Christmas in Williamsburg
OK.
I’ll admit it.
There are probably two things that will keep me in Virginia: the beach and Williamsburg. (And, perhaps, “Bearing Drift”…but that’s just crazy talk.)
Today, my family and I did our yearly ritual: outlet shopping at the “Colonial Capital”.
I cannot begin to describe the deals. I even picked up a pair of UV/polarized shades for $10. (maybe I’ll finally be cool…perhaps, not).
But perhaps the best part of the excursion was what my significant other and significant little one did way past everyone’s bedtime.
Long after Merchant’s Square had turned their last deadbolt, we sojourned after dinner into the colonial city. Each little house and each little window had a candle. In front of the governor’s mansion burned cauldrons welcoming guests for an evening of dancing and dining. And, the streets were as silent as the crunch of our footsteps on pea-gravel.
This got me to thinking (uh-oh, here it comes).
In this beautiful city of liberty, where a man (and woman’s) virtue is tied to self-sufficiency, individual ingenuity, and personal accountability, why (and where) have we strayed so far?
What would George Wythe think of today’s debate of an automobile bailout?
Where would Thomas Jefferson stand on foreign interventionism to keep fuel prices low?
How would Patrick Henry react to Indians in Bangalore servicing questions about our computers that are built in China?
In the peaceful, quiet, and chilly streets of the colonial corner that helped give birth to the greatest republic and most powerful nation ever conceived by mankind’s virtues, I wondered where it was all coming apart?
Are we at an end, where “experts” in Washington DC dictate to us which companies are worth the investment and which companies are doomed too fail?
Are we at an end where “experts” in Washington DC dictate to us which doctors are worth treating us and which ones we shouldn’t bother paying?
Are we at an end where “experts” in Washington DC dictate to us which radio personalities we should listen to and which ones should be sent off the air?
Are we at an end where “experts” in Washington DC dictate to us which how workers should vote, vice allowing them the privacy of their convictions?
I walked the streets of Williamsburg tonight – a city that has captured a life long past our modern imaginations and I saw liberty. But, tonight, in my home that is equipped with all the modern conveniences of two-hundred plus years of ingenuity and competition, typing on my computer and communicating with you, my friends, in an instant, I see the end of our forefathers’ great experiment.
I see the end of liberty. The end of personal accountability. The explosion of big government. The advent of authoritarianism.
But, I always hope. Becuase, every year, we go to Williamsburg…
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J.R.
Nice post. Interesting to read as I sit here and work on details on a similar family trip to Williamsburg or as it is known around my place as “the seat of all knowledge and wisdom.” William and Mary ’80,
The purpose of the trip provokes even more thought . My wife and I are taking the four kids of course, but the guest of honor will be my oldest son’s brand new fiance. It’s a sorta let’s get to know her better trip. As I grew up near W’burg and spent those four all so special years at the College, the walk down Duke of Gloustchester St has frequently produced similar questions. Even more so, I have at times questioned if I or many of my fellow citizens could have have made it back then. Do we have the strength of character to be help accountable for our success or failure. Your comments make me wonder and worry where will our country be when my son takes his family on a similar trip.
Michael Hurst
We all need to remember that alone pure or representative democracy is the worst form of government known to man. In a dictatorship things get done quickly and efficiently, without any debate. So long as you have a benevolent, enlightened dictator everything is fine. In a democracy such as ours, where such a large percentage of the population is incredibly ignorant and materialistic, the end result will always be rule by a select few able to manipulate and fool the many into believing they work on their behalf.
So long as we have an uneducated populous, democracy is a horrible form of government. Given how incredibly stupid by peers and following generations appear, this country has no hope but to pray for an extremely enlightened dictator to seize power and reform everything from the bottom up.
Say what you will, but I dare anyone to show me how our system can be saved without first being destroyed and rebuilt. We need radical change, nothing like what is needed will ever come out of the democratic process unless some monumental, drastic effort is made to enlighten the electorate. Even then it is more likely riots would break out instead of the desired peaceful change.
Basically we are screwed, I am considering moving to South America, but then again Edgar Cayce said Virginia Beach is the safest place in the world…
I enjoyed reading your thoughts. They lead me to some additional musings:
Our founders understood the need to raise armies for the defense of a nation. They understood taxation of the public to fund such armies. This was a necessary infringement upon the liberty of the people, for the sake of defending that liberty; knowing that if the nation were to be defeated, the people could face much worse than a government dipping into their private funds.
I wonder if they would see the economy, as it is now, as being something that would need to be defended for the sake of the nation. Would they see the economy as being linked to the liberty of the people? Would the collapse of major industry, leading the the loss of jobs for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, be a threat the nation? Would they feel that the liberty of the people is best preserved by the infringement of their liberty to spend their private funds as they wish, taking a portion away for the defense of the national economy?
Thomas Jefferson viewed banks are more dangerous than standing armies…
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”
Jim -
I understand the idealization of your thoughts, and I too love visiting Colonial Williamsburg during any season, but particularly during Advent. That said lost among you musings is the reality of the time. While life was at an apex for a select few during our colonial and post-Revolutionary period, life for many or most was nasty, brutish and short. We have idealized the world our forebearers inhabited by ignoring the fact that along with those few priviledged male landowners resided countless enslaved Africans and African-Americans, poor men who were denied the franchise of voting, and women who were treated as second-class citizens.
While I believe that we can pick the best from that era, that which is worthy of emulation, we ignore the mistakes of that period at our peril. True, our government is far from perfect, and yes, we may disagree on what the proper breadth and width of federal and state power is, however I have no desire to turn back the clock. Over the past more than 200 years our nation has continued moving forward, often stumbling and occasionally falling in the process, but we have moved forward. I believe we are the greatest nation on this planet not dispite the changes that have occurred over those intervening years, rather because of what we have learned and how we have grown together – and the expansion and maturation of the power of government is part of that metamorphisis.
Jim,
In 1776 the average life span for a white male was about 32 years old, today it’s about 76 (I don’t think African slaves or Indians were living close to that long).
The average American was a subsistance farmer with few if any luxury items.
A small minority of the country’s population were allowed to vote and partisipate in the “Great Experiment”.
As messed up as our country is at the moment, it’s still a million times better than it was during Jefferson’s time. Is there room for massive improvement? Hell yes!
But lets not kid ourselves, life in the “good old days” was often brutal and short.
My question is, where were the republican voters for the last eight years while Bush was building the Dept of Homeland Security and the NSA was conducting illigal wire taps? The GOP happily handed more and more power to the President in order to get their pork passed through Congress.
Maybe we do need a benevolent, enlightened dictator because democracy sure isn’t working. Who knows, maybe Obama will fill that role. Thanks to all the power the GOP gave the White House that’s practically the mantle he’ll be assuming Jan 20th. The question is will he be benevolent?
Joel, I believe our Founders would not play an intrusive role in the economy. While you correctly mention the tax infringement to have a standing army, the military is to protect us from external threats out of our control. The economy is more of an internal threat we have more control over and therefore is fundamentally different.
Max Shapiro, I agree our democracy needs improving and here are some ideas I have floated in my head:
1) Remove all party affiliations from the ballot. If you don’t know the candidate’s name for the party you support then that is too bad.
2) Add a “None of the Above” to the ballot. Those who want to protest vote can choose this option. If “None of the Above” wins the election then there is a special election held where no one on the original ballot is allowed (including incumbents). This could go a long way towards devaluing special interest money.
I have other ideas like forcing the voter to pass a 2 question policy quiz on the candidates they are voting for before their vote is counted but I think that would be impossible to implement.
J.R.,
And if there is one thing that drives you out of Virginia Beach I would bet it would be the hurricanes.
We’ve been dodging the bullet, but it is only a matter of time till we get hit with “the big one”. The big one like formed that large sandbar they call Willoughby Spit.
I know I have flood insurance. Lucky for me the land my property is on is high enough the flood insurance is reasonable. But if we get hit with “the big one” I’m going to be happy I had it.
But if I am forced to cash out by “the big one” I’m going to find someplace else to live. I’m too old to have to rebuild more then once.
Jim –
Great post. Absolutely outstanding.
A couple of thoughts that spurned from this:
(1) Self-sufficiency used to be an American virtue. Still, even on that token remark, how many of us are truly self-sufficient? Credit? Mortgages? Let’s get really technical about this — Grocery store? Clothes? Wal-Mart? Cable TV? Electricity? If any of us lost our jobs tomorrow, would we be able to shrug it off, or would we scramble for the next job?
(2) Which leads into the Jeffersonian vs. Hamiltonian argument. Sadly, Hamilton won… we’re all commercialized, all specialized, all at the mercy of bankers and governments and politicians and lawyers. Jefferson’s ideal of the “yeoman farmer” was that of free individuals providing their own means, and pursuing whatever interests the dictates of reason provided.
(3) I have firmly committed myself to those ends. There’s no reason why an American people which fought such a bloody war for the freedom for physically enslaved people should in turn submit themselves to economic enslavement, whether it is to the government, a creditor, a lack of education, or someone else’s leave. Americans never used to be this way… we just got lazy, redefined what freedom meant (thank you, FDR) and became a nation of Hamiltonians.
(4) There is no reason why we can’t get back to the Jeffersonian ideal. A modest financial footing, a nation of educated people, a bit of Yankee thrift, Southern independence, and sense of self-sufficiency is all that’s needed. Instead of living on credit (or two paychecks behind), why not live two paychecks ahead? When you lose a job, your education is of a sort that is confident enough to make another arrangement with another employer — or do something independent and entrepreneurial for a change. It’s not the most awe-inspiring, “you can have it all and it will cost nothing” message in the world, but it worked for 200 years.
(5) Lastly, the Founding Fathers have much to teach. There is no reason why the world has to live in ignorance and poverty. There is no reason why individuals require the avuncular hand of government to guide right action (that’s what God and our conscience is there for). There is no reason why a nation professing to consist of free men and women should limp along having their hard earned money siphoned off by corporations, government, creditors, materialist ease, or waste.
The good news? These choices are ours.
The bad news? We’re doing a terrible damn job communicating the message and living out the example our Founding Fathers sought.
Great post. Sorry to clutter it with my US$0.02.
Frenchy —
Dictators — in the classical sense — relinquished their power once the crisis passed.
Both Washington and Adams assumed great deals of power during their terms (Alien and Sedition Acts, anyone?) that were only undone finally when the Republicans came to power under Jefferson and Madison — who in turn revoked their own position on warfare and launched a pre-emptive war against the Barbary Pirates.
Lincoln performed similar actions, as did Wilson, FDR, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, and Bush 43. Obama will maintain his oath to uphold and defend the Constitution in a similar manner based on his own judgement — however misled I might believe it to be.
This is not an old idea that power is consolidated during times of duress, and relinquished during times of peace. Certainly, I have my problems with the Patriot Act and other legislation designed to fight terrorism, but unless you’re seriously willing to offer that the War on Terrorism has degraded to the point where serious enforcement is unnecessary, then your point is moot.
[...] Bearing Drift: Christmas in Williamsburg [...]
I understand that in Virginia this is heresy, but there are some of us who admire Hamilton, Adams the elder, and the old Federalist Party.
Therefore, I would humbly submit that most of the questions JR poses here are more complicated than they initially appear.
We have to remember that the Framers themselves were moving from the dictators of Europe (the closest thing to a government under the restraint of the people – Britain – had an electorate of less than 1% of the population). As such, the progression of liberty did not end (let alone go into permanent reverse) in the 18th Century. I would humbly submit the average American had far more liberty in the latter 19th century than the latter 18th.
The dangers of tyranny are real, but in many cases, the Founders and Framers were not aware of all of them.
Actually, my thoughts as I wander through W-burg are a little different. I love to run in the streets there early in the a.m. when most people are still asleep.
Chownings Tavern’s gambols in the evening are a hoot.
On the one hand, I admire the absolute can-do attitutude in earlier America. Yet, I accept that life was short and brutal for a lot of people. Very brutal and very short.
Freedom wasn’t “accepted” for everyone back then. As a woman, most of my rights would be totally non-existent. Couldn’t vote until the 20th century. To me, that’s a big deal. Two of my closest friends’ ancestors were slaves back in those days, so I imagine they’d have been triply bad off, being black and women and from the south. (They both love W-burg, too, though.)
I don’t get wistful for the past. The past wasn’t all that great. It’s just that, in the past, the dream of America was new.
Have we lost our way a bit? Oh, yeah. It’s not a recent phenomenon. We’ve wandered from a world view were government is most of the problem to one where government is supposed to solve problems all for us. I like to blame FDR, myself. He was a bit of a socialist, in my book.
The Patriot Act? Vile. I’d rather be free than safe. Really.
Bailouts? Vile. All of them. Why reward lenders who wrote bad loans and then pawned them off down the line? Why reward Detroit for failing to build cars that we want to buy?
Appointing one alleged expert with a lot of power to be “the czar” of this or that problem? Ugh. No. No. No.
Max Shapiro:
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
- Winston Churchill
A dictatorship would work just fine with an enlightened ruler and a foolproof plan for producing enlightened heirs.
Problem is the foolproof part and the definition of enlightenment, but I would much rather have an epic ruler with the purest of intentions and the greatest of skills in all areas then any democracy by uneducated fools.
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Max,
I would much rather maintain faith in my fellow man than submit to the whim of one man or one woman, however well-intentioned.
Amen. When someone talks of dictatorship, I reach for a gun.
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