Web Letters: Apocalypse Now?

I have reason to doubt that American democracy will end with the Bush Cabinet, after America has been so resilient in other bad Administrations such as Herbert Hoover neglecting the poor during the depression and Nixon involved with the Watergate scandal, as well as more soldiers perishing in Vietnam. America does overcome such adverse times, and with the 2008 election coming up next year, what goes on in this current Administration will fuel change for better leadership, especially when most of America wants a more open-minded democratic leader such as Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton etc.... As for any apocalypse, such as the anticipated second coming of Christ, the Christian theologians who anticipated this before always turned out wrong, so there is no chance that they can be right about Jesus coming back again. Thus, what the early rabbis predicted about the Western world was much more accurate, such as the advances in technology and surveillence. Furthermore, these rabbis anticipated that the world would be bettered, as opposed to engulfed by a Rapture. We may be in some final battles, but universal peace and knowledge will come upon good leadership and the real Messiah.

Nicholas Rosen

Great Falls, VA

I have written an unpublished book entitled Politicometrics, about the cyclical nature of many political and social functions. The vast majority of governing systems last around 270 years plus or minus twenty. This is the underlying legal and social system. For a French example, it is what government came out of the Revolution and Napoleon, not any particular administration or temporary regime like the various French Republics.

We are in the year 219 of the US Constitution, and year 231 counting from 1776.

But I am seriously worried that we might have another civil war beforehand, unless the rabid partisans of all political stripes calm down and show more patience.

John D. Froelich

Upper Darby, PA

I'm not so sure that Johnson's use of history to compare the rise, imperialism and eventual collapse of Rome to events happening in modern America is as fanciful as the writer of this piece seems to think. Bear in mind that human history is a travesty of repeated events; we are, after all, creatures of habit who rarely learn genuine and lasting lessons from the mistakes of history. How, therefore, can we avoid making the same ones over and over again? America's transformation from republic to empire is not so different from Rome's. Neither is the systematic disintegration of vital infrastructure that led to Rome's decline and collapse in the Western half of the empire.

Whatever you wish to call it--blowback, karma, divine retribution--everything we do has consequences, and those consequences are good or bad depending on the actions we take. Sooner or later, usually sooner than we care to think, the consequences of our bad actions come back to bite us in the proverbial rear. Whatever flaws are perceived in Chalmers Johnson's book, we must not allow them to overshadow the fundamentally true message it tries to send us: that the American republic is all but gone forever, and the openly imperial dictatorship is, if not already here, then will be very soon--probably before the end of next year.

Michael Kwiatkowski

Cleveland, OH

I don't have an opinion on Johnson's thesis--except that it is terrifying--because I don't know enough.

But I would ask how the British Empire and Vietnam fit into his theory. Britain did not become a dictatorship nor has it suffered particularly from revenge by its former colonies, many of which it exploited brutally. Vietnam, which of any country in the world might be expected to hate us, seems to have settled into focusing on its own development and gives no sign of fostering anti-American terrorism.

Blowback does not seem to be part of the story in either case. How come? Why not?

David Sucher

Seattle, WA

Stephen Holmes's review of Chalmers Johnson's trilogy about the fall of the United States is very insightful, even terrifyingly so. But he, and perhaps also Johnson, may be missing one important consideration. The American imperial mission-- its origins, its course, its current difficulties, and its propspects--stem from the belief that America is somehow different, somehow the result of divine providence. The fact is rather different. When asked what he and his colleagues had accomplished Ben Franklin replied, "a Republic if you can keep it." Our founders had no belief really that God somehow intervened to create a unique American adventure. It was created by ordinary men and it will be brought low by the same kind of men (and women). The belief or faith that America will somehow survive where other imperial states have all fallen is a dangerous delusion.

Norman Ravitch

Savannah, GA

I think it is in the blood of the US people to take revenge of insult to imaginary enemy who may or may not have committed the offense. Iraq is a good example; Saddam was not responsible for the 9/11 attack, but Bush intentionally blamed him and killed him unreasonably. Same trick the US played on Japan. Japan wanted to surrender, but the US purposefully killed millions of innocent Japanese with the atom bomb. U.S. citizens also never tolerate a tiny insult.

Ramesh Raghuvanshi
www.mysticworship.com

Maharastra, India

Having read Nemesis, I find Mr. Holmes's critique of Johnson's "implausible claims," "inherent slipperiness" and "sheer miscellaneous variety of Johnson's examples" to be both naïve and vacuous.

There is no quid pro quo for blowback. Retaliation for wrongs appear in many forms and on different time scales. Mr. Homes makes the same mistake most Americans make. Societies in other nations have a historical memory that far exceeds our own in America. Most Americans think we get a clean slate for each new President. If and when we withdraw from Okinawa I would invite Mr. Holmes to try and visit there.

"His tendency to discover the inevitable unfolding of higher justice in every unintended consequence of immoral behavior can only be ascribed to wishful thinking." Well, this is just the author's ignorance of history. Iranians still sing the songs of hatred for..."Alexander the Great."

All we need to do is look at America's favorability ratings around the world. The Internet and satellite TV are "uncloaking" America's rapacious militarism and corporate greed both past and present. Johnson doesn't say each crime will be punished. Indeed, the history of the Middle East has its common roots in the aftermath of WWl and the indignities the region has suffered at the hands of America and Europe.

At home we see increased warrantless domestic surveillance, hundreds of signing statements negating Congressional will, a Main Stream Media more intent on conglomeration (subject to approval of the powers that be) than journalism, militarism that extends well into the Democratic Party and a populace ready to anoint someone upon the next major calamity, be it a dollar run, a stock market collapse or skyrocketing fuel prices.

Studies show 25 percent of the American population would "brownshirt" overnight. The blatant authoritarian ideology of the Republicans and the waivering and conciliation of the Democrats is the precursor to a new Mussolini.

Michael McKinlay

Hercules , CA