction continues, in reasonably good order... toward fulfillment of its grandest potential.
***********
A. THE BLESSING
Long live the UNITED States of America
... and the precious, hard-won principles for which it stands -- the invaluable array of "crown jewels" which irrefutably adorn and help greatly empower our magnificent species of life. A nation compassionately accepting and courageously and generously fulfilling the domestic and world-leadership roles which suit its unique circumstances so well. Still worth living for and even dying for, when necessary -- yesterday, now, and always.
B. THE SYMBOL
RED, WHITE, and BLUE
is the most meaningful and fortunate color-set
in all of history.
is the most meaningful and fortunate color-set
in all of history.
When I look upon that beautiful flag -- I often shudder to think -- what might have happened -- had she been thrown -- onto history's trash heap -- rather than continue to fly proudly -- all covered in glory -- where she belongs -- around a largely grateful or at least respectful world -- and over a most fortunate, united homeland -- where I was so privileged to have been born -- and to have been sustained, so liberally, even generously -- by "the blessings of liberty" -- which have been passed down to us -- both intact and secure.
C. THE VISION
1. HUMAN WELL-BEING
IS A MOST PROPER
"OBJECTIVE MORALITY"
FOR THIS SPECIES
and all guarantees
are most welcome
in this life
2. MAY OUR NATION ALWAYS STRIVE
to be a MORAL ONE
of the Highest Standards
of the Highest Standards
a diligent guarantor of this life's
greatest goodness
greatest goodness
for the sake of
one and all
D. THE ETERNAL MISSION
As was so eloquently and famously said, back then, and is still and eternally true:
"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—
"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—
and that government
of the people, by the people, for the people,
shall not perish from the earth."
of the people, by the people, for the people,
shall not perish from the earth."
E Pluribus Unum!
David Nelson
***********
All Original Content © 2014, The MENTOR Enterprises / ELMS, All Rights Reserved on this entire document -- "A Brand New Dark Age -- if the US had lost her Civil War" -- BUT, I hereby waive those rights, to this extent: You may freely copy and pass this along -- and are urged to do so -- as long as it's all done free of charge, unchanged, you include this statement, AND you inform me as to how it is being used -- at YOUR convenience but hopefully, soonest.
One of the fallacies buried in the faulty bedrock of complaint against Mr. Lincoln is that he acted unconstitutionally.
ReplyDeleteTwo acts come to mind, where the charges of unconstitutionality were wildly leveled at him: (1) suspension of habeas corpus, in the case of Congressman Vallandigham's incitement of Union soldiers to desert and (2) The Emancipation Proclamation.
Ever the brilliant lawyer, Lincoln took great care with the Constitution he was trying to save.
In the first case, I think this excerpt of his applies: "Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of a wiley agitator who induces him to desert? This is none the less injurious when effected by getting a father, or brother, or friend, into a public meeting, and there working upon his feeling, till he is persuaded to write the soldier boy, that he is fighting in a bad cause, for a wicked administration of a contemptable government, too weak to arrest and punish him if he shall desert. I think that in such a case, to silence the agitator, and save the boy, is not only constitutional, but, withal, a great mercy."
In the second case, he understood he had no Constitutional power to end slavery with the sweep of his hand. That it would require a constitutional amendment. He knew he only had constitutional "war powers." So, he emancipated the slaves in States, "still in rebellion," thus, exempting border, slave-holding states -- and those already conquered. ACTS CONSISTENT WITH HIS LAWFUL POWERS -- as an inducement to their surrender -- since this would be the only way they could "save" their "property."
The effect was, freedom followed in the trail of victorious Union armies -- through the States still in rebellion. He dealt with the 13th Amendment at the close of the war == realizing that the end of his war powers would surely nullify the impact and force of the Emancipation Proclamation -- and fuel endless battling in the courts, when peace was restored -- perhaps returning the freedmen to their chains. (What a tragic spectacle that would have been)
There was also a subtle motive to the Emancipation Proclamation.
ReplyDeleteBy freeing slaves, "only" in the States still in rebellion (all he could lawfully do), the EFFECT would be to make slavery untenable, everywhere -- ending it "de facto" -- as the Union armies conquered those remaining States
So, it had the effect of dealing a death-blow to the entire "peculiar Institution," to be reinforced, officially by Amendment 13. Cleverness was one of Mr. Lincoln's many gifts.
I firmly believe that, if we humans are to truly progress into the brightest possible future, we need to understand and never forget the meaning of that war -- what was at stake and remains at stake -- and to act, accordingly, to preserve our gains. WE MUST NEVER FAIL TO DO THIS, FOR AS LONG AS AMERICA EXISTS -- down to the "latest generations."
ReplyDeleteWe err greatly when we take for granted this American blessing on humankind -- and in such a state of ignorance (or under-estimation), casually denigrate and risk everything that has been achieved for us at such enormous cost -- or fail to keep trying to perfect the work so nobly started and advanced.
We need to never fail to look back, appreciate, and wonder at the close call humanity underwent, not so long ago.