16 December 2023

PANIC IN THE FLOUNDERING PRESS

 The other day I was reading The NY Times opinion and editorial pages. These have been the work of pretentious mediocrities for some time now, but it has gotten worse, It was mind-boggling to find virtually every opinion piece playing the same note- that Trump will be a dictator, destroy democracy, etc.  The issue here is not Trump and what we think about him, but rather the lockstep monotone groupthink that too many people are uncritically swallowing.

This is literally a party line that was also echoed in mainstream magazines, as though someone gave a signal and everyone followed. It is really rich to hear cries and “warnings” about the ominous return of Trump by supposed professionals who have lost any capacity to think independently or objectively. These are stupid people who fancy themselves accomplished seers that never get past their navel. 


What is clear is that there really are no mainstream publications left that are even nominally independent of any consequence., so it is hilarious to hear that Trump is a threat to the “free press” when it basically doesn’t exist anymore. In the past there was at least some diversity in publications, with alternatives to this cabal, mainly due to the presence of the founding owners. But once departed they all degenerated into the same corporate media structures that now dominate the “news” and there is little to distinguish one from another. As a result you have a bunch of well-versed ideologues who are otherwise abysmally ignorant of the real world, and having such people control the flow of information has lead to an  ever-increasingly dumbed down public. But that is how they want it; they want to control the agenda with skewed information, along with the direction of things. 


What is even worse is that there is no single sinister figure or group behind the scenes to expose. It is rather a shared mindset that is so governed by ideology and narrow-mindedness that it predetermines the same judgements and conclusions they all make. This is the sort of obtuseness they are constantly projecting on others, when they are the worst practitioners. These are people who should know better, but having been cranked out by radicalized “higher education” they have learned nothing, lacking even the critical thought capacity of ordinary people with simple common sense, which is why they have lost all credibility with the public. But it doesn’t matter to them because they are myopic enough to think that what is important is what is floating around in their bubble. In other words they are more concerned with validating and pleasing their peers than any sort of actual “journalism.”


Contrast this with other countries, including most of our allies. In the U.K. for example, there is a rich variety of publications that reflect the full political spectrum, along with special interest publications that exceed ours in quality beyond all measure. In the rest of Europe there are a variety of publications that are generally affiliated with, or sympathetic to various political parties. In truth that is the historical norm, and effete notions of journalism above it all has never existed here apart from the mid-twentieth century period. Our newspapers in particular were started by political partisans with opposing points of view, usually contemptuous of whatever other side there was. This goes all the way back to the founding of this country with figures like Jefferson and Hamilton, with even more vitriol than we see today. But here they have use of the phantom of “journalism” to cover their ideological monopoly. 


Everyone is for “democracy” based on their own interpretation of it, and while people may express devotion or concern about it, they for the most part have far more immediate concerns, like how they are going to get by, feed themselves and their families, have a home, basic transportation, all the necessities of life, as well as a little left over for discretionary spending. When inflation has driven prices and credit card debt up, it is the latter that gets cut off first, and they are not at all happy about it. People who are affluent enough accept higher taxes and prices because they have more than enough left over for their pleasurable pursuits, but most people today do not have that luxury. Still the media may be shocked at the extent to which the public could care less about their free press/free speech mantra (that they have themselves disregarded) when faced with basic standard of living questions: food, shelter, transportation, health care, spiritual matters and at least some recreation. If they are provided with that, if their living standard is uplifted at the cost of freedoms mostly exercised by the elite that they themselves have no real means of enjoying, they will opt for safety, security, a brighter future for themselves and their families over anything else. The resultant choices between an affluent life and vague principles should be clear.  


That is why totalitarian or even mildly authoritarian regimes have failed; not because of the repression, supposed lack of freedom, etc. which really only matters to those who have the luxury of meddling in politics. They collapsed because they failed miserably to deliver for the people. That is why communism failed, and why the Chinese regime’s grip on power is more tenuous than we realize because they can only maintain legitimacy as long as they can deliver. People easily forget that even Hitler was quite popular in the early years because his government did deliver for the people before stupidly going to war and degenerating into hideous mass murder. People making words just don’t seem to understand that actions speak louder than words, or that the every day reality people face is what determines their outlook and preferences. 


So those who are so fearful of Trump have thrown everything at the man and nothing sticks, and the more they rage this way the more they are tuned out. They still don’t get the big picture. They created the pathway for Trump in the first place, and it is the incompetent, self-serving rotten elite that have made his rise possible through their miserable failure to get virtually anything right. While I doubt that the doomsday retribution scenario they envision will ever be realized, and may in fact be more reflective of their own guilt in mismanaging all the privileged affairs they have had control of, they sure as hell deserve it. 




02 December 2023

BLATANT, OPEN ANTI-SEMITISM EVEN IN NEW YORK

I am truly astonished at the spectacle of anti-Semitic demonstrations in the 21st century, in New York City of all places. These appalling activities are yet another indication of the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of what passes for “higher education” in this ever more dumbed-down society, and that entire system needs a complete overhaul.


Having been born and spent much of my life here, including college and graduate school, at a time when there was a very substantial Jewish presence among both students and faculty, it never occurred to me that things could possibly change so much. It is just mind-boggling to see the extent to which these failing institutions have degenerated into wellsprings of anti-semitism. Anti-semitism New York!  That is absolutely is what we are seeing because there is no rational analysis going on here. For even if a normal person disapproved of some aspect of Israel’s strategy they would express it in a civilized fashion. This is something else, something very sinister and deep. 


On top of that they are already claiming that the atrocity photos, that Hamas themselves took are “fake.” Worse there are people dumb, blind, or hateful enough to give this nonsense possible credence. Given these tactics this is not ordinary people objecting to a policy, but dedicated, despicable, unapologetic campaigners for evil.


Whatever moral legitimacy of human concern might once have been there on the left, it is gone now. I have been struggling against them all my life, but in earlier times you could at least take them seriously and even have a civil discussion. That hasn’t been true for a long time now, and in graduate school I had my own problems with them, had to abandon an academic career, and saw all this emerging decades ago. What we have now is beyond even that; it is pure evil and the political will must rise to crush it once and for all.


If nothing else all of this certainly confirms the utter lunacy of believing in nefarious Jewish cabals, secretly all-powerful and controlling things behind the scenes, etc.  It isn’t there, never was, and the way these events have unfolded,  it is clear that “the Jews” are nowhere near as powerful as hateful psychopaths have imagined over the years. Not when anti-semitic demonstrations are blithely accepted in New York. Not when there is no retribution, no sanction, no cost, no strong pushback. 


But beyond that it isn’t just the Jews, it’s Christians as well. You can’t have a public event even as innocuous as lighting a Christmas tree without it being ruined, or attempted to be ruined by these devils. This is nothing less than a civilizational struggle directed against everything we have achieved and built over many centuries- our exceptional, and yes great, western civilization. This is not only an assault on religion of ages, but everything that came of Greek rationalism, considered critical thought, and reason itself. We’ve sat still for more than a generation of academic nonsense and relativism  disparaging the concepts of reason and truth which is the fundamental basis of anything being “academic” in the first place. Along with this fuzzy-headedness our standards not simply degenerated, they have collapsed. 


For too long we have allowed people who don’t represent anyone take the initiative and set the agenda. This has to end now, once and for all. What has been unmasked in all of this is the darkest impulses of human experience, always festering below the surface, now arisen nakedly in the open and spreading. The solution is not in passing more laws or resolutions on these things, which only address symptoms of a deeper malady rather than the disease itself. It is a cancer, and like a cancer it must be completely excised. That can only be done at this stage with the re-establishment of legitimate authority that people can again trust, with confidence to resolutely act strongly and decisively to root out this evil wherever and however it appears.  

06 November 2023

UNIVERSITIES, ANTI-SEMITISM, AND OVERDUE REFORM

 WHO ARE THE ANTI-SEMITIC DEMONSTRATORS?

Demonstrations have broken out against Israel, Jews generally, and for Palestinians around the world and especially at universities in the U.S. These are often photographed with many hijab-wearing woman near the front, but there are simply nowhere near as many Palestinians in this country to assemble such crowds. 


So obviously there are others. Just who are they? First you have a coterie of old-school peace demonstrators who turn out for any war. But beyond that, and most significantly, these crowds are primarily composed of left-wing white radicals. These are the same sort of people we’ve seen at “anti-racist,” “anti-imperialist,” anti “fascist” BLM, anti-American, and anti-western demonstrations. They are the same ones that dominate American universities, even though they are far from a majority but possess a noise machine and “actions” that tend to intimidate even non-left liberal administrators, and who have managed to too often silence any opposition or other voices.



TIME FOR REFORM


I watched this university degradation accumulate over five decades, beginning with the 1960s generation who then became tenured radicals and undermined beyond repair the whole, supposedly open and rational undertaking. At this point things are so far gone that just having some newly and belatedly alarmed alumni withdraw support is simply not enough. A wholesale reconstruction and reform must take place, hopefully under the next administration. Thanks to the way the left has brought about government intrusion into more and more aspects of life, mostly via federal funding, followed by regulation on those funds, it will be possible to use these same tactics to undo all the damage they have done. 


Then there is the sheer hypocrisy of people oh-so-committed to “social justice” participating in the most unjust, exploitative, labor situation anywhere, with much of the actual work shouldered by underpaid graduate students and adjunct faculty rather than the privileged professoriate. 


American universities now enjoy a better reputation than they actually deserve, especially in supposedly “elite” quarters. Outside of science, engineering, music and art, “education” consists largely of basically bullshit courses and preposterous, laughable topics, reflecting narrow faculty interests, political brainwashing, intimidation, and far from vigorous standards. Tuition costs have skyrocketed far beyond the rate of inflation thanks largely to the massive infusion of federal funds and loans that have brought this all about.


Serious, challenging, traditional course requirements that were the basis of a solid education for centuries have been broadly abandoned, with few exceptions. They have been replaced by trivial, nonsensical, and otherwise useless courses resulting in a current college graduate population that is far less literate than a 19th century high school graduate. They have developed little in the way of critical faculties, and worse share alarming totalitarian sentiments. 


Universities, whether private or public, have gotten a free pass for far too long. Under the guise of  non-existent “academic freedom” they have claimed special rights that are unwarranted. They have been allowed to essentially regulate themselves via certifications, approvals, etc. We either have to disassemble the whole system and build it from scratch, or totally revamp what is funded and how. Why should those charged with one of the most important social functions have unaccountable, self-determined practices and standards, especially where taxpayer funds are involved. Therefore we can start with the following reforms:

  1. There must be national minimum standards for colleges and universities established independent of the direct participants.

    1. Federal funds will come with strings and new regulations just the same way the left filled them up with socially-conscious baloney, but now addressed  to how the funds can be applied, what actions and processes are legitimate, etc. in the form of more rigorous requirements and basic standards and competencies.  


    1. With many degrees that are useless, with many working at something other than what they studied, the continued reverence for them is misplaced. In fact if it were not a barrier to a better job and income it is probable that the university population would seriously decline. Consequently employers should be discouraged from “educational discrimination,” requiring degrees for no rational reason or in any way related to a job opening. 


    1. Degrees are a symptom of excess “credentialism” across the board that needs to be reduced. It makes sense for say, a surgeon who is going to operate on you, but for many, if not most other things they are ludicrous and primarily serve the purpose of protecting the interests of practitioner guilds.
    2. With student loans, which should be less and less necessary, there should be greater accountability as to just what is being financed, at what cost, etc. within reasonable parameters. Banks don’t lend money without knowing what the actual use of it is going to be, and neither should the government. 

    —end part one—-

28 October 2023

WINDS OF WAR

Many, if not most people realize that we are now at war with Iran, except for Joe Biden, who instead thinks we are at war with Russia, even though no one declared it. Worse, this administration continues to believe that they can still deal with the mullah’s regime, after replenishing them with funds and getting nothing in return except contempt and even worse behavior. But the reality is while we may think otherwise, or don’t want to become involved in a wider war, Iran is already at war with us, whether we like it or not. They have been for some time, and already have the blood of hundreds if not thousands of Americans, Frenchmen, Arabs, and others going back to the Beirut bombing. There have already been numerous attacks on our troops by all of their proxies, who have clearly been organized by Tehran. Do they not understand that the mullahs actually mean what they say; to drive the “Great Satan” out of the region, and exterminate the Jews? What more will it take?


Retaliating on the proxies accomplishes little because they are simply puppets who would collapse without Iranian support. Our response now should instead be directed at the mullahs, with the targeted aim of taking them out, which would bring joy to a people living under repression over so many years. That is where “regime change” is truly needed, and where we have a case for it, not with the Russians. 


Unfortunately we could not possibly be in a worse position than we are now with this weak and bumbling administration, which itself has enabled all the problems we now face around the world. But as disastrous as these developments have been they have become a far worse harbingers of world spinning out of control and into a major war. 


Ominously, ill-conceived policies have brought us to a situation disturbingly similar to the outbreak of World War II. Germany and Japan had nothing in common apart from an appetite for expansion and a shared aversion to the one power standing in their path to world domination- the USA. Now we find the Russians, Chinese, and Iranians coalescing in an alliance of convenience. The easiest pillar to remove is Iran, thereby eliminating a menace without triggering the others. 


Our overall strategy should have been focused on containing the Iranians, and further undermining them, given their lack of legitimacy with their own people. Yet when the people rose up we provided no help or encouragement that might have dramatically altered the strategic situation in the region. Instead they pursued an idiotic, ill-conceived strategy of containing not Iran, but Russia. The wisest overall strategy for the US and its allies would have been to re-engage and bind Russia to the West, where it truly belongs. Instead they have been driven into the arms of China, which everyone agrees is now the major threat to this country. This is not to ignore what they have done in Ukraine, but who green-lighted that “minor incursion” in the first place? 


Our overall policy should have been, and now going forward must be, not just containing Iran, but undermining and overthrowing the regime, that will otherwise continue to pose a major danger to the world. They have not changed at all over several decades now. How much longer will it take to fully understand that when they say death to America, death to Israel they really mean it? There is still an opportunity to make this Iranian plot blow up in their faces and even face the ire of their own long-oppressed population. We must somehow develop the will and determination to win this war once and for all. If we fail to do so the prospects for world peace will be far worse than they are now.  



 

AN IRANIAN TRAP

I increasingly believe that Israel may be in danger of falling into a trap contrived by the Iranians. The mullahs have clearly shown their hand when every other proxy they have starts attacking Israel. It is quite likely that they planned and encouraged the hideous Hamas attack on Israel that was so over-the-top in its evil brutality that it would certainly force Israel to respond. In this case then Hamas are nothing more than disposable, albeit all-too-wiling puppets, of Iran, which clearly has no qualms in sacrificing Palestinians to advance their overall strategy. 


It is both proper and just that Israel has responded to this atrocity, but at the same time it is for the better that they have slowed a massive incursion into Gaza. It is not that punishment should be put off at all, and they should continue to destroy Hamas as a military force, but the far more dangerous, and far more direct Iranian threat is really via Hezbollah. If they can keep Hamas at bay with the current effort, I think it would be wiser to continue to fake preparation for a full invasion and instead prepare to use maximum force against Hezbollah. 


That is something the US can and should support directly. They have an overdue reckoning for the murder of so many Americans over the years that must be avenged. Furthermore they are a clear extension of the rotten Iranian regime, which almost certainly obtain a nuclear weapon if they are not prevented here and now, and furthermore they are the most likely entity to actually use the bomb were they to get it. 


We don’t know what the Iranian intentions were, but there is no question that they have orchestrated the present conflict, knowing there would be retaliation. So it would be wise to move more cautiously before a shoe drops from the other foot in order to get a better handle on what their true plot consists of. That there is one, carefully contrived, is beyond the shadow of a doubt. Once there is clarity it may be time to kill the snake at its head. 


18 October 2023

WHEN THINGS AREN'T WHAT THEY SEEM TO BE

Yesterday I received an email news headline from The NY Times stating that Israel had bombed a hospital in Gaza killing 500+ innocent people. Other rotten media outlets also ran with the story, which turned out to be patently false as Israel then produced clear evidence that the rocket came from Islamic Jihad in Gaza itself. 

 But by then the truth didn’t matter as Hamas seized upon the phony story in a propaganda push leading to hostile demonstrations around the world. Even though the truth is clear, there are many people who believe what they want to believe, obvious to factual reality, as well a  more sinister parties who deliberately ignore the truth. 

 

The media again is clearly at fault for not bothering to fact check, accepting Hamas propaganda as truth. But far worse is the doubling down and prolongation of the lies. We see this over and over. The stories claiming Donald Trump was a Russian operative were patently false, but they were repeated over and over again as gospel truth because people who virulently oppose him want to believe it to be true, regardless of the facts. To this day, despite conclusive evidence, there are politicians and other people repeating this big lie. On the other side you also have people who continue to believe that the election was stolen without any clear evidence of anything that would have altered the election outcome. 

 

These kinds of things go on now constantly beyond mere credulity to beliefs that if it’s not true it ought to be, given that whomever or whatever is so bad. When stories circulated that people from Asia were being targeting and assaulted many liberals wanted to believe it was the work of white racists, becoming deeply disturbed or in denial when it became clear that most of these activities were propagated by black people. Unfortunately this mentality is more widespread than it has ever been despite supposedly higher education, which is now failing miserably in teaching basic deliberative thought processes, critical analysis, and virtually any rational process so that no one is made to feel “uncomfortable.” 


Ordinary people may respond to what they are fed, but what is unforgivable is the extent to which peopled who ought to know better, and who are in positions that enable them to find the actual truth if they bother to look for it, continue to uncritically or deliberately promote and reinforce lies. The extent to which ideological comfort or preferences trump factual reality in American media is appalling. Here we have the NY Times, presuming to be the gold standard of journalism, frequently and unashamedly promoting this kind of nonsense, and when the truth emerges beyond question the corrections or retractions are only to be found deep within paragraphs and pages of the paper. This is true of virtually all major news media; seldom if ever will they tell you that they were wrong or misrepresented the truth. It is clear that today “journalism” doesn’t exist. 


It is no wonder that the media is at an all-time low in public respect and approval, because even people who engage in wishful thinking know that there is constant distortion and fabrication. This is going to continue as long as no price is paid for lax standards, minimal effort, and flagrant transgressions. 


Under these conditions we can expect more and more stories casting Israel in the worst possible light as this conflict expands. The initial cause of it all will be forgotten and calls for cease-fire and "peace" will grow louder. Intelligent people will know enough to critically examine stories before jumping to conclusions, and discount the words of those who do. For it is just as likely for things not to be what they seem to be initially as they are to be true. 

 

 

 

 

10 October 2023

DISASTERS ABROAD AND AT HOME - 2

 2. CLOSER TO HOME

Those who remain baffled as to how so many lower income people have gravitated towards Trump are simply oblivious to the facts on the ground. For them rising prices for basic necessities are not at all burdensome, and even welcome to the extent that it facilitates the realization of their loftier social goals. This really registered on me yesterday when I went to the supermarket with my wife, with the same sort of dread that undoubtedly is shared by these very same people. 


But it is impossible to ignore the higher prices of basic necessities that is so apparent to people who are now barely getting by paycheck to paycheck, and who must studiously consider every purchase and how it impacts their resources. They continue to work and pay taxes while an increasing share of the people in this country do neither. It is really rich to hear over the supermarket loudspeaker about how this or that product being promoted is “sustainable” in origin, as if that mattered at all to people who are concerned far more with how produce prices have doubled. Then “Hispanic Heritage” is duly noted in emphasizing products from Puerto Rico, which is about the only homeland of people appreciating this sort of patronizing nonsense, in a country where the preponderant population with Spanish surnames is Mexican in origin, as are the promoted products. 


That sort of detail is inconsequential for those who have the privilege of forming words that others must hear;  words that are even more inconsequential to the life they are living day to day. So of course these are people who, as Hillary Clinton stated outright, need to be “reprogrammed,” the sort of notion you increasingly hear in left-wing circles. They have already accomplished this to a disturbing extent with our young people. 


But what these enlightened idiots fail to realize is that dismissive contempt flows both ways, or that they have opened the door to being reprogrammed themselves, which they richly deserve. All of the institutions they have taken control of and perverted can now be purged by the rising tide of anger they have precipitated. Given how clear their intentions to control others has become, and how awful the consequences have been, their just rewards are overdue. 


The only saving grace for those at fault is the ineptitude of the Republicans in articulating what is a very clear case. Public disenchantment is palpable but they have thus far failed to explain the connection between Democrat policies and the consequences people are facing. Unless and until that responsibility is clearly established things will remain muddled and we will continue to flounder at a time when we can ill afford to. Things are still likely to get worse before they get better. 

DISASTERS ABROAD AND AT HOME - 1

  1. THE WORLD

  2. It is fairly obvious to people outside of the Biden administration that the Iranians are behind the vicious, savage attacks on Israel, which has justly responded accordingly in what is likely to be an ever-expanding war. Only now do they say they stand unwavering with Israel, notwithstanding the dangerously diminished capacity of our military to help as we are stretched thin around the world. 


     In re-establishing the Obama policies of bolstering Iran in return for “cooperation,” to the detriment of our allies in the region, they have only brought about yet another catastrophe on the world. The destruction they engineered in this country is bad enough, but even worse is how they have managed to botch virtually everything everywhere else in the world. They managed, to our everlasting shame, and without consulting with our allies, to get away with the obscenity of the Afghanistan debacle they caused, as well as green-lighting a “small incursion” by the Russians into Ukraine. 


    They cut off Netanyahu, the most dynamic and effective leader in the western world, and insulted and alienated our Arab friends, whose relations and cooperation with Israel had been warming thanks to the Trump-inspired Abraham Accords. Then they debased themselves by going back and begging the Arabs to mitigate the oil crisis they themselves had created. 


    The prime beneficiaries of all of this has been the Iranian mullahs, who clearly fear and seek to disrupt Arab-Israeli cooperation. If we had stuck to our principles  the popular uprisings in Iran might have succeeded had we provided aid and encouragement. Instead no help or support was given, leaving the evil regime intact and empowered. Instead of seizing the opportunity ourselves, it is the Iranians who have done so in the vacuum we have left, and there will be no peace in the region unless and until that menace is eliminated. They again outmaneuvered the Great Satan.


    This fumbling weakness and inconsistency has resulted in a far more dangerous and unstable world than the one they inherited. It is also now clear that the Chinese Communists will never have a better opportunity to seize Taiwan given that we are now getting bogged down in wars in Europe and the Middle East while our military capabilities have been seriously degraded. There is virtually no chance at the present time that we can prevent this. Whatever you may think of Donald Trump, none of this would have happened under his stewardship. 


    This administration will likely now backtrack and do the opposite of what they were steadfast in before now that the wind has conflated into a hurricane, and yet once again they may be able to spin this to their advantage and obscure their seminal role in generating it all, just as they have on the border.  But what is desperately needed is a clear and consistent strategy to oust the mullahs once and for all. Unfortunately that is probably beyond their capabilities, no matter what they may now say, but at least Netanyahu has the presence of mind to not trust them. Consequently he is the one who is going to be determining the direction of things thanks to the confusion and lack of clarity in our present regime, which will now be too sheepish to buck the congress and Israelis on these matters, and that is not a bad thing. 

26 August 2023

What if the Roman Empire never fell? How would this change most of our history today?

(Here is some history you probably never knew. I quickly drafted this response to a Quora question, but thought it might be of more general interest).

The Roman Empire did not fall until 1453, when the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople. Emperor Constantine had moved the capitol to the Greek city of Byzantium because of its excellent geographic, strategic, and central location, calling it New Rome, although at that point the empire was then split between eastern and western halves until the west collapsed in the fifth century. Subsequently renamed Constantinople, it then became the center of the world and continued long after the city of Rome itself declined sharply as the locus of empire shifted. Attempts, sometimes successful, were made to reclaim parts of the west. Indeed the name of the city itself continued until the cataclysm of World War I.


In addition, Justinian was the last Emperor to use Latin rather than Greek, which prevailed for another eight centuries, or far longer than Rome itself. There was never a “Byzantine Empire.” That was a far later German concoction in order to legitimate their own “Holy Roman Empire, which, as Voltaire once said, was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, What actually existed, as I have suggested elsewhere, was not something “Byzantine,” but rather a Greco-Roman Empire that lasted for a millennium. This is still confused and not well known due to the ignorance and prejudice of northwestern Europeans towards the south.

Thus, the Roman Empire did not fall or disappear the way you have been led to believe. In fact, if the empire began with Augustus, the Rome-based portion only lasted for a bit more than four centuries, while the Eastern Roman Empire continued for another thousand years, and all the people in the empire, including the Greeks, referred to and considered themselves Romans until the very end. The empire itself was polyglot as it always was, but the dominant language was Greek. Thus, while the “Middle Ages” or medieval period happened in the west, which was still backward, that was not the case in the east, in what in fact was the bulk of the empire, which continued a thriving, but heavily Christianized civilization. Thus, in the year 1000 Constantinople had a population of over a million people.

The original Roman Empire was far better at practical things, particularly organization, administration, functional engineering, etc. than the quarrelsome Greeks, who otherwise brilliantly developed and dominated culture, art, science, philosophy, etc. Romans provided the critical stability, legal and social infrastructure that was previously lacking in an otherwise largely Greek world that had been established by Alexander and his successors. As a result, Roman law, justice and organization provided the framework which sustained an otherwise largely Greek cultural entity.

The empire would not have fallen had it not been for the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) which, instead of going to Jerusalem to fight Muslims attacked other Christians via Venetian ships and encouragement. The barbarian Knights/Crusaders literally destroyed the city of Constantinople, pillaging and worse, burning down much of the city while the Venetians, at least having some artistic sense, carted off a lot of treasures that you still see in St. Marks to this day. The crusaders took over what was left of the city setting up their own “empire” for a few decades until the Romans finally reclaimed it, but in a much-weakened state. Thus, by the time the Turks finally conquered the city in 1453 with new long-range cannons, there were only about 50,000 people left there. That is when the Roman Empire finally fell, in its Greco-Roman-Christian incarnation.

Given true history then, if the empire hadn’t fallen it is quite possible that Greek would still be the common language, you might be speaking it, and the European world would be very different. The “old” nations of Europe after all, have only existed for around five centuries. They really ascended after the fall of the City and the “renaissance” that followed, (another retroactively coined term), instilled to a considerable extent by Greek refugee scholars who fled to the Italian city-states, which welcomed then as teachers, given their thirst for knowledge and ancient manuscripts.

Many other things would be different, starting with religion. In the empire the church was subordinate to the Emperor, and less powerful than in the west, where given the power vacuum, the Bishop of Rome, or Pope, was able to claim supremacy. Consequently, if the empire had continued the church would not have had so much power, and it is likely there would never have been a Protestant Reformation. Regions would have had their own Patriarchs. There is no way to know how geography would have taken shape, given uncertainty as to how far the empire might have reached, or how competent it would have been, but at its maximum it could have stretched over all of Europe. Alternatively, it could have been smaller, as it continued to fend of endless barbarian invasions from the east, allowing other powers to emerge in the west anyway, but possibly without the virulent nationalism that eventually developed and led to catastrophic wars and mass murder in the last century.

Much would depend on whether the empire could regain Italy, which was essential to the emergence of modern Europe. (In 1500 Italy was richer than all of western Europe combined and more culturally advanced). Since it was then divided into competing city-states in the fashion of ancient Greece, that might have transpired if the empire was relatively free from barbarian invasions. Slavs, at least in the south were already being absorbed before the fall of the empire and thus would likely still be integrated. Unknowns are how the Russians, or more importantly the Germans might have emerged. But generally, the empire had always done a great job of absorbing and integrating other peoples, until the rise of Islam.

If the empire had remained strong it is unlikely that the Arabs would have conquered what was then European Christian north Africa and Egypt, or even much of what is now called the “middle east,” which would have remained Christian and Roman, linked to the west via Constantinople. The empire took the brunt of Muslim invasion, thus protecting the west for centuries, and if not for the Fourth Crusade could have grown stronger and more powerful and Europe would not have been threatened or invaded. In addition, Persian culture might still exist, possibly as yet another empire.

Greek rationalism did not disappear as the church in the east largely reconciled itself with it and focused on spiritual matters. Consequently, the church would not have been able to significantly thwart scientific progress.

Europe, including a good portion of the east would still dominate the world. and remain centered in Constantinople. They would likely still have found the Americas, but development might have been different, possibly without African slavery, among other things. The culture would be more advanced and sophisticated, but economic growth might not be as robust, given a different emphasis and outlook, and without a “Protestant ethic” but rather a sort of merchant mentality. Higher education might not have been found in universities as we know them, but rather closer to the academic format of the ancient world, more focused on the development of the mind and learning.

Ultimately we cannot know because of vicissitudes of one-man rule. There can be a great ruler and then a terrible ruler. You can have a Marcus Aurelius or a Caligula. So given different personalities there is no way to know, and that can be precarious and lead to instability or conflict until someone else consolidates power. What we can learn clearly from history is the less power we surrender to others over us the better off we are.

Finally, the Fourth Crusade was clearly the worst disaster in western history even beyond World War I if only because the latter might never have happened if the empire hadn’t fallen. Such a general and vague question can lead to endless possibilities and alternatives, but in the end all that is left is what actually happened.

20 August 2023

THE LATE JAMES BUCKLEY WAS A GREAT HUMAN BEING

James Buckley, who recently passed away at age 100 was the finest gentleman I ever met. He improbably was elected Senator from New York on a Conservative Party ticket due to a three-way race after an earlier unsuccessfully attempt I also worked on. This was at a time when the party was thriving due to his brother Bill’s earlier NYC Mayoral race, (another three-way contest, which had the unfortunate result of electing John Lindsay Mayor). At the time the Republican Party was still dominated by “liberal” or Rockefeller Republicans, so the Conservative Party was established to provide an alternative, and quickly became the third largest party in the state.
Bill was acerbic at times, but the older brother rarely uttered an unkind word about anyone, and was a thoroughly decent human being. It still makes me angry to recall the remarks of the sore-loser Democrat candidate, one Richard Ottinger, who griped that at least two out of three people voted for “decency.” There is great irony in the degree to which he was so off-target in the case of this good and gracious man, and to just whom the word “decency” really applied, But that was how the left continuously tried to demonize and delegitimize conservatives in those days, to no avail.
Unfortunately these days you rarely encounter anyone with Jim Buckley’s class and demeanor, especially in the upper reaches of power-holders. He was not driven by personal ambition, nor did he crave power, which enabled him to be refreshingly detached, thoughtful and principled. That is the kind of person we desperately need in office in today’s shallow, coarse, and dumbed-down political environment. He lived a long, honorable, and fulfilling life, and what can better be said of a man?