-Caveat Lector- From http://www.sierratimes.com/02/02/02/lankford.htm
}}}>Begin The American Way Redux, Novus Ordo Seculorum Resumed -- Gasp! By John G. Lankford 02.02.02 Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole recognized it. Talk show host Larry King grasped it. Solicitor General Ted Olson nailed it. But because it was positioned in the second half of the fourth quarter of President George W. Bush's Tuesday, Jan. 28 State of the Union address , and for other reasons, most people probably experienced a somewhat uneasy "What was that all about?" feeling or missed it entirely. The peroration of that section of the speech was this: "We have a a greater objective than eliminating threats and containing resentment. We seek a just and peaceful world beyond the war on terror." Had the passage summarized there been presented as the major theme of a major foreign policy speech, announced as a thundering manifesto, it would have been called a 'doctrine", as were the Monroe Doctrine, the Soviet Bre zhnev Doctrine, and a number of others. As usual, this site's readers and writers have anticipated it, some with dread and some with exuberance, and will be among the cognoscenti alert for just such a speech, or at least a distinct policy direction, in the future. One name for it is the American Way, that principle Superman liked. The more venerable one is Novus Ordo Seculorum, a motto of the founders of the United States of America that translates approximately as "a new ordering of earthly affairs." It is what some people mean when they say "new world order" and the opposite of what others mean by the very same phrase. As a people, we once believed in it implicitly. Then, during the Vietnam era, we questioned and denied it. In the intervening thirty-plus years, we largely ceased to comprehend it, and accordingly came to fear it whenever it any allusion to it did occur. That is not surprising, because, while grippingly bold, it is at the same time a restrained, qualified, even somewhat ambivalent doctrine, one that not only does but must coexist with its opposite, absolute isolationism. In that, it is comparable to the Golden Mean described by the philosopher Aristotle. And, like any great principle, it has frequently been kidnapped by narrow-minded, shortsighted zealots and loons. The fact that it has been and can be so abused is what causes even those of us who generally comprehend its scope to gasp when someone proclaims it. But to gasp is not to cower, any more than to feel great fear in combat is to run screaming for a hidey- hole far from the front. That has to be borne in mind, because this novus ordo is not only powerful and hazardous, but humanly inevitable -- as this nation's founders recognized. First, they recognized the old order of affairs for what it was: one of thievery, thuggery, and perpetual warfare. The ruling classes of their era were warriors and the offspring of warriors, the nobility, advancing their fortunes by pillaging, rapine and intimidation. The business of nations was largely warfare. Second, they realized there had long existed a subordinated and better alternative: in a word, commerce. The one thing on which Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson agreed was that the newly-ordered United States of Am erica should be a producing and trading nation, not a conquering and conniving nation. Jefferson would have had it be heterogeneous, loosely united, and agrarian. Hamilton wanted it more uniformly organized and industrial-commercial. But they agreed the new nation should trade with all and conspire toward b elligerent ascendancy with none. George Washington and others signed on, emphasizing what can be a contrary theme, isolationism, but recognizing it could furnish a means of achieving commercial, though not military, engag ement with all the other nations. "The chief business of America is business", said President Calvin Coolidge, making a statement much derided by people who did not realize that if it is not so, then the chief business of nations is war. Coolidge, not the y, stood in the aura of the nation's founding principle. The founders were historically correct. The Phoenicians and then the Carthaginians in ancient times proliferated commerce, and, with it, astonishing material progress, cultural proliferation, and comparatively lightly-reg ulated civilization across the Mediterranean in primitive and savage times. The Hansa, or Hanseatic League, did much the same during the European Dark Age, setting the stage for the Renaissance and also for the first worl dwide manifestation of globalization, the British Empire (which got its start largely by stealing the Hansa's ships and taking over much of its function). At the end of the nineteenth century, commentators were predicting that commerce and trade would soon complete the replacement of warfare as the major theme in international relations. Then, as we know, starting in August , 1914, humankind's stubborn penchant for savagery invited warfare to make a horrible comeback, inflicting hundreds of millions of human deaths and indescribable misery. Total war, limited conventional war, guerrilla war, piracy, terrorism, and general criminality are all intolerable to productivity and commerce. In addition to disruption and mayhem they inflict, and resources they divert to the deployment of armies and the manufacture of engines of destruction, they also impose a dead weight of necessity for costly defensive and preventive expenditures. A shop owner who has to buy burglar bars, intruder alarms, and security cameras cannot buy another drill press or lathe. Paying one more security guard means paying one less craftsman. Diversion of a great proportion of its resources to a nonproductive military establishm ent wrecked the Soviet economy. But berserkers, haters, and hooligans do exist. It has always been necessary to allocate some resources to fending them off. That is the first step of sustaining productivity. The second is to vanquish, slay, imprison or, if possible, reform them. The third, clearly seen by Roosevelt, is to proceed beyond abatement of mayhem and try to establish an environment in which destroyers do not arise, or are subdued and redirected very early in t heir careers. Accordingly, during the Second world War, Roosevelt led planning for a "new world order". After the war, the United States tried to introduce pluralistic democracy and free enterprise in erstwhile enemy nati ons and elsewhere, saying, in effect, "No hitting. You may not conquer the world. You are welcome to try to buy it." The rival Communist bloc generally founded its bid for primacy on the ancient and primitive expedients o f force and intimidation, and for that reason as well as the socioeconomic unworkability of communism, lost. By the end of the twentieth century, the triumph of the provident western way, known for a while as the American Way though important elements of it were practiced before the dawn of recorded history, was so complete that some writers proclaimed an end to history, meaning the history of armed conflict, and others saw a resumption of pre-World War I concentration on industry and commerce, terming the intervening seven or eight decades "the short century." But another rabid coalition of recalcitrants emerged, and the emergence was brought home to us September 11. President Bush has correctly seen that it represents a movement comparable to the fascistic barbarism that confr onted Roosevelt (and the intrepid Communist one that produced the Cold War); that compromise with it is similarly impossible, and that one side or the other`must triumph. In his State of the Union speech and beforehand, B ush announced a long and relentless campaign to vanquish the foe, and in the Tuesday speech, he made the analogy clear by using the term "evil Axis". But he went further. "America will lead by defending liberty and justice because they are right and true and unchanging for all people everywhere." No nation owns these aspirations and no nation is exempt from them. We have no intention of imposing our culture. But America will always stand firm for the nonnegotiable demands of human dignity; the rule of law; limits on the power of the state; respect for women; private property; free speech; equal justice; and religious tolerance. America will take the side of brave men and women who advocate these values around the world, including the Islamic world, because we have a greater objective than eliminating threats and containing resentment. We seek a just and peaceful world beyond the war on terror.(emphasis added) This sort of language was last heard from President John F. Kennedy, the "go anywhere, pay any price" declaration that most believed defined the nation's role and purpose in the world before the dismay of Vietnam descende d on us. It is emphatically proactive. There can be no doubt that institution of the human rights Bush enumerated would dramatically transform Islamic nations, not one of which is in any sense democratic. The connection between those rights and a provident world regime of peaceful productivity and commerce is this: pluralistic democracy and economic free enterprise are what happens, as has been noted, when nobody hits. Whe n the freedoms of all are protected from the truncheons of some, consent-based interaction as among equals is the only sort of interaction possible. Inconsistent cultural traditions cannot be maintained. Most summary and commentary on Bush's speech concentrates on immediate and topical objectives. The longest-term one noted by most is the prosecution of the war on terror to final victory. But at the end of his speech, Bus h revived an even more visionary, positive, and epochal theme that once defined America's course, and it is momentous. And, as Russian premier Vladimir Putin observed, Bush is a man who does what he says. Permission to reprint/republish granted, as long as you include the name of our site, the author, and our URL. www.SierraTimes.com All Sierra Times news reports, and all editorials are � 2002 SierraTimes.com (unless other wise noted) Permission to reprint/republish granted, as long as you include the name of our site, the author, and our URL. www.SierraTimes.com All Sierra Times news reports, and all editorials are � 2002 SierraTimes.com (unless otherwise noted) SierraTimes.com� A Subsidiary of J.J. Johnson Enterprises, Inc. http://www.sierratimes.com/02/02/02/lankford.htm End<{{{ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
