The Establishment

Chicago IL – In the three hundreds BC, Alexander the Great of Macedon faced off against one of the mightiest kingdoms of his time, the empire of Persia.  The Persian King would order his massive chariots to line up and prepare to roll over the outnumbered Greeks. Alexander wheeled his men away from the chariots, the sort of tanks of their time, and came in on the Persians from the side, something you did not do in old style warfare, and wiped them out.

In 1415, in France, on the plains of Agincourt the French knights swept forward. They were the great knights who decided the outcomes of battles. Infantry were cut to pieces by them. But here, they were blown out of the saddle by a simple weapon-a long bow.

Innovations, new inventions, have often turned the tide of battles. The old system, from Mamelukes fighting against the guns of Napoleon to cavalry fighting tanks in World War I.

The same can be said of politics. Richard Nixon as an old style trying to go against the young, new John F. Kennedy, could gain no traction. The Communists took China by storm with their “four news.” When Jesus came to earth, he did not go to the temple leaders, he did not go to the kings, he went to the peasants, completely sidestepping the establishment.

Seldom in the course of history has the old system had a resurgence without reform, and often new systems must be built to fight crises, the establishment bowing and buckling. Many times the ones with a simple new idea have ridden that to power or reform. The Romans did not use the old phalanx way of fighting, which at one time had been a great invention, but rather they used the new legion style. They conquered the world with it.

A Civil War general once noted that in battle there comes a lull, and whoever charges in that moment will win, no matter the circumstances. So it often is in the realms of social thought. The establishment is rarely the one to make the charge, and so they are often beaten. Just like French Knights stuck in their ways at Agincourt, the Old Federalist Party fell apart when they were unable to help America in the war of 1812. The old establishment seldom brings about the great reforms, usually it fights them.

We must always be the ones that are charging. The Romans lasted a long time, partially because they learned from their mistakes, changed their methods, and charged again. Like in the First Punic War, when they had no fleet, they built one, lost it, built an improved one, and after more loses and more improvements finally won the war.

New it is not everything, but it is often a great deal. Whether the reformers be good or bad, they will often win, at least temporarily, for little other reason than that they are new. That must be remembered. Establishments must be ready and prepared to meet new challenges, if they do not, they will sink like the stones of Atlantis beneath the waves.

 

Andrew C. Abbott

Impossible

“Impossible is a word found only in the dictionary of fools.”-Napoleon

New Lisbon, WI – Hannibal was told he could not cross the Alps with his army, but he did. By all indications the thirteen little colonies clinging to the Eastern Sea Board should not have been able to win, it should have been impossible, but it worked.

Man could never fly-so everyone said. Automobiles and moving pictures would never generate enough interest. America’s roaring economy could never last, it was impossible.

The Apostle Peter could not have walked on the water, it should have been impossible, but he did it. He had to get out of the boat. The others could have held him back, but they left him alone.

If there is something that is in your mind impossible, then stand out of the way, and let the others who think they can do it try. For those that want to try, do not hesitate to get out of the boat.

Andrew C. Abbott

Popular Lies

With the hopes that our world is built on they were utterly out of touch,

They denied that the moon was stilton,

They denied she was even Dutch,

They denied that wishes were horses,

They denied that pigs has wings,

So we followed the Gods of the Market,

Who promised the glorious things,

From The Gods of the Copybook Headings, by Rudyard Kipling

New Lisbon, WI - Only a handful of modern Americans today will recognize the names of Edmund Burk or Justin Moser. Even less have read the two hundred page letter Reflection on the Revolution in France. However, mention another old name-H.G Wells, and his works War of the Worlds or The Time Machine, and most will know exactly what you are talking about. Few have read the Communist Manifesto or Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, yet many have heard of and have read 1984.

The large tomes are good in their way, but they are not likely, at least now, to sway popular opinion. Few could understand a stander economic paper even if they tried.

Any idea or plan can be made to sound boring and tiresome by the right speaker. When purchasing something, it has been found that the package has a great deal to do with it. When speaking voice inflection is a great decider of emotions, it is how we speak, not what we say, that will most often be remembered later on.

The simple story of the naked emperor lives on, while the long and complex treatises are soon forgotten. Books that one man writes and ten men read. While the simple stories are the ones that one man writes and all understand.

Adolf Hitler, in Mein Kampf, makes fun of his opponents because of their five hours speeches, during which he nearly went to sleep, and the opposition's spies left, they were so bored. While not surrendering principle for power, the packaging of an idea, and thus it acceptance, can be made easier in many ways.

No matter how true a statement is, if it is couched in dull and uninteresting terms, with long drawn out phrases that no one knows the meaning of and illustrated with history no one reads it will easily be lost upon the hearer. While the bold faced liar writing a novel can make us believe pigs can fly or monsters can become men. The art of writing fiction is telling lies like they are true, and it is the same with propaganda.

When we give speeches we must leave our listeners inspired, not just knowing he heard something. People like to learn simple things, let them. Do not force feed them with long words. While the principles remain relevant throughout all time, different weapons are used at different times. Swords and smoothbores are no longer appropriate.

Capture their attention in the first five seconds, their love in the first five minutes, and their impact for the next five hundred years.

Andrew C. Abbott

A Brief Hiatus

For the next few days I may be without Internet, and so will be unable to write, however, I will have an article for July 4.

Thank You