Dissing: The Sincerest Form Of Flattery | Via Meadia

Since the end of the Cold War, world politics and the global economy have been gradually moving away from the (relative) stability that characterized the 1945-1990 era.  That post World War Two era was unusual by the standards of modern history.  Financial crashes and depressions were a regular feature of life from the Dutch Tulip Bubble of the seventeenth century right through the Great Depression.  International politics were turbulent and tumultuous as well, with countries switching alliances and stabbing one another in the back with great gusto and regularity.

Hendrik Gerritsz Pot’s allegory of the Dutch tulip mania. The goddess of flowers is riding along with three drinking and money weighing men and two women on a car. Weavers from Haarlem have thrown away their equipment and are following the car. The destiny of the car is shown in the background. (Wikimedia)

The exhaustion of Europe, China and Japan after World War Two, and the bipolar rivalry between the nuclear superpowers, froze world politics through the end of the Cold War. The macroeconomic tools and tightly regulated national banking systems developed during and after World War Two made for greater economic stability until the world economy gradually outgrew the post-war system and financial and trade globalization created a new and much more volatile economic system that is still poorly understood.

via blogs.the-american-interest.com

Franklin the natural man

Here is a French view of Ben Franklin. Apparently, when he was about
to meet the French King, he planned to wear court clothing. But his
wig would not fit, so he went bare-headed. The French took this as a
statement of his rejection of courtly artificiality.

He played it up and wore a beaver cap. The wild American has always been a sterotype on the European continent. The idea of the Noble Savage was all the rage. Like Robert Burns
the Plowboy Poet in Scotland and Walt Whitman in America later on, he was the
simple, natural, un-affected American.  In Europe, Ben Franklin was respected as a sage.

Timeline of the Reformation and Restoration Periods

1486 - Henry VII (Tudor) married Elizabeth of York uniting houses of York and Lancaster.

1487 - Battle of Stoke Field: In final engagement of the Wars of the Roses, Henry VII, defeats Yorkist army "led" by Lambert Simnel (who was impersonating Edward, the nephew of Edward IV, the only plausible royal alternative to Henry, who was confined in the Tower of London).

1496 - Henry VII joins the Holy League; commercial treaty between England and Netherlands.

1497 - John Cabot discovers Newfoundland

1502 - Margaret, daughter of Henry VII, marries James IV of Scotland.

1509 - Henry VIII, becomes king.

1513 - Battle of Flodden Field (fought at Flodden Edge, Northumberland) in which invading Scots are defeated by the English under their commander, 70 year old Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey; James IV of Scotland is killed.

1515 - Thomas Wolsey, Archbisop of York, is made Lord Chancellor of England and Cardinal

1517 - The Protestant Reformation begins; Martin Luther nails his "95 Theses" against the Catholic practice of selling indulgences, on the church door at Wittenberg

1520 - Field of Cloth of Gold: Francois I of France meets Henry VIII but fails to gain his support against Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V

1521 - Henry VIII receives the title "Defender of the Faith" from Pope Leo X for his opposition to Luther

1529 - Henry VIII dismisses Lord Chancellor Thomas Wolsey for failing to obtain the Pope's consent to his divorce from Catherine of Aragon; Sir Thomas More appointed Lord Chancellor; Henry VIII summons the "Reformation Parliament" and begins to cut the ties with the Church of Rome

1530 - Thomas Wolsey dies

1532 - Sir Thomas More resigns over the question of Henry VIII's divorce

1533 - Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn and is excommunicated by Pope Clement VII; Thomas Cranmer appointed Archbishop of Canterbury

1534 - Act of Supremacy: Henry VIII declared supreme head of the Church of England

1535 - Sir Thomas More is beheaded in Tower of London for failing to take the Oath of Supremacy

1536 - Anne Boleyn is beheaded; Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour; dissolution of monasteries in England begins under the direction of Thomas Cromwell, completed in 1539.

1537 - Jane Seymour dies after the birth of a son, the future Edward VI

1539 - Dissolution of Glastonbury Abbey; buildings torched and looted by king's men; Abbot Richard Whiting is executed by hanging atop Glastonbury Tor.

1540 - Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves following negotiations by Thomas Cromwell; Henry divorces Anne of Cleves and marries Catherine Howard; Thomas Cromwell executed on charge of treason

1542 - Catherine Howard is executed

1543 - Henry VIII marries Catherine Parr; alliance between Henry and Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor) against Scotland and France

1544 - Henry VIII and Charles V invade France

1547 - Edward VI, King of England: Duke of Somerset acts as Protector

1549 - Introduction of uniform Protestant service in England based on Edward VI's Book of Common Prayer

1550 - Fall of Duke of Somerset:; Duke of Northumberland succeeds as Protector

1551 -Archbishop Cranmer publishes Forty-two Articles of religion

1553 - On death of Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey proclaimed queen of England by Duke of Northumberland, her reign lasts nine days; Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England (to 1558); Restoration of Roman Catholic bishops in England

1554 - Execution of Lady Jane Grey

1555 - England returns to Roman Catholicism: Protestants are persecuted and about 300, including Cranmer, are burned at the stake

1558 - England loses Calais, last English possession in France; Death of Mary I; Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, becomes Queen; Repeal of Catholic legislation in England

1560 - Treaty of Berwick between Elizabeth I and Scottish reformers; Treaty of Edinburgh among England, France, and Scotland

1563 - The Thirty-nine Articles, which complete establishment of the Anglican Church

1564 - Peace of Troyes between England and France

1567 - Murder of Lord Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots, probably by Earl of Bothwell; Mary Queen of Scots marries Bothwell, is imprisoned, and forced to abdicate; James VI, King of Scotland

1568 - Mary Queen of Scots escapes to England and is imprisoned by Elizabeth I at Fotheringay Castle

1577 - Alliance between England and Netherlands; Francis Drake sails around the world (to 1580)

1584 - William of Orange is murdered and England sends aid to the Netherlands; 1586 Expedition of Sir Francis Drake to the West Indies; Conspiracy against Elizabeth I involving Mary Queen of Scots

1587 - Execution of Mary Queen of Scots; England at war with Spain; Drake destroys Spanish fleet at Cadiz

1588 - The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English fleet under Lord Howard of Effingham, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir John Hawkins: war between Spain and England continues until 1603

1597 - Irish rebellion under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone (finally put down 1601)

1600 - Elizabeth I grants charter to East India Company

1601 - Elizabethan Poor Law charges the parishes with providing for the needy; Essex attempts rebellion, and is executed

1603 - Elizabeth dies; James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England

1604 - Hampton Court Conference: no relaxation by the Church towards Puritans; James bans Jesuits; England and Spain make peace

1605 - Gunpowder Plot; Guy Fawkes and other Roman Catholic conspirators fail in attempt to blow up Parliament and James I.

1607 - Parliament rejects proposals for union between England and Scotland; colony of Virginia is founded at Jamestown by John Smith; Henry Hudson begins voyage to eastern Greenland and Hudson River

1610 - Hudson Bay discovered

1611 - James I's authorized version (King James Version) of the Bible is completed; English and Scottish Protestant colonists settle in Ulster

1614 - James I dissolves the "Addled Parliament" which has failed to pass any legislation

1618 - Thirty Years' War begins, lasts until 1648

1620 - Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the "Mayflower"; found New Plymouth

1622 - James I dissolves Parliament for asserting its right to debate foreign affairs

1624 - Alliance between James I and France; Parliament votes for war against Spain; Virginia becomes crown colony

1625 - Charles I, King of England (to 1649); Charles I marries Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII of France; dissolves Parliament which fails to vote him money

1628 - Petition of Right; Charles I forced to accept Parliament's statement of civil rights in return for finances

1629 - Charles I dissolves Parliament and rules personally until 1640

1630 - England makes peace with France and Spain

1639 - First Bishops' War between Charles I and the Scottish Church; ends with Pacification of Dunse

1640 - Charles I summons the "Short " Parliament ; dissolved for refusal to grant money; Second Bishops' War; ends with Treaty of Ripon; The Long Parliament begins.

1641 - Triennial Act requires Parliament to be summoned every three years; Star Chamber and High Commission abolished by Parliament; Catholics in Ireland revolt; some 30,000 Protestants massacred; Grand Remonstrance of Parliament to Charles I

1642 - Charles I fails in attempt to arrest five members of Parliament and rejects Parliament's Nineteen Propositions; Civil War (until 1645) begins with battle of Edgehill between Cavaliers (Royalists) and Roundheads (Parliamentarians)

1643 - Solemn League and Covenant is signed by Parliament

1644 - Battle of Marston Moor; Oliver Cromwell defeats Prince Rupert

1645 - Formation of Cromwell's New Model Army; Battle of Naseby; Charles I defeated by Parliamentary forces

1646 - Charles I surrenders to the Scots

1647 - Scots surrender Charles I to Parliament; he escapes to the Isle of Wright; makes secret treaty with Scots.

1648 - Scots invade England and are defeated by Cromwell at battle of Preston Pride's Purge: Presbyterians expelled from Parliament (known as the Rump Parliament); Treaty of Westphalia ends Thirty Years' War

1649 - Charles I is tried and executed; The Commonwealth, in which ; England is governed as a republic, is established and lasts until 1660; Cromwell harshly suppresses Catholic rebellions in Ireland

1650 - Charles II lands in Scotland; is proclaimed king.

1651 - Charles II invades England and is defeated at Battle of Worcester; Charles escapes to France; First Navigation Act, England gains virtual monopoly of foreign trade

1653 - Oliver Cromwell dissolves the "Rump" and becomes Lord Protector

1654 - Treaty of Westminster between England and Dutch Republic

1655 - England divided into 12 military districts by Cromwell; seizes Jamaica from Spain

1656 - War with Spain (until 1659)

1658 - Oliver Cromwell dies; succeeded as Lord Protector by son Richard; Battle of the Dunes, England and France defeat Spain; England gains Dunkirk

1659 - Richard Cromwellforced to resign by the army; "Rump" Parliament restored

1660 - Convention Parliament restores Charles II to throne

1661 - Clarendon Code; "Cavalier" Parliament of Charles II passes series of repressive laws against Nonconformists; English acquire Bombay

1662 - Act of Uniformity passed in England

1664 - England siezes New Amsterdam from the Dutch, change name to New York

1665 - Great Plague in London

1666 - Great Fire of London

1667 - Dutch fleet defeats the English in Medway river; treaties of Breda among Netherlands, England, France, and Denmark

1668 - Triple Alliance of England, Netherlands, and Sweden against France

1670 - Secret Treaty of Dover between Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France to restore Roman Catholicism to England; Hudson's Bay Company founded

1672 - Third Anglo-Dutch war (until 1674); William III (of Orange) becomes ruler of Netherlands

1673 - Test Act aims to deprive English Roman Catholics and Nonconformists of public office

1674 - Treaty of Westminster between England and the Netherlands

1677 - William III, ruler of the Netherlands, marries Mary, daughter of James, Duke of York, heir to the English throne

1678 - 'Popish Plot' in England; Titus Oates falsely alleges a Catholic plot to murder Charles II

1679 - Act of Habeas Corpus passed, forbidding imprisonment without trial; Parliament's Bill of Exclusion against the Roman Catholic Duke of York blocked by Charles II; Parliament dismissed; Charles II rejects petitions calling for a new Parliament; petitioners become known as Whigs; their opponents (royalists) known as Tories

1681 - Whigs reintroduce Exclusion Bill; Charles II dissolves Parliament

1685 - James II of England and VII of Scotland (to 1688); rebellion by Charles II's illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, against James II is put down

1686 - James II disregards Test Act; Roman Catholics appointed to public office

1687 - James II issues Declaration of Liberty of Conscience, extends toleration to all religions

1688 - England's 'Glorious Revolution'; William III of Orange is invited to save England from Roman Catholicism, lands in England, James II flees to France

1689 - Convention Parliament issues Bill of Rights; establishes a constitutional monarchy in Britain; bars Roman Catholics from the throne; William III and Mary II become joint monarchs of England and Scotland (to1694), Toleration Act grants freedom of worship to dissenters in England; Grand Alliance of the League of Augsburg, England, and the Netherlands.

Timeline of Britain's Age of Empire

via britannia.com

An overview

By Charity or by Right?

A complex society like ours will always have people who need help meeting life's necessities.  Widows and Orphans, for example.  The handicapped, like people with ADHD.  In one model, Winthrop's model, a decent society (in his case, a Christian society) will take care of the needy as a matter of charity, which means love (L, caritas) and arises in us through the example of Christ. In such a society, those who prosper will thank God for their prosperity and be sure to share with the less fortunate.  The State's role is to take up the slack and provide bare necessities if all else fails.  From the point of view of the recipient, hardly yet a "client," this system has several drawbacks.  For one, the charity may be bountiful or not, but it is not guaranteed.  For another, some of the givers might lord it over the receivers. A person facing hard luck might be made to feel like a moocher or beggar.

The modern, secular state solves the problem by declaring that certain needs provide citizens with natural rights to have them met.  Basic needs like food, housing, education, health, entertainment...no one knows where the list ends....are to be met by the government as a matter of right.  That means that the government will use its coercive powers to get the necessary funds from those able to pay taxes to redistribute to the needy.  From the point of view of the recipient, this system has some advantages.  It is guaranteed.  Your life does not depend on the whims of others.  And since it never was a gift, there is no need for gratitude.  You need tip your hat to no one.

But is the modern system an improvement?  Or does it erode the virtues necessary for a republic or democracy to endure?  Take the case of gratitude.   Where once the receiver of largess owed and felt a debt of gratitude (else why does gratitude exist?) he or she now feels no gratitude, since whatever is received is received by right.  (Never mind asking whence this right.)  I am entitled to my salary because I earn it and have an agreement with my employer about what I will provide and what I will receive.  Since I try to do a good job, I feel am entitled to the money.  It becomes my property and I enjoy full property rights in it. I feel virtuous about my salary.  It is mine. If, however, I slacked off a lot and short-changed the job, I would not be able to feel the same way.

When one thinks about how some snobs looked upon and treated the poor and the working poor, one must conclude that the modern approach is a great improvement.  It attempts to confer dignity and to introduce order and coherence. As Isaiah Berlin had it, the Constitution lists only negative freedoms (what the government may NOT do to you) but we can conceive positive freedoms (the right to do or have something). European socialist societies moved to meed more and more of these positive freedoms by government action, but now that the money is drying up, and we see a slow down and reversa in Europe. Here, the argument runs, we are moving ever closer to the failed models of Eurpope, the PIGS nations (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain--all in deep, deep financial trouble).

The down side of the modern as opposed to the tradition way is that it gnaws into private charity. (President Obama would like to delete the tax deductions for charitable giving in the Federal Tax Code, thus effectively reducing what is done privately and increasing what is done by government officials when it comes to good works.) It is a truism that no free society can endure where the people are not virtuous.  Any republic assumes the virtue of its citizens. Policy which reduces this public virtue is suicidal. 

But it is not clear if current policy does reduce virtue.  I am still puzzling.  But I do remember that Plato pointed out that in a democracy (not a republic) "teachers fear their pupils."  Seems to have come true.  And not that long ago even a good New York liberal like Daniel Patrick Moynihan knew that (to paraphrase from memory) "welfare destroys the recipients." (But he always voted to increase it.)

It's a hard one.