The Jacksonian Tradition in America
Dean
You know, once in a while an essay comes along and over a period of years you can turn back to it and read it again and find it every bit as insightful and surprising as the first time you read it.
I was talking about this article to a friend of mine last night on the phone and I wound up not only sending it to him but linking it again: The Jacksonian Tradition in America by Walter Russell Mead.
I'm often tempted to quote from it but I can rarely do it justice. When I read it, it was like a shock: it described the cultures I grew up in in both Texas and in blue collar Chicago--both the good and bad of that culture--better than anything I have ever read before or since.
It is ostensibly about war and foreign policy but it's the cultural observations that I find most penetrating.
I also recommend reading Parameters as it is issued. I regret Proceedings has not been placed on the same free access as Parameters. Both publications are eye openers.
Yeah, the military does not think.
A tidbit: in the 1930's Chester Nimitz* was given an assignment with the brand-new NROTC at a university. Part of his job was convincing the professors that these navy officers teaching the courses were serious academics and not uniformed poseurs.
That adittude seems to be perpetual, and no matter how much it is disproved it needs to be done every generation.
*E.B. Potter, Nimitz, Naval Institute Press.
And yes, it pretty much obliterates most of the stereotypes about the U.S. military and the thinking of its leadership.
There is a reason why militaries all over the world send officers here for training. And it's not because they're part of a global U.S. hegemony that teaches them torture and imperialism, either.
America at its best is a combination of pugnacity and toughness, along with idealism and a hope of building a better world...
A great essay which clarifies the cultural underpinnings of red states.
One nit is that I don't follow the author's reasoning that African Americans adopting Jacksonian philosophy in large numbers. Blacks suffer from problems of children born out of wedlock, single parent homes, and too much reliance on the welfare state. Basically this is the battle Bill Cosby is fighting with much resistance. It's hard to see how any of these pathologies remotely relate to Jacksonian values.
You also need to spend more time in the ghetto. The mentality is strikingly similar.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.