Archive for April, 2009
Dead Romans and Live Americans
“Libero Ingresso” says the little sign on the doors of an Italian shop. English speakers who know enough Italian to translate the words, Free Entrance, sometimes wonder if there was a time when Italian shopkeepers charged customers an admission fee, to be refunded, perhaps, if a purchase was made. It is just the sort of thing you might expect of Old Europe.
Politics and Economics in America
Thomas Jefferson has left us an account of a supper-table conversation in the very earliest days of the U.S. government. Vice President John Adams declaimed at length about the virtues of the British government, which, he said, if purged of its corruption, would be perfection. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton differed sharply. It was its corruption, he avowed, that gave the British government its great stability and power. Add in Jefferson’s views, which agreed with neither, and you anticipate almost the whole history of American political economy.
Enemies of the People
President Obama, in his perpetual quest for public approval, has embarked on a peace initiative. It will now be easier for Cuban Americans to send more money out of the USA back to their relatives to stimulate the moribund Cuban economy, and President Unpronounceable of Iran will not have to cut back on his nuclear weapons program if he wishes to have direct talks with the United States.
Filmlog: The Bullfighter and the Lady
What is probably Budd Boetticher’s best nonwestern is part of the Turner Classic Movies collection, The Bullfighter and the Lady (1951). Released originally at 87 minutes, it was an excellent film, albeit with some odd, choppy editing. Several years ago I learned that Boetticher’s cut ran 124 minutes. If TCM plays it again, be sure to watch because, among its manifold virtues, it is one of the best sports movies ever produced.
The Way We Are, No. 3
Mr. Steele, the new chairman of the Grand Old Party, remarked recently that the party had to adjust its appeal to minority groups or else it will be seen as “the party of the Old South.” There are so many things wrong with this statement, in fact, judgment, and morality, that it would take a book to unravel them.
Everything In Its Place
On December 9, 2008, as I read through the federal criminal complaint against the latest Illinois governor to be indicted for the merest portion of his crimes, I could not help but feel uneasy. Sure, it was great fun to imagine Governor Hot Rod sweating it out in his holding cell, awaiting arraignment later in the day. Even the most casual observer of Illinois politics knew that Milorad Blagojevich, our S.O.B., had to be corrupt. After all, you don’t get elected governor of Illinois as a reformer if you actually are one.
What Is History? Part 27
The government will set out a moderate aristocracy: it is at present impossible to see whether it will, in its operation, produce a monarchy, or a corrupt, tyrannical aristocracy; it will probably vibrate some years between the two, and then terminate in one or the other. —George Mason of Virginia on refusing to approve the proposed U.S. Constitution
March Madness, 1939
On Sept. 1, 1939, Hitler’s panzers smashed into Poland. Two days later, an anguished Neville Chamberlain declared war, the most awful war in all of history. Was the war inevitable? No. No war is inevitable until it has begun. Was it a necessary war?
Filmlog: Port of Shadows
Before leaving the country, I often rent a series of foreign films in order to retrain my ear on Italian or French or even Serbian. The films, while they are good for my language skills–though not necessarily my grammar–often turn out to be tedious. I rented Port of Shadows, but when it came I had postponed it, night after night, in favor of a western or comedy. Last night was movie night, and this was all there was. The star, Jean Gabin, is a very fine actor, but it takes more than a good performance to make a good movie. I had forgotten that the director was Marcel Carné.
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