On October 1, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) said President Barack Obama told Congressional leaders at a White House meeting that “he will not negotiate.”
Boehner accused Democrats of being unwilling to negotiate key elements of the Affordable Care Act–in return for Republican agreement on a spending bill.
The Republicans were seeking–for now–a one-year delay in the rolling out of “Obamacare.”
Obama, in turn, said that he would not submit to Republican “extortion” and “blackmail.”
He said that the House should pass a “clean” spending bill–one without conditions–that met America’s obligations to its citizens and creditors. Only then would be be willing to discuss possible changes in “Obamacare.”
Republicans countered with slogans such as: “If Obama will negotiate with [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, why won’t he negotiate with Congress?”
Seventy-three years ago, another democratic leader found himself accused of being unreasonable and unwilling to negotiate.
That leader was British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. And those accusing him were among the most powerful men in the Third Reich.
Winston Churchill
This was not a favorable time for Britain.
On September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler had ordered his Whermacht (army) to invade Poland. In six weeks, Polish resistance vanished and Poland became the first of a series of Nazi vassal-states.
Then, on May 10, 1940, after waiting out the winter, Hitler’s army quickly overran Norway and Denmark.
And then it was the turn of France.
In six weeks, the German army accomplished what it couldn’t during the four years of World War 1. It bypassed the heavily defended Maginot Line and destroyed one French army after another.
The defeated French were forced to sign the armistice in the same railway car they had used in 1918 when they forced Germany to surrender after World War 1.
Although the British had committed their air force and army to defending France, both had been easily swept aside by the Wehrmact and Luftwaffe (air force).
Driven almost literally into the sea, the British evacuated about 338,226 men from the port of Dunkirk. It was a miracle made possible by Hitler’s unexplained halt of the German advance and the arrival of a fleet of civilian and naval vessels from England.
“The battle of France is over,” Churchill warned his countrymen. “The battle of Britain is about to begin.”
But not before Hitler offered his own version of “peace with honor.”
On July 19, the Fuehrer addressed the Reichstag, Germany’s rubber-stamp parliament:
“From Britain I now hear only a single cry–not of the people but of the politicians–that the war must go on….
Hitler addressing the Reichstag
“Mr. Churchill ought, for once, to believe me when I prophesy that a great Empire will be destroyed–an Empire which it was never my intention to destroy or even to harm.
“In this hour I feel it to be my duty before my own conscience to appeal once more to reason and common sense in Great Britain as well as elsewhere.
“I consider myself in a position to make this appeal since I am not the vanquished begging favors but the victor speaking in the name of reason.
“I see no reason why this war must go on.”
The assembled parliamentary deputies and bemedaled generals were convinced the British would accept Hitler’s “generous” offer of peace.
They took it for granted that the British would be grateful for the opportunity Hitler was giving them to get out of the war.
The Fuehrer, they believed, had been truly magnanimous. How could the British be insane enough to turn him down?
Soon enough, they–and the Fuehrer–got their answer.
Correspondent William L. Shirer, waiting to make a broadcast at the CBS studio in Berlin, listened as the BBC introduced one of its own correspondents.
Sefton Delmner, fluent in German, had covered Nazi Germany for years. Although not authorized to speak for the British Government, his response could have come directly from Churchill himself.
Sefton Delmer
“Herr Hitler,” said Delmer in his most deferential German, “you have on occasion in the past consulted me as to the mood of the British public.
“So permit me to render Your Excellency this little service once again tonight.
“Let me tell you what we here in Britain think of this appeal of yours to what you are pleased to call our reason and common sense. Herr Fuehrer and Reichskanzler [Reich Chancellor] we hurl it right back to you, right in your evil-smelling teeth.”
German officials listening to the broadcast in Shirer’s office were stunned.
“Can you make it out?” one demanded of Shirer. “Can you understand those British fools? To turn down peace now? They’re crazy!”
Although devastated by the forthcoming bombing raids of Hitler’s Luftwaffe, England held out.
Months later, it gained two powerful allies: The Soviet Union (invaded by Hitler on June 22, 1941) and the United States (attacked by Japan on December 7, 1941).
In the end, by standing up to Fascist aggression, England and its democracy were saved.
Americans can only hope the same proves true for their country.
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THE DANGERS OF TIMIDITY
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on April 23, 2014 at 1:00 amPresident Barack Obama–or at least Neil Kornze, the director of the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM)–has some serious lessons to learn about the uses of power.
For more than 20 years, Cliven Bundy, a Nevada cattle rancher, has refused to pay fees for grazing cattle on public lands, some 80 miles north of Las Vegas.
BLM says Bundy now owes close to $1 million. He says his family has used the land since the 1870s and doesn’t recognize the federal government’s jurisdiction.
In 2013, a federal judge ordered Bundy to remove his livestock. He ignored the order, and in early April, 2014, BLM agents rounded up more than 400 of his cattle.
Over the weekend of April 12-13, armed militia members and states’ right protesters showed up to challenge the move.
Bureau of Land Management logo
Rather than risk violence, the BLM did an about-face and released the cattle.
Right-wing bloggers and commentators have portrayed the incident as a victory over Federal tyranny.
According to Alex Jones’ Infowars.com: “Historic! Feds Forced to Surrender to American Citizens.”
Right-wingers have depicted Bundy as a put-upon Everyman being “squeeaed” by the dictatorial Federal government.
They have deliberately ignored a number of inconvenient truths–such as:
Bundy’s family and other ranchers–backed up by a motley assortment of self-declared militiamen armed with rifles and pistols–confronted the agents.
Fearing another Waco–regarded by Right-wing Americans as a second Alamo–the BLM agents backed down and released Bundy’s cattle. And then retreated.
While Right-wingers hail this as a victory for “states’ rights,” the truth is considerably different.
Bundy’s refusal to recognize the federal government’s jurisdiction amounts to: “I will recognize–and obey–only those laws that I happen to agree with.”
And the BLM’s performance offers a texbook lesson on how not to promote respect for the law–or for those who enforce it.
As Niccolo Machiavelli, the father of modern political science warned more than 500 years ago in The Prince:
[A ruler] is rendered despicable by being thought changeable, frivolous, effeminate, timid and irresolute—which [he] must guard against as a rock of danger….
[He] must contrive that his actions show grandeur, spirit, gravity and fortitude.
As to the government of his subjects, let his sentence be irrevocable, and let him adhere to his decisions so that no one may think of deceiving or cozening him.
Niccolo Machiavelli
In his master-work, The Discouorses, he outlines the consequences of allowing lawbreakers to go unpunished:
...Having established rewards for good actions and penalties for evil ones, and having rewarded a citizen for conduct who afterwards commits a wrong, he should be chastised for that without regard to his previous merits….
For if a citizen who has rendered some eminent service to the state should add to the reputation and influence which he has thereby acquired the confident audacity of being able to commit any wrong without fear of punishment, he will in a little while become so insolent and overbearing as to put an end to all power of the law.
The conduct of the agents of BLM has violated that sage counsel on all counts.
BLM agents should have expected trouble from Right-wing militia groups–and come fully prepared to deal with it.
The FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, for example, have created SWAT teams to deal with those who threaten violence against the Federal Government.
Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman had a formula for dealing with domestic terrorists of his own time.
Writing to his commander, Ulysses S. Grant, about the best way to treat Confederate guerrillas, he advised:
General Willilam Tecumseh Sherman
“They cannot be made to love us, but they may be made to fear us. We cannot change the hearts of those people of the South.
“But we can make war so terrible that they will realize the fact that . . . they are still mortal and should exhaust all peaceful remedies before they fly to war.”
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