So, France rejects the populist,
alt-right alternative for something closer to Western rights-based centrist
democracy.
Why?
Cherchez l’origine d’histoire.
Recently I wrote in this space
about David Bellos’ The Novel of the Century http://bit.ly/2mLQzUD
, the publishing story behind “Les Miserables.”
Victor Hugo, the famous author,
stirs debate about the sincerity of his reform leanings. Nevertheless, the
French could agree that he was a national hero. When he died, 2 million people
thronged into Paris streets to pay their respects.
Les Mis, one of my favorite
stories, has introduced countless people to the ideas of the true revolutionary
spirit: respect for the poor and incarcerated, equal rights for women, and a
healthy skepticism regarding the ruling and noble classes.
A week ago I read an article in
the London Review of Books about Grant Wood, the painter famous for “American
Gothic.” An image of his “Daughters of the American Revolution” http://bit.ly/2psmuKY rolled me back on my
heels. These dowdy gals represent the true face of the American style of “reform.”
Determined to preserve their privileged place in American social-political
history, and judgmental of the new and different to a fault, these ladies are
the legacy of the Yankee style of revolution.
That late 18th century war
in the new world was nothing more than a shifting of the British ruling class
(United Empire Loyalists in my native Canada hold on to a similar stuck-in-time
notion of decorum and privilege above all other values) for the American-born
one. Fancy words in a declaration of independence offer no semblance to a deep
regard for something as inclusive as liberty, equality and fraternity. (The
absence of sorority notwithstanding …)
So doesn’t it stand to reason
that Trump can happen here in the USA, if our traditions are closer to the DAR,
marked today by a fierce need to hold on to status above all else? Is the DAR
still a powerful group? Consider the DAR owns Constitution Hall, home to the
annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Think twice before messing with the
DAR …
Next: Running for Your Life:
Ridge Running
