US 4th of July; a time of reflection

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

This year, America reaches its 4th of July day in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic.  The 4th is America's big day, the date of its official Declaration of Independence, where the revolutionaries (revolting against the British crown) signed a Paper that set forth the concept of "inalienable rights" including the right of the people to throw off the yoke of tyranny, the British Rule.  As one signer remarked to another: "We better win, or we shall all assuredly hang for this!"  

You can argue that those men were ideologues; you could argue that they were completely nuts to think they could pull it off; who was this rag-tag peasant army of farmers to think they could defeat the immense power of the mighty British Empire army?  You can say what you want, but raw courage is a quality that, given the enormous privations of the Winter at Valley Forge, cannot be denied.  

George Washington, both the national leader and the army's general, understood that he had no chance in a direct slug-match against the formed-up battle squares of the British Army.  So he adopted the tactic of the "rebels" at Concord, New Hampshire:  have a skirmish, melt into the woods, and then pick off the Brit soldiers one by one by sniping at their column from the woods - classic guerrilla warfare.  The British also purchased soldiers from the German State of Hesse  (the soldiers, all mercenaries, were the "Hessians") to flesh out the occupation army, and Washington brilliantly hit them in a classic guerrilla raid on Christmas Eve by crossing over the ice-clogged Delaware River and surprising them near daybreak, when the Hessians were hung over from drinking, routing and trashing their battalion in a grand triumph. 

Washington understood that, in order to prevail at the end, he did not need to actually "win" on the battlefield; all he had to do was "not lose."  

Now, in the current malaise in America (indeed, the world), we have the spectacle of a re-run of 1777.  Just as in those days, where the New World was divided into ideological camps of "revolutionaries" and "Loyalists,"  including the French Loyalists to France, today the land of America is bitterly divided into ideological camps, pitting neighbor against neighbor.  Mr. Trump understood the lessons of 1777 well; all he had to do was "not lose."  And in the end, he did not lose.   What about the Clintonistas?   Did the lessons of 1777 sink in?  Nope; deluded by visions of their own grandeur and inevitable historical destiny, they proceeded - to lose.  The election was their final Yorktown.  

In the detritus of the American Revolution, the world map was shaken.  The European Powers managed to hang on to bits and pieces of their previous conquests:  the French, formerly masters of the massive territory of Louisiana, which stretched all the way to include Montana, gave it up with the Louisiana Purchase.  They still hang on to some small islands, including St. Pierre and Miquelon off the coast of Canada, and Martinique, Guadeloupe, and half of St. Martin in the Caribbean. The British retreated to Bermuda, the Bahamas, and more islands including the British Virgin islands, Montserrat, Barbados, Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Kitts ...  And the Dutch, kicked out of New Amsterdam, now New York, and out of Connecticut to the North and Maryland to the South, still have Aruba, Curacao, half of Sint Maarten, and Bonaire vaguely under their wing.  Nobody much bothers with any of it.  Flashpoints?  Not really.

But the Canadians have not learned the lessons of North American history, and surprisingly do not grasp the mentality of their powerful but mostly somnolent neighbor to the South.  Right now the Canadians are picking a fight with the Americans over a border area off the coast of Maine, at a flyspeck of rock known as Machias Seal Island.  In an effort to assert sovereignty, the Canadians invaded the place, built a lighthouse, put up a big flagpole, and fly the Maple Leaf.  Once a year or so, the Americans show up, invade the place, take down the Maple Leaf, and run up the Stars and Stripes.  the land title by deed actually belongs to an American, some crusty old guy from Maine  (no surprise there).   Why the big fight over some worthless rock?  Because in the last 20 years, the water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine have shifted Northwards, and what was once  un-fished water has become a bonanza of lobster, with some 130 million pounds taken yearly.  That has a billion-dollar value, and is avidly sought by lobstermen from both countries - neighbor, to be sure, but now too many men seeking too few lobster, in a tightly confined water space known as the "gray zone."  Now enemies, they go raid each others' traps and cut the lines, and armed Canadian fisheries officers are arresting the Americans and confiscating their catch. 

All the somnolent Trump Administration has to do is sign an exclusion Order against construction lumber from New Brunswick - a rich export that alone floats the New Brunswick economy.  With a stroke of a pen, the Americans can collapse the entire Province.  Would that prospect dampen the enthusiasm to pick a fight over some lobster?  Apparently not.  Or, the Americans can re-impose the Steel Tariffs, at 25%, knocking out the entire town of Hamilton, Ontario, and most of Sault Ste.-Marie, where some 97% of the product of the mills flows to American buyers.  Does that slow the lobstermen down?  Nope.  the point is that the Americans do not have to send gunboats to enforce ancient fishing rights off some piece of uninhabited rock off the Coast of Maine, which the Canadians are treating as some later-day Quemoy or Matsu;  all they have to do is deny access to American markets, a lesson that the Chinese are now learning, to their pain.  

And therein lies the real lesson of 1776-1779:  you don't have to "win" anything; all you have to do is "not lose."    

[Gerry Maddoux + 3,627]

1 hour ago, Jan van Eck said:

And therein lies the real lesson of 1776-1779:  you don't have to "win" anything; all you have to do is "not lose."   

A splendid discourse.

Thank you!

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

7 hours ago, Jan van Eck said:

This year, America reaches its 4th of July day in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic.  The 4th is America's big day, the date of its official Declaration of Independence, where the revolutionaries (revolting against the British crown) signed a Paper that set forth the concept of "inalienable rights" including the right of the people to throw off the yoke of tyranny, the British Rule.  As one signer remarked to another: "We better win, or we shall all assuredly hang for this!"  

You can argue that those men were ideologues; you could argue that they were completely nuts to think they could pull it off; who was this rag-tag peasant army of farmers to think they could defeat the immense power of the mighty British Empire army?  You can say what you want, but raw courage is a quality that, given the enormous privations of the Winter at Valley Forge, cannot be denied.  

George Washington, both the national leader and the army's general, understood that he had no chance in a direct slug-match against the formed-up battle squares of the British Army.  So he adopted the tactic of the "rebels" at Concord, New Hampshire:  have a skirmish, melt into the woods, and then pick off the Brit soldiers one by one by sniping at their column from the woods - classic guerrilla warfare.  The British also purchased soldiers from the German State of Hesse  (the soldiers, all mercenaries, were the "Hessians") to flesh out the occupation army, and Washington brilliantly hit them in a classic guerrilla raid on Christmas Eve by crossing over the ice-clogged Delaware River and surprising them near daybreak, when the Hessians were hung over from drinking, routing and trashing their battalion in a grand triumph. 

Washington understood that, in order to prevail at the end, he did not need to actually "win" on the battlefield; all he had to do was "not lose."  

Now, in the current malaise in America (indeed, the world), we have the spectacle of a re-run of 1777.  Just as in those days, where the New World was divided into ideological camps of "revolutionaries" and "Loyalists,"  including the French Loyalists to France, today the land of America is bitterly divided into ideological camps, pitting neighbor against neighbor.  Mr. Trump understood the lessons of 1777 well; all he had to do was "not lose."  And in the end, he did not lose.   What about the Clintonistas?   Did the lessons of 1777 sink in?  Nope; deluded by visions of their own grandeur and inevitable historical destiny, they proceeded - to lose.  The election was their final Yorktown.  

In the detritus of the American Revolution, the world map was shaken.  The European Powers managed to hang on to bits and pieces of their previous conquests:  the French, formerly masters of the massive territory of Louisiana, which stretched all the way to include Montana, gave it up with the Louisiana Purchase.  They still hang on to some small islands, including St. Pierre and Miquelon off the coast of Canada, and Martinique, Guadeloupe, and half of St. Martin in the Caribbean. The British retreated to Bermuda, the Bahamas, and more islands including the British Virgin islands, Montserrat, Barbados, Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Kitts ...  And the Dutch, kicked out of New Amsterdam, now New York, and out of Connecticut to the North and Maryland to the South, still have Aruba, Curacao, half of Sint Maarten, and Bonaire vaguely under their wing.  Nobody much bothers with any of it.  Flashpoints?  Not really.

But the Canadians have not learned the lessons of North American history, and surprisingly do not grasp the mentality of their powerful but mostly somnolent neighbor to the South.  Right now the Canadians are picking a fight with the Americans over a border area off the coast of Maine, at a flyspeck of rock known as Machias Seal Island.  In an effort to assert sovereignty, the Canadians invaded the place, built a lighthouse, put up a big flagpole, and fly the Maple Leaf.  Once a year or so, the Americans show up, invade the place, take down the Maple Leaf, and run up the Stars and Stripes.  the land title by deed actually belongs to an American, some crusty old guy from Maine  (no surprise there).   Why the big fight over some worthless rock?  Because in the last 20 years, the water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine have shifted Northwards, and what was once  un-fished water has become a bonanza of lobster, with some 130 million pounds taken yearly.  That has a billion-dollar value, and is avidly sought by lobstermen from both countries - neighbor, to be sure, but now too many men seeking too few lobster, in a tightly confined water space known as the "gray zone."  Now enemies, they go raid each others' traps and cut the lines, and armed Canadian fisheries officers are arresting the Americans and confiscating their catch. 

All the somnolent Trump Administration has to do is sign an exclusion Order against construction lumber from New Brunswick - a rich export that alone floats the New Brunswick economy.  With a stroke of a pen, the Americans can collapse the entire Province.  Would that prospect dampen the enthusiasm to pick a fight over some lobster?  Apparently not.  Or, the Americans can re-impose the Steel Tariffs, at 25%, knocking out the entire town of Hamilton, Ontario, and most of Sault Ste.-Marie, where some 97% of the product of the mills flows to American buyers.  Does that slow the lobstermen down?  Nope.  the point is that the Americans do not have to send gunboats to enforce ancient fishing rights off some piece of uninhabited rock off the Coast of Maine, which the Canadians are treating as some later-day Quemoy or Matsu;  all they have to do is deny access to American markets, a lesson that the Chinese are now learning, to their pain.  

And therein lies the real lesson of 1776-1779:  you don't have to "win" anything; all you have to do is "not lose."    

Europe was pretty busy with more important issues around that time, the American revolution was not the main driver of the world shakeup. 

 

As for NB and lumber, it is a small fraction of their economy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Brunswick#Economy

 

Not buying that steel from Canada will help the US how?  Generally you turn steel into higher value products...  Maybe buy it from China instead? Haha.

 

Meanwhile trade imbalances get even worse.  Thanks trump?  Can't blame COVID as every nation has it.

"The Commerce Department said on Thursday the trade deficit increased 9.7% to $54.6 billion."

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-tradefigures/u-s-trade-deficit-widens-as-exports-fall-to-lowest-level-since-2009-idUSKBN2431XM

 

 

Edited July 4, 2020 by Enthalpic

[Eyes Wide Open + 3,537]

On 7/4/2020 at 7:59 AM, Jan van Eck said:

This year, America reaches its 4th of July day in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic.  The 4th is America's big day, the date of its official Declaration of Independence, where the revolutionaries (revolting against the British crown) signed a Paper that set forth the concept of "inalienable rights" including the right of the people to throw off the yoke of tyranny, the British Rule.  As one signer remarked to another: "We better win, or we shall all assuredly hang for this!"  

You can argue that those men were ideologues; you could argue that they were completely nuts to think they could pull it off; who was this rag-tag peasant army of farmers to think they could defeat the immense power of the mighty British Empire army?  You can say what you want, but raw courage is a quality that, given the enormous privations of the Winter at Valley Forge, cannot be denied.  

George Washington, both the national leader and the army's general, understood that he had no chance in a direct slug-match against the formed-up battle squares of the British Army.  So he adopted the tactic of the "rebels" at Concord, New Hampshire:  have a skirmish, melt into the woods, and then pick off the Brit soldiers one by one by sniping at their column from the woods - classic guerrilla warfare.  The British also purchased soldiers from the German State of Hesse  (the soldiers, all mercenaries, were the "Hessians") to flesh out the occupation army, and Washington brilliantly hit them in a classic guerrilla raid on Christmas Eve by crossing over the ice-clogged Delaware River and surprising them near daybreak, when the Hessians were hung over from drinking, routing and trashing their battalion in a grand triumph. 

Washington understood that, in order to prevail at the end, he did not need to actually "win" on the battlefield; all he had to do was "not lose."  

Now, in the current malaise in America (indeed, the world), we have the spectacle of a re-run of 1777.  Just as in those days, where the New World was divided into ideological camps of "revolutionaries" and "Loyalists,"  including the French Loyalists to France, today the land of America is bitterly divided into ideological camps, pitting neighbor against neighbor.  Mr. Trump understood the lessons of 1777 well; all he had to do was "not lose."  And in the end, he did not lose.   What about the Clintonistas?   Did the lessons of 1777 sink in?  Nope; deluded by visions of their own grandeur and inevitable historical destiny, they proceeded - to lose.  The election was their final Yorktown.  

In the detritus of the American Revolution, the world map was shaken.  The European Powers managed to hang on to bits and pieces of their previous conquests:  the French, formerly masters of the massive territory of Louisiana, which stretched all the way to include Montana, gave it up with the Louisiana Purchase.  They still hang on to some small islands, including St. Pierre and Miquelon off the coast of Canada, and Martinique, Guadeloupe, and half of St. Martin in the Caribbean. The British retreated to Bermuda, the Bahamas, and more islands including the British Virgin islands, Montserrat, Barbados, Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Kitts ...  And the Dutch, kicked out of New Amsterdam, now New York, and out of Connecticut to the North and Maryland to the South, still have Aruba, Curacao, half of Sint Maarten, and Bonaire vaguely under their wing.  Nobody much bothers with any of it.  Flashpoints?  Not really.

But the Canadians have not learned the lessons of North American history, and surprisingly do not grasp the mentality of their powerful but mostly somnolent neighbor to the South.  Right now the Canadians are picking a fight with the Americans over a border area off the coast of Maine, at a flyspeck of rock known as Machias Seal Island.  In an effort to assert sovereignty, the Canadians invaded the place, built a lighthouse, put up a big flagpole, and fly the Maple Leaf.  Once a year or so, the Americans show up, invade the place, take down the Maple Leaf, and run up the Stars and Stripes.  the land title by deed actually belongs to an American, some crusty old guy from Maine  (no surprise there).   Why the big fight over some worthless rock?  Because in the last 20 years, the water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine have shifted Northwards, and what was once  un-fished water has become a bonanza of lobster, with some 130 million pounds taken yearly.  That has a billion-dollar value, and is avidly sought by lobstermen from both countries - neighbor, to be sure, but now too many men seeking too few lobster, in a tightly confined water space known as the "gray zone."  Now enemies, they go raid each others' traps and cut the lines, and armed Canadian fisheries officers are arresting the Americans and confiscating their catch. 

All the somnolent Trump Administration has to do is sign an exclusion Order against construction lumber from New Brunswick - a rich export that alone floats the New Brunswick economy.  With a stroke of a pen, the Americans can collapse the entire Province.  Would that prospect dampen the enthusiasm to pick a fight over some lobster?  Apparently not.  Or, the Americans can re-impose the Steel Tariffs, at 25%, knocking out the entire town of Hamilton, Ontario, and most of Sault Ste.-Marie, where some 97% of the product of the mills flows to American buyers.  Does that slow the lobstermen down?  Nope.  the point is that the Americans do not have to send gunboats to enforce ancient fishing rights off some piece of uninhabited rock off the Coast of Maine, which the Canadians are treating as some later-day Quemoy or Matsu;  all they have to do is deny access to American markets, a lesson that the Chinese are now learning, to their pain.  

And therein lies the real lesson of 1776-1779:  you don't have to "win" anything; all you have to do is "not lose."    

Jan van Eck  i wish to thank you deeply, One could into a deep extrapolation of the reasoning which is useless minutia. This goes to a post i once was involved in and stating a Malaise....s poor choice of words. 

I can now say this country is in a deep state of shock...it has lost its trust in the intellectual community. Perhaps the first time in American history American citizens must think for themselves..and that i give you is a egregious task..perhaps repulsive.

Regan: Are you not better today than you were four yrs ago.

Covid destroyed that dream....who enabled Covid?....That is the question..Occam's Razor the origin of covid!