A series of independent essays on history and current events

PROTEST

What a weekend it was. We have recovered from the ‘cane, and life was again comfortable. The outside world was not so comfortable. Saturday night was amazing. The Gators pulled out another miracle finish and won another game they probably should have lost.

Sunday morning, I was treated to another interesting event. Two of our pro football teams were playing a game in London. When the band played our national anthem, some of the players refused to stand. It was a protest. When the band played the British anthem, they stood.

I always stand for the national anthem. Because of my age and some physical problems, I appear to be a little slow in rising to my feet, but I do get there. There are two things I have against young people. The first is that they bounce up out of a chair without the first thought about it. The second thing is they are young, and I am not.

For me, there is no question about the right of the players to protest. What appears  to be the question is: do I also have a right to protest the protest? The general drift from the cable media is that I am wrong to protest the protest. Apparently, the Constitution is not a factor in my case. Since I am not a member of a victim class, I am not covered by the document. On the other hand, the Constitution was written by men like myself, old and white. It is a document often reviled by those who most urgently claim its protection. I will not be surprised if some morning I turn on the news and learn that the Ninth Circuit Court has declared the Constitution to be unconstitutional.

If I do protest the protest, I am not sure how I shall proceed. I could stop watching pro football games. The problem here is that I stopped watching the pros years ago. Where I live, the only games I get are games featuring Miami, Tampa, and Jacksonville. I would rather watch paint dry. To make such a protest work, I would have to start watching these games so I could then stop as my protest. I do not think I shall do that. So, then, what’s left?

So, I ask myself, why is it that I feel compelled to stand for the anthem? It is a symbolic act that we repeat numerous times. It is almost a reflex action to stand. Is it nothing more than a habit? No, I think not. There is too much of my past  that plays an important role here. Sadly, there is perhaps a majority of young people today who would find no agreement with my reasons for standing up.

There are several reasons why I stand, but the one I like best of all goes back about a half-century or so. The platoon I served in during my time in Korea was assigned to hold a finger of land coming down off a hill. The enemy wanted that finger. For two days and nights the fight continued. We held the finger until relieved by reinforcements. There were two men left alive.

Someday in the not too distant future, I am going to meet up with First Platoon again. They will be lounging by a road. It will be late in the day. Someone will say, “We’ve been waiting for you.” Then the platoon sergeant will say, “Gimme two columns of ducks. Let’s go.” We will form up a line of men on one side of the road and another line on the other side. We will start marching. The sergeant will yell out, “Pick up five,” and we will space ourselves five yards apart. Then we will march and march, always west. Always toward the setting sun.

I am not going to tell these guys that I refused to stand for the national anthem. Well, that is all very touching, but who cares? There was a time when a man said there was no substitute for victory. Now we live in a time when the saying, there is no substitute for surrender is very much in vogue. In fact, maybe it is even awesome.

 

OLD POPULISTS REMEMBERED

There is a great deal of very frothy talk about Populists these days. I actually saw one, a real, live, old-style Populist of the old school, and perhaps the last of the breed.

It was mid-summer of 1970 and the scene was the Coles County, Illinois, annual picnic held in a park in Mattoon, a modest city on the mythical border between central Illinois and southern Illinois.

I was part of a small entourage led by Paul Powell who held the position of Secretary of State in Illinois. With him was a young and upcoming politician, Alan Dixon who was running for a state-wide office. Media people believed that Mr. Dixon was Powell’s protégé. Mr. Dixon was the perfect politician. He had never held a public job. He was elected to the state assembly when he was twenty, and it was legal because he turned twenty-one before he took the oath of office.

I was along for the ride because I was running for Congress from that district. I was not in favor with the party, however, because I had beaten the party’s candidate in the primary. My primary campaign cost six hundred dollars. I am not sure if Mr. Powell even knew I was there, except I did hear the word, “piss-ant” used a couple of times.

It was hot. There was shade, but even in the shade, there was no relief from the heat. There was fried chicken, real fried chicken, the kind that is probably banned in San Francisco and other such places today.

Mr. Powell was the guest of honor, and he had the prime spot in an open tent. We were seated nearby. The wives of the precinct committeemen prepared the chicken. They made sure that Mr. Powell had the very best of the chicken fresh from the skillets. As in many of the counties at that time the precinct committeemen were patronage employees controlled by Mr. Powell. Somehow, textbooks on government or civics, neglect to explain that matter.

There was no doubt in my mind that Mr. Powell was the most uncharismatic leader I had ever seen. He was not a tall man, but neither was he short. He was overweight, but not fat. In another time, he most certainly would have been called, “portly.” He barely had a neck. What served as a neck was large, and his white shirt collar and his tie, single-knotted tie fought an angry battle with his neck.

He ate heartily, polishing off a number of pieces of fried chicken. He was sweaty, the heat, the hot chicken, and his exertions causing the sweat to bead his forehead and run down his cheeks.

When the eating was done, I prepared myself for the speeches that I thought were sure to follow. There were no speeches. Neither I nor Mr. Dixon was invited to speak, and it became clear to me that Mr. Powell was not going to speak.

Instead of speeches, a lone line formed near the tent. Mr. Powell wiped the sweat from his face and hands and prepared for what was coming next. The line moved toward the tent, and one by one the people stepped forward to pay their respects to “Paul.” No one called him Mr. Powell. They used his first name, but almost reverently. I thought there were touches of the Bible about this business.

Usually, when there is a visiting dignitary on hand, there is someone close by who leans over and whispers the name of the approaching person in the dignitary’s ear, thus allowing the visitor to talk on a more personal level. That was not the case with Paul. He needed no help. He greeted each person, usually by name. Sometimes he asked about the health of a relative, or even a recalcitrant cow. It was truly a remarkable performance.

Among the people who paid their respects were several who thanked Paul for getting black lung insurance for a relative, usually an older relative because coal mining had just about played out in these parts. I checked into this black lung matter in days to come, and I found that Paul had been very successful at obtaining financial relief for people suffering from black lung problems. I learned from several sources that Paul used his “good offices” instead of more standard methods to gain success. He knew ways that were not listed in the civics textbooks.

Not long after that, we departed for Lincoln, Illinois, where the Logan County Fair was underway. We were seated on the infield of the race track and faced the grandstand which was filled with about 3,000 people. Mr. Dixon was given a grand chance to make himself known to the people. He was to put a horse blanket on the trotter who won the championship.

The winning trotter was driven up to the small stand. The horse was excited. They know the difference between winning and losing. Mr. Dixon stepped down from the stand, blanket in hand. He was a spiffy dresser, very 1970’s “mod.” It was dusty, the horse was sweating, and the sulky driver had a hard time keeping control. Mr. Dixon made several tentative moves on the horse, but never really got into position to achieve his goal.

After a few futile minutes of this dance, I heard Paul mutter something that had a distinctly early Anglo-Saxon sound to it. He arose from his chair. The crowd, which had been shouting encouragement to Mr. Dixon, among other things, grew silent.

Paul took the blanket from Mr. Dixon and whipped the blanket in a deft move over the horse’s head and in perfect place on the horse’s back. Paul returned to his seat without acknowledging the crowd’s standing ovation. He was a very unassuming hero.

Not too many years after that day, Paul died. He was found in his hotel room where he lived in rather modest circumstances. In his closet, there were shoe boxes containing about two million dollars in cash, according to the media. There was much talk about corruption. That happens to Populists sometimes. Paul’s people, however, did not believe it for a second. They claimed that the money was rightfully his, and after the fashion of the time, they were probably correct. Paul was known to have 4,000 patronage employees under his control. If each kicked back two percent of his salary each payday, in cash, of course, then that would amount to a tidy sum. Then, there were the flower funds and events. The shoe boxes kept in the closet were easily explained by Paul’s friends and admirers. One of Paul’s jobs was to keep an eye on state banks. He obviously knew better than to put large amounts of cash into such banks. Under the circumstances, shoe boxes were functional, though I suspect that Paul’s friends would have preferred hiding places under the mattress or a tin can buried in the back yard.

Populists like Mr. Powell provide a useful service for humanity. Look at the work they create for reformers. On the whole, I think I would rather share a bottle of whiskey with a Populist than a reformer, even if the Populist called me a piss-ant.

 

About the Small Book of Bits and Pieces

My plan is to put up six books on this site that I have ready at this time. There will be a seventh book, the one I call the Small Book of Bits and Pieces. The material will be like blogs, but usually longer. The first of these is the North Korean war options.

The topics will cover a wide range. I have a piece ready now on a man who was one of the last true populists. I spent a day with him several decades ago. We never talked. I am sure that he knew I was there. I heard him make reference on occasion to a “piss-ant.”

Some of the offerings will be from work that I have in progress. At this time, I have three books that are in the editing and rewrite stage. I should have one of them done and hopefully up on this site sometime this fall. The working title is Commentaries on American Wars. It is a difficult book to write. As much as is possible, I am keeping political considerations out of the book.

There will be stories that come out of my days as a newspaper man. I never thought of myself as a journalist. I started out in weekly newspapers and moved up to work on a daily newspaper. Over the years, I learned enough of the printing craft so that when I finished my career, I went out not as an editor, but as a union journeyman printer. There was a man whose accomplishments were known here in the United States and in Europe. I am told that on his tombstone, there is one word, printer.

I have a real treasure chest of material my mother told me. She died when she was 99. In her last years., we spent much time talking about her life when she was a girl growing up on a farm in central Illinois. One of the stories she talked about was the threshing of oats. There was a small town called Onarga. There was a threshing circle on the west side and one on the east side. Each circle consisted of 24 farms. The threshing machine was a huge steam engine that sat in the middle of a field. The farmers combined their equipment, horses, wagons, and pitchforks, and worked together to get the job done.

After all the fields of oats, both east and west, were thrashed, both circles would come together for a big picnic in the park in Onarga. After the picnic, the east and west would play a baseball game. The park had a baseball diamond with a backstop and some bleachers. My mother claimed that the game was a very serious matter. There was also serious debate about who was eligible to play. Farmers at that time did hire help during certain seasons, and some had permanent hired hands. Now, just because a hired hand could throw a 95 mile an hour fast ball, or a wicked slider, did not mean he did not do farm work.

Add to this scenario the fact that the land we are discussing here is located in an area claimed by the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals and stir the plot a time or two. Well, any writer who could not come up with a story out that should break his pencil and go do something useful like hoeing the vegetable garden. Didn’t Candide say that?

One of the pieces I shall put up soon is an analysis of the Russian president, Mr. Putin. The article will not be a judgement of the man. I am interested in some of the historical facts that might be worth some attention. For example, who does he think he is? I have to go back to the early Middle Ages to look for an answer. There was a great Russian leader who, though of noble birth, did rise from the people. He became a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church. It was a time when Kiev was Russia, and Moscow was a few huts.

The Soviets made use of this saint. A propaganda film was made about the saint and how he led the people against the Teutonic Knights who were invading Russia. It proved to be a timely film. Does Mr. Putin think himself to be another Alexander Nevsky, and once again facing knights coming from the west?

I have no access to any intelligence material. I have never worked as an agent for any agency. I do have some training in literature and history. I do possess some common sense. For example, recently I saw a news story about Russians bombing somewhere in Syria. The film showed a Russian plane. Then there was a shot of three bombs attached to a point at the underside of a wing. The bombs were released and fell to the ground. This was shown by an American television news venue, but the film had to come from the Russians. What kind of relationship exists between the Russian government’s propaganda people and the venue people? Only the Russians could have filmed the release of the bombs. By the way, these were “dumb” bombs and not precision, guided bombs. They are an area weapon.

I am working on a piece about our medical insurance problems. Just as in the case of Mr. Putin, there will be thoughts that are apparently unknown to the media. Because we were so successful in the recent past, our medical insurance ideas are not working very well.

To explain, I have to go back to the summer of 1945 when I was 12 and living with my great grandfather and a great aunt who was looking after both of us. One day, I found my great grandfather, George, slumped over onto a large bush. He was conscious, but could not talk. I was a sturdy lad and was able to get him into the house. Strong men arrived and carried George up to his bedroom. The town doctor was called. He came to the house and said that the old man had suffered a stroke. The doctor left, but promised to return later. The doctor came back later that night. My great grandfather died that night. He was 80. The doctor’s bill was twenty dollars.

Now, fast-forward to the year when I was 78. I had a stroke. My wife called 911 and an ambulance with trained people came. (ka-ching). I was taken to the emergency room of a hospital. (a whole lot of ka-chings). Tests were done. Scans were done. The doctor said that I could be given a new drug. He also said that six percent of the people given the drug died. I could not talk or move my body. I could nod. My wife signed the proper forms. I was given the drug. It was very expensive. Within two hours, I had recovered almost completely. At the end of three days in the hospital, I was released. I needed almost no further treatments.

I think the advances in medicine that are to come will be nothing short of incredible. Someday researchers will find a substance that the body does not reject. How will we price what follows?

 

New North Korean War Options

North Korea has two military options that should be of great concern. It should be understood that the options could be combined into a one-two punch that could be decisive. At this point, what is not known is whether or not the present leader of North Korea will pull the trigger. That is not a comforting thought.

There are those in our establishment, both political and non-governmental, who tend to believe that the Chinese can and will keep anything extreme from happening. That position needs to be examined quite closely. I do believe the North Korean leader begins nothing that does not already have Chinese approval and perhaps, even Chinese urging. When North Korea conducts nuclear or missile tests, are we to assume that there are no Chinese technicians, scientists, or engineers involved? We need to keep close watch on possible changes in troop positions on the north side of the Yalu River.

The first option is the movement forward across the Demilitarized Zone of North Korean troops. This movement will consist of four assault infantry battalions. Each battalion will take up position at the fence marking the South Korean side of the Zone. Each of the four advances will come in the direction of four particular points that lead to road nets that open the way to Seoul.

The movement will most likely come on a dark and stormy night. It will be a move by infiltration rather than a marked advance. Daylight will bring an end to the movement. Once in place, the troops will dig in and wait for the next move.

How will the South Korean government respond? How will the American government respond? There is good reason to believe that the American government will not be in favor of a military reaction. There will be an appeal for a diplomatic reaction to the North Korean move. We will ask the Chinese to intervene and make the North Koreans withdraw to their own side of the DMZ. There is a chance that the South Korean government will not wait for American approval of any action. The South Koreans might open up with artillery and either kill or chase away the troops in the advances. Then, what do we have? Given the problems of the South Korean government, I do not expect any resolute action. If the Chinese do intervene and require the North Koreans to return to their side of the line, I expect the Chinese to ask for a lot in exchange for this favor.

What would the North Koreans stand to gain from such a move? They would gain a little over two miles at four points. That does not seem like much, but skillful people could make quite a propaganda coup out of it. Moreover, once the positions are secured, they can be reinforced. Armor can be added to the battalions in place. Mortars can be moved forward in considerable number. I have no doubt that the North Koreans have a great number of 82 mm mortars that were so useful for them in the first Korean War. These mortars have a range of about two miles. Once in position at the South Korean side of the line, they can add weight to any mortar and artillery attacks on secondary South Korean positions behind the line. If the response to the North Korean move is of a diplomatic nature, it is very possible, no, not very possible, try for sure, that the North Koreans will continue to reinforce and spread their strength along the line. That will make our diplomatic talks take on more and more urgency. The Chinese will take note of the urgency. It is entirely possible that the talks will come down to one essential point, and that point will be an American agreement to begin the withdrawal of American forces from South Korea. Maybe then we will notice the true purpose of the North Korean gambit.

The second option is more explosive. There is no doubt that the North Koreans still have some of the old Scud missiles. We remember these missiles from the First Gulf War. They were used by the Iraqi forces against us and our friends. They are a very low-tech missile. One launched, the direction cannot be changed. They do not have a long range, but a scud fired from somewhere in North Korea could come uncomfortably close to Pusan down at the bottom of Korea. The missile can be fired from a mobile launcher, which makes finding and destroying the missile very difficult.

What I do not know is the present capability of the North Koreans when it comes to fitting a nuclear device to a missile. What I fear is that fitting a small, battlefield device with a yield of just under two kilotons to a Scud missile is very possible. It might be very crude and not very pretty, but it might work. We also do not know how much assistance in this mater the North Koreans are receiving from the Chinese and the Iranians. The Iranians might find a use for such a device.

The North Koreans might fire the scud in the direction of Pusan, but with the hope that the missile will explode near the port city.

The North Korean government would then issue an ultimatum to South Korea. The South Korean government must agree to allow North Korean soldiers access to the city of Seoul. This agreement must come within 48 hours or there will be a second missile launched.

What will the South Korean government do? What will we advise the government to do? What a mess! Where would the stock market be by noon on that day?

Several hours after the deadline passes with no word coming out of Seoul in response to the ultimatum, the second Scud missile will hit to one side or the other of the city. There will be casualties. Following the missile will be another ultimatum. A reply is expected in 24 hours. The next missile will be sure to hit the city. By this time, there is sure to be a panic in the city. People will be struggling to get out of the city. Will there be enough government left to come to a decision? What will our government advise the South Koreans to do? What is possible? How is the Japanese government reacting? What do the Chinese say?

There are only two ways to go. The South Korean government can agree to allow North Korean soldiers to enter Seoul, which is nothing less than the beginning of surrender and occupation, or the government can decide to fight. The outcome of the surrender decision is all too clear. Not clear at all is the outcome of the decision to fight.

If the decision to fight is approved, then heavy casualties must be expected when the next missile does hit in Seoul. If the North Koreans decide to only hit close to the city with the third strike, then questions will be raised. Are the North Koreans reluctant for some reason to deliver the big blow? Why? Are the Chinese becoming a bit squeamish?

The decision to fight will become obvious when air-strikes take out government buildings in Pyongyang. Other air strikes will take out known key military installations. Any military concentrations of troops and vehicles out in the open and close to the DMZ will be hit.

Those actions are easily within the capability of the South Korean air force. The really important matter is the American action, or perhaps the lack of action.

How could the American military be used? One of the first priorities, I think, should be the 40 Romeo class submarines owned by the North Koreans. These are antiques, but they could pose real problems. They can still go underwater and they can fire torpedoes that can sink a ship. They are capable of forming wolf packs or lying about in wait for an unescorted transport. They should be eliminated at once. If they are at sea, they should become bait for our attack submarines. If they are in port, they and the port facilities should be eliminated. The next day, the Navy should get really down to work. All North Korean surface craft down to, but not excluded, rowboats should be eliminated.

Bridges, both road and railroad south of the Yalu should be dropped. Airports and airbases should be made useless. All aircraft, military and commercial should be destroyed. All communications systems and centers should cease to exist. The North Koreans will have to fight their war by candlelight. We should make quite a show of rushing anything that looks like it could be used for an amphibious operation to Japan. All possible Marine units should be shipped to Japan.

Our government should waste no time in explaining to the Chinese how American public reaction may force our government to take certain actions regarding trade. We should tell Chinese workers who might soon be unemployed that we regret their plight, and tell them we will do all we can to help them. Perhaps we can use modern social networks to reach these people and tell them of our concern for their plight.

The success of the decision to fight will depend upon a number of things that are not easy to control. Thousands of South Koreans will die as a result of the scuds carrying small battlefield nuclear devices. How many such weapons do the North Koreans possess? How many are they willing to use? Are the South Korean people willing to pay the price? There has always been a number of the South Korean people who are not so strongly opposed to the type of governance offered by North Korea. In the United States, we can, I think, expect a confused and confusing firestorm. No one wants to go to war, and the first Korean War did not exactly win any popularity awards. Worse yet, some of the largest and most powerful organizations in the nation will feel threatened. Their bottom line will seek out new bottoms.

Smart money will probably go down on the bet to surrender. The weight of a frightened public opinion is very heavy. Even so, it should be remembered that when the Germans invaded Poland, smart money would have gone on the line for a continuation of negotiation and appeasement. Smart money was wrong then.

Much of the above is in the new book I am working on at the present time. I hope to have it finished this fall. I hope history does not gallop past me.

I do not have a title for the new book. It is a pure military book. I do not factor in politics. That makes it a nuts and bolts book. Much of it is devoted to an examination of what is called “linear warfare.” I hope it does not turn out to be too mundane. There are also chapters in it concerning the army of the near future.

 

Statues

I have never looked with much favor upon statues. I have always regarded statues as being pigeon-bait. There are some statues I really dislike. There are the statues comprising the Korean War Memorial, for example. They are supposed to commemorate a war in which I played a part. The statues are of men on a patrol. All the statues are wearing ponchos. I never ran a patrol with men wearing ponchos. The first shot fired by the enemy, everyone goes to ground. How is the rifle brought to bear on a target? How is the ammunition belt to be reached?

I understand that it is easier to sculpt if it is not necessary to show the detail of their equipment. It is probably cheaper to depict the men in ponchos. Much consideration was given in Washington to fighting that war on the cheap. That is usually the case. So, perhaps there is some accuracy here that I need to consider.

Now we are engaged in a great struggle to destroy statues of people we do not much like, or at least some people do not like. How this is to make things better for anyone is a mystery. How far will this effort to eliminate the stone evidence of past thinking?

What about military bases? Should the names of bases be changed? For example, what about Fort Hood. Or Fort Bragg. Or Barksdale Air Force Base? Well, this is a chore that is beyond the power of city councils in university towns. I believe this will require Congressional action, and there is a true oxymoron if ever there was.

Cable news venues seem to be leading the way on this stone-destroying effort. They are very powerful, but I think they will have a problem bringing about a name change. How far are they willing to go in the effort?

There is a third aspect that might come up for consideration. There are a great many Americans buried with honor in the Arlington National Cemetery. There are men buried there who were born and brought up in the South. There is every possibility that they supported segregationist policies up to the day they were killed fighting for the United States. Should their remains be removed from this national cemetery? Are we dealing here with a “historical imperative?”

I understand the political necessity for the cable news venues to push these ideas. The venues are the backbone of the “Progressive” movement. The Progressives, at best, are what Ibsen termed a “compact liberal majority.” By themselves, they do not do very well in elections. They are mostly white and very upscale. They must have the support of people of color to be successful. They offer people of color no real solutions. They control Chicago, and yet that is a place where children of color are shot down in the streets. Except for rhetoric, I can see little difference between the white, upscale Progressives and the usual hide-bound Republican still dedicated to bringing an end to President Roosevelt’s New Deal. Perhaps Roosevelt’s New Deal should be destroyed. It would never have come into being without the support of avowed Segregationist Southern senators.

Perhaps the white, upscale Progressives and the Country Club Republicans have more in common than both suspect. Maybe they can come together to form a more perfect Washington establishment.