Brian M Downing and the world at war. Timely, thoughtful, and nonpartisan analysis of military matters. @BrianMDowning1.
Brian M Downing It’s been said countless times that British PM Neville Chamberlain appeased Hitler at the 1938 Munich conference. Hoping to stop war, he let the Reich seize parts of Czechoslovakia. The decision, it’s said, emboldened Hitler. He went on in the next three years to invade all Czechoslovakia, Read More …
Brian M Downing One of government’s most important and sacred duties is protecting the nation from foreign threats. That’s accomplished by a strong military, domestic unity, and reliable allies. The Trump administration strode back into Washington determined to cut government and lower taxes. Tremendous economic growth, we’re told, will ensue Read More …
Brian M Downing January has been the month of pardons. Joe Biden ended his term with a slew of pardons and Donald Trump began his rule with a volley of his own. My source inside the White House says that the president may pardon John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Read More …
Brian M Downing The assassination of business leader Brian Thompson was shocking. More shocking is the approval heaped on his suspected murderer – Luigi Mangione. The US has had spates of terrorism led by small groups: the KKK after the Civil War, the anarchists a century ago, and the Weathermen Read More …
Brian M Dowing Today’s populism isn’t a cult. It’s a broad-based movement that’s grown in numbers and vitality over the last fifty years. Pollsters and social scientists for the most part missed it, though anyone who saw Arbitron and Nielsen’s radio ratings knew something was up. Politicians and academics and Read More …
Brian M Downing Rural-dwellers, opponents of big government, traditional nationalists, working people, and the religious right constitute the popular base. They have emotional attachment to America. When asked if they love their country they unhesitatingly affirm it. Other Americans respond, “Well, yes…but.” The base sees the rest of the country Read More …
Brian M Downing Religion was once central to family, community, and nation. The three formed a coherent whole. The new land created a covenant for a free, devout people. Religion and patriotism were, as Robert Bellah put it, fused into a civil religion. Both religion and patriotism have declined significantly Read More …
Brian M Downing Many in the movement see themselves as true patriots – descendants of homesteaders and workers and soldiers. Their love of America is deep and gut-level. They see others speak the appropriate words and stand for the Anthem but judge their affection as shallow and less forceful. They’re Read More …
Brian M Downing Americans see themselves as independent, self-reliant, and opposed to intrusive forces. That was essential to the merchants, craftsmen, planters, and farmers who opposed British taxation and Church of England expansion. “Don’t tread on me” was embroidered into flags and myths. The principle surfaced during the Whiskey Rebellion, the Read More …
Brian M Downing Studying the quarrels of an ancient day [we] can at least seek to understand both parties to the struggle and want to understand them better than they understood themselves; watching them entangled in the net of time and circumstance [we] can take pity on them – these Read More …