FW: July 4

The great lesson to be learned from July 4 is the stupidity of talk about the end of history. The British monarchy could not see the way the world was going. King George was a popular and decent man. Known as farmer George, he was temperamentally more democratic than George Washington, who demanded more respect. Until the end of his life, he could not understand why the Americans had revolted. "The world turned upside down", as the British band played at Yorktown. The Whigs saw more clearly into the future, since the American revolution was a continuation of the English Revolution. By and large, they supported the American Revolution. Today it is our turn to look into the future lest we too see the world turned upside down. The key issue is the distribution of money and its influence on politics. In the Middle Ages "valor" allowed a knight to seize land and in many cases to become king. His descendents lacked the quality of valor, indeed many had few and proved failures as rulers. We have the same problem in our society, the difference being that business acumen has replaced valor, and money has replaced land. The heirs inherit the money but often lack the qualities of those who amassed it. Where will this lead? In both the feudal and the capitalist system, marriage has been a way of acquiring money one has not earned. This brings us to a case about which I seek information. It concerns the wife of John Kerry, who was born in Mozambique, presumably of Portuguese parents. What did they do? Where did Senator Heinz meet her? Much was made this week of the fact that the fortune he left her has swollen to $1 billion, which will be a Herculean club in the hands of Senator Kerry. If he wins the presidency, shall we conclude that it was simply a case of "Let the best man win"?