CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, November 21, 2022

Mid-terms and the American "Recessional."

The mid-term elections show, once again, that no Republican is going to be elected to high office unless or until the Republicans master ballot harvesting or control enough State legislatures to stop this on-going crime against representative government. Pointing fingers and recriminations, no matter how well deserved, serve no useful purpose. To paraphrase Democrat strategist, James Carville, "It’s the corrupted system, stupid." Or, in a twist of a grisly Vietnam War saying, "We have to destroy American democracy in order to save the Deep State."

Meanwhile, a stanza from Rudyard Kipling’s poem "Recessional" comes to mind:

Far-called, our navies melt away;

On dune and headland sinks the fire:

Lo, all our pomp of yesterday

Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!

Kipling wrote the poem in 1897, toward the end of the festivities celebrating 60 years of the reign of Queen Victoria. The intent of the poem was twofold: One, to remind the Brits to give credit to the God who allowed the British Empire to achieve great dominion over other lands. Secondly, to warn that over confidence could cause the British Empire "to be one with Nineveh and Tyre," referring to how Nineveh of ancient Mesopotamia and Tyre of ancient Lebanon had lowered their defenses and were defeated. "Far called, our navies melt away, on dune and headland sinks the fire," suggests the Royal Navy was already too small and its naval gunfire was sinking harmlessly into the ground.

And, "Lo, all our pomp of yesterday," might remind us of how well America was doing before Covid hit, back when our economy was booming, when we were energy independent, crime was not so rampant, there was no inflation, and our southern border was on its way to operating as the border of a great nation should.

Is "Recessional" relevant to today? Yes. We may be on the road to becoming like Nineveh and Tyre. Moreover, our Navy is too small and too "woke" to impress the Chicoms with regard to Taiwan, although, if the U.S. has the will to do so, our silent, deadly submarines deployed in the Strait of Taiwan and what is left of our aging airpower might deter the Chicoms from attempting an amphibious invasion across the 97-mile-wide Strait of Taiwan. Recall, when Hitler could not gain air superiority over the 22 miles of English Channel, even Hitler realized his troop ships could be decimated by the Royal Air Force and Navy.

The Chicoms, like the Russians, know full well our military capabilities. What Chicom Chairman Xi cannot be sure of is whether the U.S. has the will to win in the Strait of Taiwan or not. While no one should make sport of the mental and physical infirmities that come with old age, Chairman Xi, President Putin, Kim Jong-un, the Mullahs, and others who would do the U.S. harm would have to be totally incompetent not to take into account the mental condition of our current Commander-in-Chief; and, for that matter, the mental ability of his second-in-command. The incompetent conduct of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan must make them smile, even laugh.

Yes, "Judge of the nations spare us yet, lest we forget -- lest we forget..."

Suggested reading: "Recessional," by Rudyard Kipling, 1897.

©2022. William Hamilton.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com