Musings upon April 19th
Apr. 19th, 2007 06:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edschweppeFor the last couple of years, I've made it a point to commemorate the true Patriots Day - April 19 - with a brief LJ rumination. (The opening lines of Longfellow's famous poem, Paul Revere's Ride, fool many people into thinking the battle was the 18th.) Most of this year's celebrations were rained out by this week's ferocious storm, although some of the hardier Minuteman reenactor companies did hold local ceremonies.
History has shown that it is possible to force a form of government upon a nation against the peoples' will - the Soviets did a rather effective job of it for several decades in Eastern Europe - but it takes a lot of military force and a willingness to use said force ruthlessly. George III of England never was willing to mobilize the whole of England to retain the American colonies - realistically, I'm not sure he could have even if he'd really wanted to, as many of the Whigs in England supported the ideals that the colonists were fighting for.
An intelligent modern political leader could stand to learn a thing or two from the mistakes George III made ...
History has shown that it is possible to force a form of government upon a nation against the peoples' will - the Soviets did a rather effective job of it for several decades in Eastern Europe - but it takes a lot of military force and a willingness to use said force ruthlessly. George III of England never was willing to mobilize the whole of England to retain the American colonies - realistically, I'm not sure he could have even if he'd really wanted to, as many of the Whigs in England supported the ideals that the colonists were fighting for.
An intelligent modern political leader could stand to learn a thing or two from the mistakes George III made ...