Joseph Britt, Arthur Stock, and Will Vehrs
Joe and Will,
You do not want me in your platoons when we return to "The Fray." We've all made enemies, but frankly mine are scarier. Will's black-beret-wearing, flame-thrower-wielding crew faces attack from Social Security recipients. Joe's snow shovelers will fend off government bureaucrats. Me and Li'l Sis are fighting lawyers packing heat. It will be a fair fight. Against those claiming a right to bear arms, we will deploy Elisha, righteously armed with bears.
(Seriously, thanks to Thomas, Will Allen, and others for thoughtful debate on Second Amendment issues. I stand by my analysis, but I will be reading your recommendations. Short answers are in The Fray.)
Late in the week, there is still time to make more enemies. The catalyst today is a fascinating story on NPR. A New Hampshire state senator is seeking to place a plaque in the statehouse honoring 12 Granite Staters who fought in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War in 1936. All 12 of the soldiers are dead now, and some may have died in battle for their cause. The Abraham Lincoln Brigade unsuccessfully fought Franco's fascist uprising. NPR said that "veterans groups" (VFW? American Legion? Not clear.) oppose the monument, claiming that these soldiers fought against the interests of the United Sates and do not deserve honor in the same building as the veterans of American wars. The plaque itself, which features a raised fist modeled after a 1930s Soviet statuary, seems unnecessarily provocative.
It's an interesting case because the Lincolnistas were fighting both AGAINST fascism and FOR communism. Against Hitler's allies, for Stalin's allies. The United States stayed out of the Civil War, but we did ally with Stalin a few years later. Many Abraham Lincoln volunteers joined the United States Army to fight fascists again in World War II, where their battlefield experience and their knowledge of Spanish, and in a few cases Russian, was invaluable to our inexperienced forces. Some other Lincolnistas remained in the Communist Party through the '40s and '50s, associating themselves with a revolution at home that never got off the ground.
I vote for the monument. I was reminded of the monuments all over the American South to other young men who fought and died for what they believed in and are remembered for bravery and loyalty to that other Lost Cause. They were fighting against the United States, for the right to secede from the nation and also for the right of their state governments to permit slave ownership to continue in the United States. Their values are far more alien to our own than those of depression era communists. If the confederate soldiers are permitted their monuments, the Lincolnistas should be as well.
Until the end of the day,
Arthur
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Reader Comments From The Fray:
[Notes from the Fray Editor: Hey, guys, wotcha doing up there? Is the air different? We're glad to see you haven't forsaken the Fray. The board is jumping: we are having to send out to the icon sweatshop for more stars, checkmarks and Slate signs, as we are using them up so fast. (For an explanation of the symbols, please click here.) And WillV, we have been known to describe the Fray as a dress-down-Friday kind of board, but now we find you don't wear make-up to post here…there's such a thing as too much informality.
Bluto says it's the end of the Fray as we know it: because all the posters will be writing solely to get checks and stars. That'll be the day Bluto. Helen Weber asks whether there are any women star posters. The answer is no, not right now. There are very few star posters (and if you have read the various explanations you know that the star is for the poster, not for individual posts: it recommends someone who has made good posts in the past), and as it happens no woman has been chosen so far. We hope to change that soon.]
Strut that stuff but watch out…
When History Guy announced in this Fray that he was going to propose to Slate a "Breakfast Table" made up of posters on the grounds that most of the BT chatter sent everyone back to bed, I chimed in that it was a terrific idea, since the Fray usually has the most interesting material on Slate. I didn't really think Slate would buy it, but it has and the editors deserve a modest round of applause.
Congratulations, Will, Joe, Arthur. But beware: now that you've been plucked from among the unwashed masses to become card-carrying members of the media elite, agents of the left-wing media conspiracy, lackeys of the right-wing globalist-corporatist masters of the media, uncounted numbers of ordinary folks who have their piece to say already are drawing a bead on you. By week's end, you may feel like an Afghan statue after the Taliban artillery have passed by.
--Publius
(To reply, click here .)
[Tuesday notes from the Fray Editor: History Guy's sister, we salute you. The Mendelsohns of blessed memory would be proud of you. Jennifer Mendelsohn , as WillV says, came into the Fray and said this "Can I viciously flame one of you for no reason? Anyone wanna get married?" Amber is proposing some more unholy alliance with Zeitguy. She also called for more viciousness in the Fray here (ever agreeable, Fray posters called each other names). She is obviously a trouble-causer, argumentative and high maintenance. Just the kind of poster we like, in fact, welcome Amber!
This "Breakfast Table" certainly worked the magic in The Fray. The enigmatic Dola, a sadly-missed poster, re-appeared. There was endless discussion of women posters, for example here: a subject we have never seen mentioned before but which is now a hot topic. There were absolutely stellar discussions, for example on military training and campaign finance, here, and on estate tax, here. The "Breakfast Table" participants did not disdain their spiritual home: they are to be congratulated for answering critics and friends and encouraging discussions in the most good-humored way.
We're just mentioning this: there is a very very bad taste set of jokes about military training accidents here: don't read if you are easily shocked or a Yankees fan.]
Full disclosure here: Arthur Stock is my brother. And though I would be stretching the point to say, as does the junior Senator from New York, that my brother "saddens me," I must say about this stance on the inheritance tax: enough! I am certainly as knee-jerk a liberal as anyone else in my family (who can forget mom's explanation in the voting both: "you can vote for whomever you like, but if you pull the Republican lever your arm will fall off?"), but must you be quite so adamant? Did our loving parents sweat and toil their 3-day-a-week jobs as professors so their hard-earned money could buy oversized berets for an armed service with astonishingly poor aim? I think not. I offer constructive advice: if you find the law unjust, just hand over your share of the inheritance to me. I'll take care of it. You're welcome to pay my taxes on it. As the junior Senator of New York would surely deny saying: That's what family is for!"
--Lil sis
(To reply, click here .)
[Final notes from the Fray Editor: Arthur Stock really got quite enough exposure this week, but we can't resist his leftovers post, here (and after all, he is a friend of both Marty Peretz and Scott Shuger, apparently). The idea of the peasants with pitchforks representing the Fray will amuse us in some long working day ahead.
This has been a great "Breakfast Table" and a fabulous Fray, interaction at its finest, and more stars, checks and icons than you could shake a stick at. Well done all round: for this week you all deserved gold stars. (You're not getting them, but that's another matter. Oh, except for WillV…)]
A wonderful conversation, easily the equal to anything we've seen from the "pros".
One thing that is particularly heartening to me is that although these three fellows claim to have different political affiliations and tendencies; their thoughts, suggestions, and exchanges abound with common sense and good-faith. Given the posturing that is common among professional pundits, and given the histrionics of the average webboard poster, this week's "Breakfast Table" is far and away better than anything I might have expected. This reflects well on the participants, of course, but it also says something complimentary about Slate's editorial staff.
Good job
--Keith M. Ellis
(To reply, click here.)