JACK'S BLOG
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OpinionAMERICAN STEEL FOUNDRIES left these shores long ago, the victim of foreign competition. American auto manufacturers are beginning to leave with government help. (See last Sunday's opinion piece.) American publishers are folding like cheap tabloids. Newspapers are closing. Magazines are disappearing from racks in stores. Which of your favorites is gone? Mine just left: American Heritage. This publication has had a strange effect on people. Even the most contentious advocates seemed to find their reasonable voices in its pages, even when discussing even the most contentious issues of the day. I remember one occasion about twenty years following the fall of Saigon, when the editors polled politicians, religious, community and military leaders, anti-war advocates and scholars on the question: “What should we teach our children about the Vietnam War?” They all responded with similar answers, well-reasoned and devoid of recriminations. It seems that a few decades of reflection had cooled some tempers, and it took American Heritage to uncover that fact.
American Heritage died once before, about five years ago. Fortunately, a loyal group of fans resuscitated it and carried it forward against the currents of change. However, the Winter/Spring 2012 issue contains a notice from the editor announcing their surrender. “After surmounting many challenges, our publishing company must end its run of 61 years. In its place, a new organization – The American Heritage Society – rises to the occasion. As a nonprofit, the Society will be able to secure additional funding from donors, foundations, and government agencies.” – Edward S. Grosvenor, Editor-in-Chief Government? Where will they get the money? How many donors and foundations have the funds to spare in these troubled economic times? I fear that Mr. Grosvenor is far more optimistic than I. Still, hope springs eternal and I can think of no better organization to support. Just, leave the government out of this equation, please. Now I sit scanning what may be the last issue and again its pages reveal another aspect of history that I wish I had known before, one that I wish most of us had known. It's another of those incidents that cycle its way through history to crop up from time to time, one that every school child in America used to know but regrettably has been omitted from modern curriculum. It regards treason. Modern Americans have heard of treason but it has rarely been invoked except in times of great passion as when Jane Fonda wandered into a war zone. Like a wild moose that had wandered onto a freeway, she wasn't breaking any law, but was totally devoid of any sense of the trouble she was causing. Ms Fonda benefited from the fact that America's Founders cautiously limited the definition of treason when they crafted the Constitution. They feared that it would ever be used as European tyrants had to dispatch political enemies by reinventing treason to fit every occasion. As a student of law, I already had a firm grasp of the subject before reading their article, "Treason!" The part I didn't know came in a quote from William Wirt, one of the prosecutor's in the trial of Aaron Burr. Apparently, American school children used to memorize the following passage: “The destroyer comes; he comes to change this paradise into a hell;... he soon finds his way to their hearts... The conquest was not difficult. Innocence is ever simple and credulous... By degrees his infuses into [his followers] the fire of his own courage; a daring and desperate thirst for glory; and ardor panting for great enterprises, for all the storm and bustle and hurricane of life.” I wish I had heard that before. I wish we all had. It sounds familiar, at least to me, because it so well describes our current situation. That's why I study history. That's why we all should. Maybe then we could recognize the serpents in our midst much sooner – those with a desperate thirst for glory; and ardor panting for great enterprises – before they have a chance to change this paradise into hell. If American Heritage truly passes, I will continue studying history. I just will continue my study without a trusted guide and loyal companion of many years.
2 Comments
6/10/2012 12:37:56 am
I always learned something I didn't know when I read the American Heritage. I learn things from other magazines, too, but it's not information I care about. American Heritage grabbed me on almost every page, and the articles almost always had a genuine "wow" factor. I shall miss it and its voice of reason greatly.
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6/10/2012 01:15:25 pm
I felt that way when I.F. Stone retired and ceased producing his newsletter. It was like losing the last honest man alive.
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