George Rebane

In the pre-dawn hours of 4 May 1949 the WW2 troopship USS General Harry Taylor (pictured) slowly made its way past the Statue of Liberty, headed for its assigned berth in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  Aboard, packed into bunks seven deep for the voyage, were over 3,000 European refugees who had spent the last five years in various displaced persons camps spread across then West Germany.  This morning the bunks were empty, everyone was topside crowding its port rails and cargo deck to catch a glimpse of Lady Liberty as we sailed past – the ship had a noticeable portside list.  Among them was a 9-year-old boy looking over the top rail of a very packed deck of people all excitedly chattering in every imaginable east European language and dialect.

I was the 9-year-old pressed against the rail with my father.  We had arrived in an unknown promised land, with little more than we could carry, and not knowing a word of English.  But America’s reputation was known to all as the land of freedom and unlimited (yes, unlimited) possibilities.  We would all become Americans. (more here)

Today, on the 250^th birthday of America, I think back on the wild and wonderful ride that the last 77 years have been.  As a landed refugee and immigrant, from an obscure northeastern country of Europe, whose parents were born under the regime of Czar Nicholas II, I count myself among the poster-children of what America is all about.  Mom, dad, and I arrived here with nothing but our European culture, and in less than a decade we were naturalized citizens, totally assimilated, acculturated, and visibly proud members of America’s prosperous middle class.

I went on to get one the best educations the land could offer, serve in America’s military, work for some of the country’s top corporations, teach what I have learned, co-found businesses that fulfilled the American dream, and am now able to share its rewards with my family and community.  And all this made possible in one generation from stepping off the boat into the most magnificently free and bountiful nation that humanity has yet to produce.  E pluribus unum indeed!

But during our celebrations we must not ignore the darkening clouds on the horizon.  In the lifespan of nation-states we are now on the threshold of what historians view as the downturn in the ‘Fate of Empires’ (cf. A.F. Tyler and Sir John Glubb).  The cycles of democracy follow a predictable series of phases –

• The Age of Pioneers (Outburst): A small, tough, and highly aggressive group overthrows an older, decaying power. They are marked by high energy, courage, and a lack of refinement.
• The Age of Conquests: The new nation expands its borders rapidly. Military prowess is highly valued, and the society is unified by a sense of duty and shared purpose.
• The Age of Commerce: With secure borders, the nation turns its immense energy toward trade, infrastructure, and wealth creation. The merchant replaces the soldier as the society’s primary hero.
• The Age of Affluence: Wealth reaches unprecedented levels. Money becomes the primary measure of success and the main goal of the populace. The wealthy class increasingly uses its money to buy political influence.
• The Age of Intellect: The vast wealth of the nation allows its citizens to shift their focus from practical pursuits to intellectualism, philosophy, and the arts. While science and education flourish, endless debate often replaces decisive action.
• The Age of Decadence and Decline: The nation rots from the inside out. This final stage is characterized by intense political polarization, a sprawling welfare state, the decline of religion or shared moral frameworks, frivolity (where celebrities and athletes are idolized over leaders or thinkers), and a pervasive sense of pessimism. The empire eventually collapses under its own weight or is easily conquered by a younger, more vigorous power.

We are somewhere near the end of the Age of Intellect, toying with a discredited ideology and a new order that has historically delivered nothing but decadence, decay, and decline.  We have implemented a prescription for the conquest of communism attributed to Lenin wherein he declared, ‘Give me just one generation of youth, and I’ll transform the whole world.’  Today in America we have delivered him more than one generation.

The Democratic Socialists of America are sweeping the Democratic Party while its flaccid leadership vacillates between silence and throwing in with their now radical leftwing.  In the meanwhile the fatuous Republicans are prematurely congratulating themselves on an anticipated victory from an ignored electorate, for surely the country will never go socialist cum communist.  The polling of the millions of mis-educated young tell a less hopeful and foreboding story.

As history records, great powers consistently last for about 250 years (or roughly ten generations) and pass through a remarkably similar sequence of eras as outlined above.  We best not let today’s celebrations and fireworks divert us from what looms ever closer as November approaches.  Let all who understand this work to prevent the advancing scourge, and continue building toward even better years ahead.