Bapton Books Position Paper: The United States Presidential Election

7/31/2019 Bapton Books Position Paper: The United States Presidential Election

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Bapton Books

Position Papers:

About the series:

hese Position Papers, commonly authored by the partners

and publishers of Bapton Books, jointly or severally, are

made available free of charge (in many cases), or at a

nominal charge, to the reading public and all those interested in the

affairs of the day.hey are issued to inform, to !uestion, to educate, to assertpropositions for argument, to challenge, to analyse, and, al"ays, to

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#ach represents the vie"s of the author or authors of each

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Bapton Books

Position Papers:

The United States Presidential

Elections (2012)

$ovember %&'%

eries:

*arkham ha" Pyle"ith +* emyss

This Paper represents the views of Mr. Pyle and Mr. Wemyss, individually.


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-opyright %&'% by Bapton Books iterary rust $o. '


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About the authors:

GMW Wemyss lives and "rites, "isely pseudonymously, in ilts. /aving, by invoking

the protective colouration of t"eeds, cricket, and country matters, someho" evaded

immersion in *ercury "hilst up at niversity, he survived to become the author of The

Confidence of the House: May 1!" and of #ensible $laces: essays on place, time, % countryside.

Markham Shaw Pyle, author of 0&ools, 'runks, and the (nited #tates): *u+ust 1, 1!1,

holds his undergraduate and la" degrees from ashington 1 ee. /e is a past or current

member of, inter alia, the 2rgani3ation of American /istorians4 the ociety for *ilitary

/istory4 the outhern /istorical Association4 the outh"estern ocial cience Association4

the outh"estern /istorical Association4 the outh"estern Political cience Association4

the 5irginia /istorical ociety4 and the e6as tate /istorical Association.

ogether, they are the partners in Bapton Books, and co7authors of -hen That reat #hip

-ent 'own: the le+al and political repercussions of the loss of /M# itanic4 of The Bapton Books

#ampler: a literary chrestomathy0 and of The Transatlantic 'isputations: ssays % 2bservations0

and co7editors and co7annotators of The Complete Mow+li #tories, 'uly *nnotated,and The

*nnotated ind in the illo"s, for *dults and #ensible Children 3or, possibly, Children and

#ensible *dults4.


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The United States Presidential Elections (2012)

Declaring an interest

e begin by 8eclaring an 9nterest. e are authors and

publishers "ho do business in the nited tates as

"ell as in the nited ingdom, the #, and the

"orld at large. *r. Pyle is an American, a ; some "ould say,

0nominal< ; 8emocrat, and "hat is called a 0conservative< above all

party labels (meaning that he is a -lassical iberal of the school of

/ayek and *ises). *r. emyss is e!ually a +ladstonian iberal,

"hich is "hy he is perforce a supporter of the -onservative Party

(8avid -ameron not"ithstanding). Being "iser than the average

uardian hack,' *r. emyss considers it no business of his to tell

Americans ho" to vote, and for "hom, in "hat are, after all, their

' he rauniad, you may recall, in %&&= gathered all its muesli7munching, sandalled

idiots to "rite, unsolicited, to 0s"ing voters< in -lark -ounty, 2hio, imploring them,

and !uite often instructin+ them, to vote against . he results "ere, firstly, some

hilariously unprintable responses even from 8emocrats "ho supported >ohn erry,

and, secondly, an increased margin for +eorge . Bush in his re7election bid.


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o"n country?s elections. his is *r. Pyle?s paper in most regards.

$evertheless, it?s neither unfair nor yet meddlesome to point out a

fe" things about foreign trade and foreign affairs, the pecial

@elationship and $A2, and *r. emyss has been encouraged to

put points to *r. Pyle that have influenced and informed this Paper,

in the conclusions of "hich *r. emyss "holly concurs.


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he issues before the American electorate

Foreign affairs, intelligence, and defense

2bama

@omney

he nited tates ; even "hen not considered in light of its

strategic partnership% "ith the nited ingdom, the

-ommon"ealth (Australia, -anada, and 9ndia especially),

the 0Anglosphere< more generally, and its $A2 allies ; is the

preponderant po"er in the "orld.

hat is more, this is a +ood thing. $o other po"er on the

immediate hori3on, "ere it to attain a similar preponderance, "ould

conduct its affairs so much to the benefit of the peace, security, and

liberali3ation, indeed liberation, of the "orld, as does the nited

tates of America.

% #.g., A, A-A$$, -P, AB-A, P>B (8efence), and the --#B.


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9ts allies tend to punch above their "eight in international affairs

for several reasons: in the case of the nited ingdom, by having a

highly professional 8efence establishment in /* orces, "ith airlift

and po"er7projection capacity of the first rank, underpinned by

superior state7of7the7art intelligence services4 in the case of most

American allies (including the ), in possessing clearly defined

national interests, at least regional po"er to protect those interests,

considerable deterrent capability, sophisticated intelligence and

counter7intelligence capacities, and the *mericans as allies.

Additionally, American po"er as enjoyed, maintained, and

projected, is founded in American values4 in conse!uence, there is a

moral component to American po"er and American interests, and,

America being a democracy founded upon specific ideals of liberty,an internal corrective against the misuse of American po"er.

he primary rivals and indeed enemies of the nited tates are

also the enemies or unfriends of the nited ingdom, the

-ommon"ealth, $A2, and liberal democracy generally. hese

presently consist primarily in non7state actors driven by 9slamism4 C

9ran as the patron of those non7state actors, in pursuit of regional

hegemony under the mask of piety4 small7state and non7state actors

motivated by resentment or rapacity4= organi3ed transnational

C hat is, politici3ed 9slam: not the religion as such, but its bastardi3ation by pols on the

make and "anna7be "arlords.

= $otably in -entral and outh America, and unfortunately also in the 99, "hich state7

"ithin7the7state is increasingly the de facto government of Pakistan4 the Bolivarian

Alliance for the Peoples of 2ur America (ABA) ; and "hat the -ommon"ealth

countries that are in "ith that lot are thinking, +od and the -2 alone kno" ; is the

primary source of enmity, it being largely a mask for 5ene3uelan, Bolivian, and

-uban mischief7making, along "ith the Argentine.


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criminal gangs4Dthe fe" remaining communist states bar the P@-4 E

the @ussian ederation4F and the People?s @epublicG of -hina itself,

regardless of its political ideology, as a mere matter of po"er

politics.

ere any of these rivals to the nited tates to assume a position

of e!ual or superior po"er to that of the and its allies, the "orld

"ould not be better off. o the contrary, and regardless of the

subse!uent outcome. -hina today, and the @ussian ederation still

more, is in the position of >apan some decades ago ("hen Americans

"ere "orried that >apan, simply through economic success, "as on

the verge of eclipsing and assuming American po"er): already at

peak, and about to suffer hugely dislocating economic,

demographic, cultural, and internal political crashes. $one of theimmediately7foreseeable rivals to the nited tates for hyper7po"er

status "ould be 0s"eet, just, boyish masters4< and any of them

"ould, in the moment of apparent victory, begin a series of hard

landings ; almost certainly accompanied by internal strife, the rise

of angry young nationalists, and increased militari3ation ("hich no

country save the nited tates has ever been able to afford to the

degree necessary to achieve and retain hyper7po"er status) ;

economic implosion, and a last gasp of foreign, likely armed,

D 9t is "orth noting, depressingly, that 9ranian subversion is increasingly common in

-entral and outh America4 and that os etas and 9ran, the 5ew 6ork Times reported

last year, conspired to assassinate the audi ambassador to the and to bomb audi

and 9sraeli diplomatic targets.

E $otably $orth orea (the H8P@?) and -uba.

F @apidly sliding back into talinism.

G #oi7disant.


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adventurism to stave off disaster. *oreover, the P@- and the

@ussian ederation, "hich could plausibly, for a brief time and "ith

ruinous effort and e6penditures, challenge the for dominance,

are facing already demographic death7spirals, "hile the more fertile

states and non7state actors could only assert themselves "ith

-esterntechnology and "eapons of mass destruction.

he national interests of the nited tates and its allies are free

trade, global security, and the spread of democracy4 the national

interests of their opponents, the contrary. his fact, and not puerile

fantasies about ionist plots and the 9srael obby, is "hy 9srael, and

; "hen freed of such succubi as yria and /amas ; ebanon, are

America?s natural allies and strategic partners in the *iddle #ast: as

urkey "as and may be again "hen the #rdogan folly of flirtation"ith dreams of the caliphate and of riding the 9slamist tiger is

finally shattered.

*r. emyss has said, many times, that

here are t"o primary strains in the -onservative Party:

grocers, and grandees. I By Hgrandees? and Hgrocers?, 9 am

not referring to social class or any of that4 nor do 9 refer to

the orshipful -ompany of +rocers, all cloves and camels. 9

refer rather to t"o fundamental positions "ithin the

-onservative Party, regardless of one?s antecedents. I A

grandee -onservative sees the country as a village: a village

of "hich he and his party, "hen in government, act the

!uire. As the !uire, the grandee moves jovially amongst


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his tenants in their tied cottages, dispensing largesse and

reproofI. here are t"o problems "ith this model. he first

is that /*+ is not the !uire and the subjects of the -ro"n

are not the smocked tenantry of the government of the day.

he second is that these principles ; or instincts, as one can

hardly call them principles ; ho"ever different they may be

to the fiercely held ma6ims of abour old and ne", lead in

the end to the same statist solutions as those the eft

proposes, and to accepting and Hmanaging? statism "hen a

-onservative government succeeds a abour one. 9t is the

grocers "ho "ill al"ays and rightly attempt to roll back the

tate and its reach in favour of liberty.

+overnor @omney has not endeared himself to the -ameroon

grandees of the present -onservative Party, and has, regrettably,

been used by Boris >ohnson as a figure for a self7and72lympics7

promoting "o *inutes? /ate. $or is he regarded favorably by the

professional politicians, "ard7heelers, and placemen of the #. his

may not "orry American voters unduly4 it is nevertheless a fact.

Against that are numerous other facts.

President 2bama, in his term, has openly rejected the pecial

@elationship, repeatedly insulted the Prime *inister "hen the P*

"as the @t /on. +ordon Bro"n, effectively sided "ith Argentina

over the alklands, and made more than his o"n share of protocol

gaffes "hen in the .

President 2bama did not !uite pull a ue3 over ibya, but his


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0leading from behind< in that 0kinetic action< did not precisely

advance American interests in ibya or constitute the sort of support

to "hich /* +overnment and the rench "ere as allies entitled.

*oreover, it is by no" nakedly evident that *r. 2bama had no plan

"hatever for "hat should happen after"ard.

his "as sho"n conclusively in Bengha3i on '' J '% #P %&'%, the

eleventh anniversary of KJ'', "hen Ambassador -hris tevens and

three other Americans "ere murdered by "hat "as decidedly not a

0spontaneous protest over a Louube clip.< Ambassador tevens

became the first ambassador to be slain in the line of duty since

0pike< 8ubs in abul in 'KFK, at the previous nadir of American

po"er. hat is more, President 2bama and his administration have

been consistently disingenuous over the matter, repeatedlyasserting, until it became impossible any longer to deny the obvious,

that the murder of four Americans at a consulate had been

unforeseeable, unforeseen, un"arned7against, impossible to stop,

spontaneous, unconnected to the anniversary of KJ'', and the

unfortunate result of a protest over a film. /aving been thus

economical "ith the truth, President 2bama thereupon attempted to

deceive the American public over "hat he said and "hen he said it.

9n fact, in his remarks in the @ose +arden ; before buggMerNing off to

5egas for a fundraiser, an activity "hich, "ith golf, has been his

primary occupation in office ; immediately after the premeditated

attack upon the Bengha3i consulate, *r. 2bama described the event

as an 0outrageous and shocking attack< and a 0brutal act


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prefaced his denunciation of 0this type of senseless violence< by

saying, 0ince our founding, the nited tates has been a nation that

respects all faiths. -e re8ect all efforts to deni+rate the reli+ious beliefs of

others. But there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless

violence.< 9t "as only in the conte6t of apro forma recollection of the

original KJ'' that he said, 0$o acts of terror "ill ever shake the

resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of

the values that "e stand for< ; "hereupon he then again designated

the Bengha3i attack, not as a terrorist act, but as 0this terrible act.

Bapton Books Position Paper: The United States Presidential Election

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