Faster horses
Well-known member
I had saved this from a long time ago, 1998 to be exact, from the Magpie's nest--Agri-News, July 17, 1998. I ran across it today while looking for something else. I thought in light of what is happening to our country it was well worth sharing here. Interesting that the term 'statesmanship' is rarely heard these days.
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Mark Halprins article "Statesmanship and its Betrayal" portions of which follow:
"...this country was not expected to be what it became.
"...it was expected to be rich in natural silence and the quality of light rather than in uncountable dollars. It was expected to be a place not of unfathomable numbers, but of blades of grass and grains of wheat...rather than millions upon millions of motors spinning and humming at any one time, and wheels turning, fires burning, voices talking and lights shining.
"But this great inventory of machines, building, bridges, vehicles...is what we have. A nation founded according to a vision of simplicity has become complex. A nation founded with disdain for power has become the most powerful nation.
"When letters took a month by sea and the records of the US government could be moved into a single wagon pulled by two horses, we had great statesmanship. We had men of integrity and genius: Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Madison and Monroe. These were men who were in love with principal as if it were an art, which, in their practice, they made it...
"Now...when we desperately need their high qualities of thought, their patience for deliberation, and their unerring sense of balance, we have only what we have.
"Which is a political class that in the main has abandoned the essential qualities of statesmanship, with the excuse that these are inappropriate to our age. They are wrong. Not only do they fail to honor the principals of statesmanship, they fail to recognize them, having failed to learn them, having failed to have wanted to learn them.
"In the main, they are in it for themselves., Were they not, they would have a higher sense of attrition, falling with the colors of what they believe rather than landing always on their feet--adroitly, but in dishonor. In light of their vows and responsibilities, this constitutes not merely a failure but a betrayal, and not only of statesmanship and principle but of country and kin.
"And why is that? It is because things matter. Even though it be played like a game, by men who excel at making it a game, our life in this country, our history in this country, the sacrifices that have been made for this country, the lives that have been given to this country, are not a game. My life is not a game...your life is not a game...
"They say, 'As we are still standing and a chicken is in the pot, what does it matter if I break the links between action and consequence, work and reward, crime and punishment, merit and advancement?...
"Our jurisprudence is the envy of the world, so what does it matter if, now and then, I perjure myself a little? What is an oath? What is a pledge? What is scared trust? Are not these things the province of the kinds of people who were foolish to do without all their lives, to wear the ruts into the Oregon Trail, to brave the seas, to die on the beaches of Normandy and Iwo Jima and on the battlefields of Shilo and Antietam, for me, so that I can draw from America's great account, and look good, and be presidential, and have fun in all kinds of ways?
"That is what they say, if not in words, then, indelibly in actions...Nearly 400 years of America's hard-earned accounts--the principals we established, the battles we fought, the morals we upheld for century after century, our very humility before God--now flow promiscuously through our hands like blood onto sand, squandered and laid waste by a generation that imagines history to have been but a prelude for what itself will accomplish.
More than a pity, more than a shame, such a thing is despicable...
"Principals are eternal. They stem, not from our resolution or lack of it but from elsewhere, where in patient and infinite ranks they simply wait to be called...
"A statesman must rise to the occasion...Harry Truman had the discipline of plowing a straight row 10, 12 and 14 hours a day, of rising and retiring with the sun, or struggling with temperamental machinery, of suffering heat and cold and one injury after another. After a short time on a farm, presumptions about ruling others seemed to vanish...the man who works the land is hard put to think that he would direct armies and nations. Truman understood the grave responsibility of being the president of the US...He understood that...there would be little enjoyment of the job, because he had to be always aware of the enormous consequences of everything he did. Contrast that with the vulgar pleasure in the office of President Clinton...
"It is not possible to occupy the Oval Office without arrogantly looting it's assets or nobly adding to them. God bless the president who adds to them, and may God damn the president who loots them.
"America would have not come out of the Civil War as it did had it not been led by men like Lincoln and Lee...they exemplified almost perfectly Churchill's statement that 'public men charged with the conduct of the war should live in a continual stress of soul."
"This continual stress of soul is necessary as well in peacetime, because for every good deed in public life there is a counterbalance...
"A statesman must have a temperament that is suited for the Medal of Honor, in a soul that is unafraid to die. Electorates rightly favor those who have endured combat, not as a matter of reward for service, as is commonly believed, but because the willingness of a soldier to give his life is a strong sign of his correct priorities and that in the future he will truly understand that statesmen are not rulers, but servants. It seems clear, even in these years of squalid degradation, that having risked death for the sake of honor is better than having risked dishonor for the sake of life...
"Would that we in America come once again to understand that statesmanship is not the appetite for power but--because things matter--a holy calling of self-abnegation and self-sacrifice. We have made it something else. Nonetheless, after and despite its betrayal, statesmanship remains the manifestation, in political terms, of beauty, and balance, and truth...
"Statesmanship is a quality that, though it may be betrayed, is always ready to be taken up again merely by honest subscription to it's great themes...Evidently we do not need it now, but as the world is forever interesting, the time will surely come when we do. And then, so help me God, I believe that, solely by the grace of God, the corrupt will be thrown down and the virtuous will rise up."
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mark Halprins article "Statesmanship and its Betrayal" portions of which follow:
"...this country was not expected to be what it became.
"...it was expected to be rich in natural silence and the quality of light rather than in uncountable dollars. It was expected to be a place not of unfathomable numbers, but of blades of grass and grains of wheat...rather than millions upon millions of motors spinning and humming at any one time, and wheels turning, fires burning, voices talking and lights shining.
"But this great inventory of machines, building, bridges, vehicles...is what we have. A nation founded according to a vision of simplicity has become complex. A nation founded with disdain for power has become the most powerful nation.
"When letters took a month by sea and the records of the US government could be moved into a single wagon pulled by two horses, we had great statesmanship. We had men of integrity and genius: Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Madison and Monroe. These were men who were in love with principal as if it were an art, which, in their practice, they made it...
"Now...when we desperately need their high qualities of thought, their patience for deliberation, and their unerring sense of balance, we have only what we have.
"Which is a political class that in the main has abandoned the essential qualities of statesmanship, with the excuse that these are inappropriate to our age. They are wrong. Not only do they fail to honor the principals of statesmanship, they fail to recognize them, having failed to learn them, having failed to have wanted to learn them.
"In the main, they are in it for themselves., Were they not, they would have a higher sense of attrition, falling with the colors of what they believe rather than landing always on their feet--adroitly, but in dishonor. In light of their vows and responsibilities, this constitutes not merely a failure but a betrayal, and not only of statesmanship and principle but of country and kin.
"And why is that? It is because things matter. Even though it be played like a game, by men who excel at making it a game, our life in this country, our history in this country, the sacrifices that have been made for this country, the lives that have been given to this country, are not a game. My life is not a game...your life is not a game...
"They say, 'As we are still standing and a chicken is in the pot, what does it matter if I break the links between action and consequence, work and reward, crime and punishment, merit and advancement?...
"Our jurisprudence is the envy of the world, so what does it matter if, now and then, I perjure myself a little? What is an oath? What is a pledge? What is scared trust? Are not these things the province of the kinds of people who were foolish to do without all their lives, to wear the ruts into the Oregon Trail, to brave the seas, to die on the beaches of Normandy and Iwo Jima and on the battlefields of Shilo and Antietam, for me, so that I can draw from America's great account, and look good, and be presidential, and have fun in all kinds of ways?
"That is what they say, if not in words, then, indelibly in actions...Nearly 400 years of America's hard-earned accounts--the principals we established, the battles we fought, the morals we upheld for century after century, our very humility before God--now flow promiscuously through our hands like blood onto sand, squandered and laid waste by a generation that imagines history to have been but a prelude for what itself will accomplish.
More than a pity, more than a shame, such a thing is despicable...
"Principals are eternal. They stem, not from our resolution or lack of it but from elsewhere, where in patient and infinite ranks they simply wait to be called...
"A statesman must rise to the occasion...Harry Truman had the discipline of plowing a straight row 10, 12 and 14 hours a day, of rising and retiring with the sun, or struggling with temperamental machinery, of suffering heat and cold and one injury after another. After a short time on a farm, presumptions about ruling others seemed to vanish...the man who works the land is hard put to think that he would direct armies and nations. Truman understood the grave responsibility of being the president of the US...He understood that...there would be little enjoyment of the job, because he had to be always aware of the enormous consequences of everything he did. Contrast that with the vulgar pleasure in the office of President Clinton...
"It is not possible to occupy the Oval Office without arrogantly looting it's assets or nobly adding to them. God bless the president who adds to them, and may God damn the president who loots them.
"America would have not come out of the Civil War as it did had it not been led by men like Lincoln and Lee...they exemplified almost perfectly Churchill's statement that 'public men charged with the conduct of the war should live in a continual stress of soul."
"This continual stress of soul is necessary as well in peacetime, because for every good deed in public life there is a counterbalance...
"A statesman must have a temperament that is suited for the Medal of Honor, in a soul that is unafraid to die. Electorates rightly favor those who have endured combat, not as a matter of reward for service, as is commonly believed, but because the willingness of a soldier to give his life is a strong sign of his correct priorities and that in the future he will truly understand that statesmen are not rulers, but servants. It seems clear, even in these years of squalid degradation, that having risked death for the sake of honor is better than having risked dishonor for the sake of life...
"Would that we in America come once again to understand that statesmanship is not the appetite for power but--because things matter--a holy calling of self-abnegation and self-sacrifice. We have made it something else. Nonetheless, after and despite its betrayal, statesmanship remains the manifestation, in political terms, of beauty, and balance, and truth...
"Statesmanship is a quality that, though it may be betrayed, is always ready to be taken up again merely by honest subscription to it's great themes...Evidently we do not need it now, but as the world is forever interesting, the time will surely come when we do. And then, so help me God, I believe that, solely by the grace of God, the corrupt will be thrown down and the virtuous will rise up."