February 11th, 2009
So goes one of former US President Harry Truman’s favorite colloquialisms. I recently completed a biography on the 33rd President, titled simply Truman, and authored by David McCullough. McCullough is well known for several other works, including his scholarly portrayal of our second President’s life in John Adams, which I have also read, and his consistently solid, erudite prose. In that regard Truman does not disappoint. It is a vivid recounting of the intriguing life of one of the twentieth century’s most influential patrons, a man reviled in his time only to be revered by later generations.
Harry Truman was the definitive influence on the course of US foreign policy during the latter half of the last century. The Marshall Plan, the Korean War, NATO, the United Nations, the Berlin Airlift, the atomic bomb, Israeli recognition, the Cold War: these are the veins through which the blood of our time flows, and at the heart is this man. Generally speaking, the consequences of these initiatives are overwhelmingly auspicious. The Marshall Plan constructed not only governments and economies in Western Europe, but the bonds of brotherhood through which durable alliances were formed; the Korean War let it be known to communist aggressors that transgressions on the freedoms of men would not be without retribution; the Berlin Airlift broke the imperialistic will of the Soviets in Europe, and later the Cold War broke their backs through peaceful attrition. And perhaps most importantly we are yet to see the day when wars will again be fought with sticks.
This is not to say that President Truman was infallible; quite the opposite is true, in fact. He had a penchant for employing executive power in creative ways, much like a recent President, for what he believed was the benefit of the nation. It is conceivable today that a President could draft the whole of the railroad union into the Army or seize the nations steel manufacturing out of private hands, both failed endeavors of Harry Truman. If his successes were plentiful, his failures were no less omnipresent.
Historical biographies are invaluable portraits of times past. They are unique in their ability to bring context to events and cultures because they are based on the perception of an individual who lived them. What we find in these tomes is not the regurgitation of detached historical fact found in text books, but a very real and nuanced experience of an individual that provides insights into the complexities of life. Too often we abscond from responsibility only to pass judgment on the work of others, shrouded by the darkness of willful ignorance and failing to appreciate the intricacies of nearly intractable conundrums. In Truman, I felt the President’s struggle to walk the line without stepping over. Truman gives one great respect for the agony that inevitably comes with being a benevolent commander of men, and it serves to reaffirm a notion we would all do well to keep at the forefront of our thoughts: things are never as simple as we perceive them to be.
Word of the Day
rodomontade (rod o mon tade) [rod-uh-mon-teyd]
- (noun) vainglorious boasting or bragging; pretentious, blustering talk.
- (adjective) bragging.
- (verb) to boast; brag; talk big.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
February 1st, 2009
I’ve heard several talking heads on television lately claiming that President Obama and Vice President Biden are using rhetoric that may rekindle class warfare, that their focus on increasing the lot of the middle class at the expense of the wealthy is anachronistic in this time of plenty. (Never mind that the recession is redefining that word plenty.) The talking heads fall back on their standard arguments: rich people do most of the investing, free market capitalism is the most efficient distributor of wealth, and the oft quoted aphorism coined by President Kennedy that, “A rising tide floats all boats.” I think the pundits of the rich are misguided, and I want to use a few sentences to give a simplified explanation of the complex reasons why. To be clear, I am not overtly opposed to wealth, nor am I an advocate of class warfare, but my political predilections are well known to lean to the left and I am myself a member of the middle class. As such, it’s reasonable to assume that my ruminations on the matter will be no less biased than those of the talking heads, who, it’s important to note, are themselves generally rich relative to the standards of a middle class citizen. Nonetheless, I hope that my thoughts regarding the matter at hand inspire others to forumlate some of their own.
Economists have conducted extensive research on the effects of economic inequality, and most, though not all, of that research indicates a correlation between economic and social dissonance. In other words, as the disparity between those who have and those who have more grows, social cohesion weakens. Communal ties degrade and trust among parties attenuates. Criminal behavior rises and community activism lessens. Those of moderate means grow resentful as their voices become marginalized by the ever loudening lobbying of the elite. In fact, I am not aware of a single positive consequence supported by or even tied to a widening gap between those of excessive means and those of average means.
I favor capitalism. I believe it the entrepreneurial spirit and the notion that those who succeed deserve to savor the fruits of their labor, and I am not opposed to the accumulation of wealth. But I also believe that the welfare of individuals and society is paramount, not least because I believe that people leading enjoyable lives is of more importance than leading materialistic lives, but also because it is the welfare of the individual and society that encourages the accretion of wealth in the first place. Much research has shown that unabated economic growth is impossible under the reign of chaos, which, ironically, is precisely the consequence of ever growing economic disparities. Those of greater means owe substantially more to society because it is society itself that has made their enrichment possible. The greatest investment the wealthy can make is back into the society from whence they sprang, for that is the only guarantee of future prosperity for all of us. So, by all means, be rich, but by means of participation with and investment in, rather than exploitation of, society. It would be recidivistic to assume that this time society will somehow respond differently.
Word of the Post
ratiocinate (ra ti oc i nate) [rash-ee-os-uh-neyt] -verb
- to reason; to carry on a process of reasoning.
Posted in Money, Philosophical, Political | No Comments »
January 31st, 2009
I read quite a bit and I encounter words that I hadn’t seen before pretty regularly. There’s a fair amount of words that I have seen, but have since been lost to the abyss that is flagging memory as well. My inclination is always to carry on reading, ignoring the word itself and instead choosing to infer the intent of the author from context. Generally this is fairly efficacious, but on occasion a saucy bugger comes along that rebuffs attempts to decrypt its meaning. Historically I chose to move along even in these situations, the lack of comprehension arising from the haze of ignorance somehow preferable to admitting my vocabulary is inadequate. I suspect this behavior is related to the psychological displeasure associated with admitting any of my many inadequacies. Whatever the case, I am breaking free of the chains of nescience.
Whenever I read now, I keep a dictionary close at hand. If I stumble on a word, I locate its definition. This has the benefit not only of clarifying otherwise intractable prose, but also of improving my own diction when the time comes to do some expressing of my own ideas. It’s surprising how often I find myself searching in vain for a word to express an idea just so, often resorting to an inscrutable amalgam of words where one, the right one, would have served superbly. More than once my newfound enamor of vocabulary has saved me in such situations. Thus I am introducing the Word of the Post. To augment my efforts, I will include one obscure word along with its definition in each post I write henceforth. And so, without further verbiage, on to the Word of the Post.
discursive (dis cur sive) [di-skur-siv] -adjective
-
passing aimlessly from one subject to another; digressive; rambling.
- proceeding by reason or argument rather than intuition.
Posted in Just Life, Miscellaneous | 5 Comments »