Four squared decades ago today, the bête noire and the Persona Non Grata of this weblog was born.
Showing posts with label Woodrow Wilson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Woodrow Wilson. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Monday, December 28, 2015
In Virginia
A year short of eight score years ago today, the bête noire and the Persona Non Grata of this weblog was born.
Says “Foseti” in a comment:
What do we have to do to get a post on the removal of your bete noire from his alma mater?Well, I don't know about that. Although I can see his point, it's a double-edged sword. The ongoing fuss about ousting names of leaders of old is in the end all about ousting views that today are unfashionable. If this ousting crusade is taken to its full extent, all but everyone revered at this weblog will be ousted. We won't be “allowed” to express those viewpoints either, such as that Rhodesia was better than Zimbabwe (cf. a recent comment). The bête noire will never be ousted for his crusade for democracy as long as the God Demos reigns supreme. That being said, I guess I won't mind a few scratches in the lacquer of this “secular saint.”
The reactionary/progressive alliance must be able to agree on something[.]
Also, over at LRC, John V. Denson quotes Stanley Weintraub in a counterfactual scenario:
Wilson, who would not be campaigning for reelection in 1916 on a platform that he kept America out of war, would have lost (he only won narrowly) to a powerful new Republican president, Charles Evans Hughes.Furthermore, Denson says:
The last chapter of Weintraub’s book is entitled “What If— ?” This is counterfactual history at its best and he sets out what he believes the rest of the twentieth century would have been like if the soldiers had been able to cause the Christmas Truce of 1914 to stop the war at that point. Like many other historians, he believes that with an early end of the war in December of 1914, there probably would have been no Russian Revolution, no Communism, no Lenin, and no Stalin. Furthermore, there would have been no vicious peace imposed on Germany by the Versailles Treaty, and therefore, no Hitler, no Nazism, and no World War II. With the early truce there would have been no entry of America into the European War and America might have had a chance to remain, or return, to being a Republic rather than moving toward World War II, the “Cold” War (Korea and Vietnam), and our present status as the world bully.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Friday, December 28, 2012
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 28, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
That Infamous Speech
Four score and a dozen years ago today (here and here), the Persona Non Grata of this weblog gave his infamous speech to Congress, claiming that “the world must be made safe for democracy.”
The world needs to be made safe from mobocracy, kleptocracy, and ochlocracy.
Monday, March 30, 2009
2 Years Old
On the occasion of this weblog's 2nd anniversary, I am doing a self-interview.
Q: You run a blog in support of the Old European Order, but there have been a lot of off-topic posts?
A: What do you mean?
Q: Aren't you blogging a lot about the financial crisis? Isn't that off-topic?
A: Certainly not. This blog is about the decline of civilization; unchecked democracy, cultural decline, pervasive government, unsound money, etc. World War I destroyed civilization as we knew it, and we have seen much decline since too.
Q: Do you blame all of that on Woodrow Wilson?
A: His revolution certainly has a lot to answer for. He was certainly not alone, and there were pioneers before him. Also, there were people who came after him. World War I was an immense attack on the immune system of our civilization. There were diseases before, some of them quite severe, but that war destroyed the immune system, making our civilization vulnerable to so many modernist diseases. If it weren't for American intervention – and phoney neutrality, for that matter – the Old Order would have had a good chance of survival.
Q: You blame World War One on Woodrow Wilson? He certainly didn't start it! Didn't the Old Order do that?
A: The Old Order attempted suicide, but it was Wilson and his cronies who pushed it off the bridge.
Q: But since the monarchs started it, weren't they responsible for all those lost lives? Wasn't it right to emasculate them?
A: It was not the monarchs who pushed for war. Yes, they were responsible. They should have done more to prevent it. The fact is that the monarchs were not sufficiently serving as checks on the politicos. The modernist response to this, however, is to abolish whatever is left of checks. That's modernist logic in a nutshell.
Q: Emperor-King Franz Josef gave in because of old age. Isn't that an argument against monarchy?
A: That is indeed a republican argument against monarchy, whereas if a President is too old, that's a republican argument for reform, not abolition.
Q: You present yourself as an Adult Third Culture Kid. What do you mean by that?
A: A Third Culture Kid is a child who has spent a significant time in one or more other cultures than his own. An adult TCK is one such who has grown up.
Q: And you partly grew up in Africa?
A: Yes, I did.
Q: Doesn't that make you a multi-culturalist?
A: Certainly not! I respect – and to some extent even enjoy – other peoples' cultures, and I am partly a mix myself. However, the attempt at making a porridge of it all is indeed perilous. Moreover, Western culture – what's left of it, that is – must be defended. It has gone so far that we also need a restoration.
Q: What is the most valuable asset you bring with you from this “third culture” upbringing?
A: I believe it is the ability to see things from more perspectives, in particular to see your own society from the “outside,” as I was never quite like the others. We need to see through the “mist” created by the modernists.
Q: Do you believe that government should be of laws, rather than of men?
A: I believe in it as an ideal.
Q: But still you are a monarchist?
A: Modern democratic government is certainly rule by legislation, but there are more bureaucrats and politicians than ever, and that certainly is government of men. Laws seems to change more often than people change their shirts. We must remember that classical monarchy often governed under law that could not easily be changed at a whim. The Baron of Montesquieu defined monarchy as government with a monarch governing according to fundamental law.
Q: Gerald Ford is known to have said that the American Republic is a success, as it was a government of laws, rather than of men. What is your comment to that?
A: That must have been a joke. Well, many people make unintended jokes. Even at his time that was a joke. Even more so now.
Q: Your blog may be considered by many not be exactly friendly to American ideas. Do you consider yourself Anti-American? Do you hate America and Americans?
A: Absolutely not! I am opposed to a whole lot that comes from that part of the world, but far from everything. A lot of Americans – and also some non-American fans of America – consider their fight for independence an act of bringing the world out of darkness. I find this concept repulsive, and it is false. However, I do not consider myself anti-American. Given recent developments in those United States, it would not surprise me, though, if I were classified as a “terrorist,” being a foreign dissenter. We must also remember that the ideas of liberty in large part came from Europe. The further we get from Wilson's revolution – and American independence, for that matter – the more it comes clear that the rejection of monarchy was not particularly wise. I went to an international elementary school, where the largest nationality group was American. I find it hard to understand how I could hate Americans or America.
Q: Do you consider an American monarchy a viable option?
A: Apart from perhaps the Kingdom of Hawai'i, no. I think it was unwise to abandon monarchy, but it would also be unwise to “return” to monarchy for that nation with no tradition for monarchy. It would be better to return to earlier republican traditions. Wilsonian mass democracy should be rejected. I support the Ron Paul movement, which supports going back to earlier republican traditions domestically and ending the Wilsonian World Order.
Q: Let me get this straight; you focus mostly on monarchy, but also on other issues of ills in our time?
A: I do nothing of the kind!
Q: Would you please explain?
A: Focusing is nothing I do more or less. I either focus or I do not. I have maximum one focal point at a time. Focusing is nothing I do on this blog. I emphasize certain issues more than others. Some issues are simply off-topic.
Q: Getting into the English language now? Isn't that going a bit high, since you're not a native English speaker?
A: Abuse of terms is a phenomenon also in other languages. Abuse of the word focus is not exclusive to the English language. Besides, I'm an international school brat, so mastering English isn't my worst problem.
Q: You do seem nitpicky with words?
A: The decline in language is part of the modern decline. It is part of the problem with modernism. The philosophy that words don't matter must be fought. Besides, Kong Fuzi told us that when words lose their meaning, people lose their liberty.
Q: When your scope is so wide, are there really any topics that are off-topic?
A: If I started posting general public speaking advice, that would certainly be off-topic. Astronomy, also, would be off-topic, unless it somehow, e.g., is related to the weakness of “omnipotent government.”
Q: You have an affection for aristocracy. How does that align with John Maynard Keynes being a nobleman?
A: Being an aristocrat does not necessarily make you right. Neither does being a monarch. Monarchy and aristocracy are good concepts in general, but I do not deny that there have been bad monarchs and bad aristocrats. The American electorate has elected a gang of no-goods in Washington, D.C. who do everything to make the crisis worse. That should be enough to put decent and intelligent people off any positive view of democracy. That said, Keynes was not born an aristocrat, he was created a Baron. Also, the peerage became extinct upon his demise due to his inability to produce an issue. He had no new generations of his own to worry about when he left this world and the rest of us with the long run.
Q: Do you believe Lord Keynes was intelligent?
A: I hear they say he was. I have no reason to belive he wasn't. I believe you can be extremely intelligent without understanding economics. The MIT students who later have ended up in Wall Street making and using models that have serious problems when it comes to economic reality are probably very smart. I have no reason to believe that they are not extremely intelligent. Especially when you are very smart, it is important that you are wise enough to understand that your central management of society and the economy will not work out well. Perhaps that was a major part of the problem with Woodrow Wilson as well.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Bête Noire Born
152 years ago today, the Persona Non Grata of this weblog was born.
For his 61st birthday, he gave to himself and his nation nationalization of U.S. railroads. On this day four score and eleven years ago today, the United States Railroad Administration came into effect.
Was this part of the concept of spreading freedom?
While this particular measure ended i 1920, we are in general stuck today with a legacy of managing society and the economy from above. Just look at the Federal Reserve and the common belief that the economy can be managed by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. We are in the age of pervasive government, and it was with the Great War we entered it. There is still a lot of mess left from the end of the Progressive Era.
Please feel free also to read here, here, and here.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
War, Democracy, and Intervention
Friday, July 11, 2008
Who Killed the Constitution?
Dr. Thomas E. Woods introduces a new book he has co-authored.
He says of the Persona Non Grata of this weblog:
As Bill Kauffman puts it, Wilson makes George W. Bush look like a pro bono lawyer for the ACLU. In tandem with draconian penalties for the most harmless statements about the Great War, voluntary enforcement agencies with names like the Sedition Slammers, the Terrible Threateners, and the Boy Spies of America sprang up across the country. Eugene V. Debs made the best of his situation, collecting a million votes for president in the 1920 election while in prison for giving a speech. (A popular campaign button read, "For President: Convict No. 9653.") All three branches of government heartily approved.Also, there is an unofficial site.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
1917 and 2008
On the occasion of the 91st anniversary of the speech of the bête noire of this weblog to the nation in defense of his war to make the world safe for the fall of Western Civilization, we are making the Kingdom of Nepal safe for democracy.
Has it occurred to anyone that Nepal needs to be made safe from democracy?
Theodore Harvey has his reflections.
Unsurprisingly, the Maoists have plans for the monarchy. See here, here, and here.
Remember Yekaterinburg!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
A Speech that Will Live in Infamy
On this day 91 years ago (here and here), the Persona Non Grata of this weblog gave his infamous speech to Congress, claiming that “the world must be made safe for democracy.”
Never mind that democracy is a concept from which the world needs to be made safe.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Wilsonianism
A few quotes from the Gates of Vienna:
Democracy is socialism applied to the highest level: the form of government.
Shaking off Wilsonianism is a worthwhile goal.
From Versailles to the UN to the idealism of George W. Bush: we set out to make the world safe for democracy, and ended up making it unsafe for just about everyone.
What is rarely recognized is how much Wilson had in common with Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, and all the other murderous socialist dictators of the 20th century. Like them, he believed that humankind could be reshaped by the idealistic vision of the privileged few who governed them. Like them, he was loath to allow the reality of human nature to stand in the way of his vision.
[T]he great crash of 1917-18; which brought down the whole edifice of European civilization (specifically, monarchial European civilization) -- to which Wilson contributed his mite -- was the pivotal catastrophe of modern times.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Wilson in France
89 years ago today, the Persona Non Grata of this blog arrived for the post-WWI Versailles conference.
Read here and here.
I must say it is quite impertinent to hold the main conference in the process of putting an end to the Old European Order in the Versailles Palace, which perhaps more than anything else represents the Old European Order.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Wilson for Peace?
On this day seven dozen and three years ago, a real u-turn compared to three years earlier, the bête noire of this blog is awarded the 1919 Nobel “Peace” Prize.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Yet a Wilson War Declaration
On this day 90 years ago, the bête noire of this weblog addressed a joint session of Congress, claiming no “wish in any way to impair or to rearrange the Austro-Hungarian Empire,” when asking for a declaration of war against the Danubian Monarchy.
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