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Yesterdays Spain, Todays America

Posted By James P. Pinkerton On January 7, 2013 @ 11:36 pm In | 25 Comments

Americans who worry about the future of their country can gain perspective by traveling overseas,

where they can see how other countries have dealt, and are dealing, with collective challenges.

A trip to Spain, for example, might provide some poignant and pointed lessons in what countriesought not to do. Indeed, huge lessons leaped into the mind of this recent tourist:

First, the dangers of military adventurism, not only because of the loss of life and the possibility of

losing even more in the event of defeat, but also because of the inevitable damage done to the

civil society at home.

Second, the dangers of financialism, defined as putting money and monetary manipulation ahead of

actual innovation and productivity. Its gratifying, of course, to possess vast treasures of goldand silver, but the history of Spain reminds us that national wealth is not the same as national

well-being.

Madrid is a city of art museums, most notably, the Prado. Its walls and spaces are graced by worksfrom all over Europe. It took money to import paintings from Rubens and Titian, and other painters

from far away, such as the Domnikos Theotokpoulossoon to be known as El Grecowere inspired

to move to Spain. In 1577, Toledo was the best place in the world to find a rich patron.

Yes, those were the glory years of Spanish wealth and power, from the 15th to 17th centuries. And

yet the visitor sees few paintings by non-Spaniards from more recent centuries; it would seem that

the patrons were no longer rich enough to afford them.

Yet in trolling through the Prado and another museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, one sees evidence

that even when Spain was rich, it was still, in many ways, poor. The artworks tell us that in

17th century Holland and Flanders, for instance, many of the city streets and plazas were paved;those in Spain were not.

Such investments in what we now call infrastructure have always yielded many benefits; not only

were places prettier and cleaner, and transport better, but they were also healthier. Long before

germ theory was understood, city fathers in some cities intuited that better water runoff and sewage

facilities were useful in thwarting such contagious diseases as cholera and typhoid, and wise

leaders managed to divert money for civic improvements.

By contrast, a museum visitor can see that even in old Madrid, the capital, the streets were not

paved; one 18th century painting shows royal coaches kicking up dust on one of the main

boulevards of the city, the Paseo del Prado.

A society that cares about its common people will spend money on the commonweal, and history

shows that such caring is rewarded in not only in social solidarity, but also in economic growth. And

so we see a huge divergence in Europe, as the emerging bourgeois societies of the Low Countries,

Catholic as well as Protestant, pulled awaypolitically, economically, and sociallyfrom the feudaland reactionary rulers of Spain. By the 19th century, the people of Holland, for example, enjoyed a

literacy rate more than triple that of Spain; Dutch per capita incomes and life expectancies were

vastly superior as well.

And why this divergence? Its possible for the curious observer to piece together some clues simply

from Spanish stones and statues.

Its said, for example, that Spain has more castles than any other country in Europe, a legacy of the

nearly eight centuries of the Reconquista. That was the long war waged by Christians against

the Muslims who invaded Spain in 711 CE; the final ejection of the Moors was achieved in the pivotal

year of 1492. That near-millennium of religious warfareby comparison, the wars of the Reformation

lasted only 130 yearsleft a gory red streak through Spanish culture.

American Conservative Yesterdays Spain, Todays AmericaThe ... http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/yesterdays-spai

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So the virus of military adventurism was loosed in Spain; many generations of young men wanted to

be the next El Cid. Even after the last Muslim ruler was gone from the Iberian peninsula, Spaniardsstill felt the urge to fight Muslims somewhere; Spain soon tried its hand at invading North Africa.

Thus the historical imperative of national liberation turned itself into a seeming infatuation with war.Indeed, even before Christopher Columbus made landfall in the New World, Iberian mariners

and conquistadors were spreading out across the planet, seeking gold, slaves, the fountain of youth

anything that they could claim. The Spanish, victims of aggression at home, became theaggressive victimizers abroad.

In the 16th century, Spain gained mastery of the Caribbean, South America, Central America, and a

good deal of North America. Those remarkable victories were achieved in large measure throughpolitical stratagemCortes and Pizarro were adroit in forming indigenous coalitions to overcome theAztecs and the Incasbut historical memory has focused on Spanish martial prowess.

Centuries later, in 1847, the American historian William H. Prescott, writing his History Of The

Conquest Of Peru, set the scene, describing the worst and best of that epoch:

The mail-clad cavalier, brandishing his bloody lance, and mounted on his war-horse,

riding over the helpless natives, or battling with his own friends and brothers; fierce,arrogant, and cruel, urged on by the lust of gold, or the scarce more honorable love of

a bastard glory. Mingled with these qualities, indeed, we have seen sparkles ofthe chivalrous and romantic temper which belongs to the heroic age of Spain.

The conquistadors made Spain rich, or so it seemed. Its estimated that Spain imported some 4000

metric tons of silver, just in the second half of the 16th century. And the immense reservesinside Cerro Ricorich mountainat Potos, in what is now Bolivia, continued to produce whatPrescott described as torrents and rivers of silver for centuries thereafter. And that was

just silver; the Spanish were extracting legendary amounts of gold and other precious metals. In

addition, of course, the Spanish used

Indian and African serfs and slaves to run vast plantations.

Thus Spain was able to finance costly wars across Europemost of which they lost. Most famously, in

1588, Spains King Philip II sent his Armada to conquer England; instead, he lost half his fleet,and Spain lost its naval preeminence.

We might pause over one problem that Spain faced: For the most part, it was not manufacturing the

weapons it needed; instead, it was importing them. One neednt be a Keynesian during World WarTwo to see the economic difference: A foreign war effort based on a domestic arms industry is

expensive, but win or lose, the factories, and the

knowhow, remain to enrich the country, even after the fighting is over. By contrast, a war effortbased on imported weapons is simply, well, expensive.

The Eighty Years War, representing Spains failed effort to subdue Dutch revolutionaries from 1568

to 1648the last portion of which was folded into the Thirty Years Warproved to be a ruinously

expensive defeat for Spain. The conflict proved to be a ruinously expensive defeat for Spain. As an

aside, for those who are curious as to what a losing battle back then looked like, heres a YouTube

clip[1]

depicting the Battle of Rocroi in 1643, in which the French defeated the Spanish; Rocroi

broke Spain as a land power in Europe.

To be sure, other important battles worked out better. The same Philip II financed much of theBattle of Lepanto in 1571; that was the naval battle that stopped the advance of the Ottoman Turks

in the Mediterranean. We might remember, with admiration and gratitude, that the history of

European Christendom would have been different had that

battle gone differently.

But wars, just or not, often impose hidden and long term costs. As James Madison wrote[2]

in 1795,

Of all the enemies of true liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because itcomprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from

these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the knowninstruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.


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The Spanish suffered all the effects that Madison describedand more. A culture that glorifies

violence overseas will likely also find itself glorifying violence, too, in its own territory.

Indeed, 1492 was not only the year of Columbus, and of final victory over the Muslims; it was also

the beginning of a brutal new period for the Spanish Inquisition. The same Ferdinand and Isabellaauthorized the forced conversion or expulsion of Jews, and, soon thereafter, the mandatory

conversion of the surviving but subordinated Muslim

population. Thus Spain created an intolerant culture of spies and stool pigeons, in which a singleaccusation of lingering Jewish or Muslim faith, real or imagined, could destroy an individual, a

family, even a community.

In fact, in their bloody zeal, the Spanish set up two nasty and counterproductive institutions: Inaddition to the Churchs Inquisition, the state pursued a policy of limpieza de sangre cleanliness ofblood. That is, officials sought to ascertain who

was an Old Christian, and who was a New Christian, that is, a convert from Judaism or Islam.

And only a cristiano viejo could serve, for example, as a military officer, or enter into a holy order. A

cristiano nuevo, by contrast, was a second-class citizen, or

worse. These dueling destructive institutions, church inquisition and state race-categorization,sought to purifyand yet instead, they corrupted. They helped cripple Spanish society and its

economy, until finally abolished in 19th century.

So now we are starting to see how Spain could arrive at such a paradoxical condition: how a country

could be so rich and yet so poor. Yes, it had wealth, but it was doing everything else wrong.

Indeed, in Spains glorification of violenceor, if one prefers, chivalry and the militaryand its

preoccupation with racial purity, all the while ignoring the needs of its economy, one can draw atleast some comparison between Spain and the antebellum American South. In both places, the

cultivation of cavalier attitudes and the quest for glorywhile ruthlessly defending cruel race-based

hierarchiesaddled the minds of the ruling class.

Indeed, 19th century Southern cavaliers might have learned from earlier caballeros across the

Atlantic. In Spanish culture, old times there were not forgottenwith a vengeance. In the 1986

work, The Count-Duke Olivares: The Statesman in an Age of Decline, Oxford historian J.H. Elliottdescribes a reformist report written in early

17th century Castile, in the heart of Spain, outlining the economic challenge:

Major problems of the Castilian economy were correctly identifiedthe rentier

mentality, the neglect of the mechanical arts, the lack of productive investment, theweakness of the agricultural sector, the export of raw materials and the consequent

decay of native Castilian industries.

Yet as Elliott explains, that worthy report went nowhere. The Count-Duke Olivares, the first minister

of Spain from 1621 to 1643, indeed had many of the right ideas, but the reactionary nature

of Spanish culture stymied him. In addition, the attention devoted to

Spains endless wars always seemed to preempt positive action on the homefront, and thus Spain

continued its decay.

We might return, as one important indicator of positive social priorities, to the issue of paved roadsand other public works. In 19th century America, the North focused on building roads and canals and

railroads, while the South focused on defending its honor and its peculiar institution of slavery. The

result was the rapid industrialization and population growth of the North, while the South laggedbehind.

Another result, of course, was the Civil War. The South had the better conquistadors, but the North

had more men, weapons, and materiel. And thats how the stolid Ulysses S. Grant beat thedashing Robert E. Lee.

So today in America, long after slavery and other forms ofde jure racism have been abolished,

self-styled Jeffersonians, who see only the virtues of government that governs least, might still

reflect on the issue of what actually makes an economy grow. Is it just low taxes and limited

government? Or is it also good infrastructure, an educated workforce, and a national celebration oftechnological innovation and economic dynamism?

Moreover, one neednt be a fan of an engorged welfare state to see the economic value of national


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leadership. As Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton observed in his 1791 Report on Manufactures[3]

, ordinary people are often hesitant over needed changes and improvements; as he put it, The

simplest and most obvious improvements are adopted with hesitation, reluctance and by slow

gradations. To speed up progress, Hamilton argued, the government must sometimes take the

lead: To produce the desirable changes, as early as may be expedient, may therefore require the

incitement and patronage of government.

As we have seen, the Spanish government incited nothing but religious tyranny, race-based

persecution, and vainglorious military action. Thats how you lose an empire.

So while the parallels between Spain and the U.S. are far from perfect, it still could be useful to draw

them. China is projected[4]

to overtake the U.S. in the overall size of its economy, and even now,

the U.S. ranks just 11th in per capita income. And in other metrics, including education, health, andlife expectancy, the U.S. is unimpressive. The one place where America has the clear edge is the

military.

American reformers might ask: Is the U.S. really the best place in the world to do business? Or is itsimply a good place to be rich? There is, after all, a difference between pro-business andpro-rich.

In particular, American reformers eager to avoid the traps that Spain fell into might focus on one

point from Oxfords Elliott: the rentier mentality. That is, the financialist idea that sitting backwhile reaping the benefits of money is as good, or better, than actually figuring out how to produce

things.

In their defense, sort of, we might note that the Spanish stumbled into their financialist windfall:

Nobody in history had ever seen anything like the sudden surge of silver and gold that pouredinto Spain from the Americas.

Yet if a visitor to Spain wants to see how and where that money was spent, a trip to the Primate

Cathedral of St. Mary of Toledo helps to answer the question. The novelist James Michener, in his1968 non-fiction work, Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections, observed of the cathedral, It is sobeautiful that one could never exhaust its variety it is a masterpiece of concept and execution.

Adding, I wonder if there is another church in the world whose interior is so rich and at the same

time so beautiful.

Construction of the cathedral began in the 13th century, long before the Spanish possessed the

Cerro Rico, but the fabulous adornments were added during the high tide of Spanish wealth. TheGreat Monstrancethat is, the vessel that holds the consecrated Eucharistic hostis ten feet tall,containing some 40 pounds of gold and 400 pounds of silver. It took seven years to build, and it was

built by a German.

So yes, the conquistadors made Spain richbut ironically, too rich for its own good. The wealth of

the Americas turned out to be a kind of fools gold; the Spanish forgot how to do everything except

fight and persecute and consume.

Today, in our time, in our own country, we can each feel free to ponder the impact of financialism.To be sure, our financial wealth comes from a financial sourcein our case, we dont mine it,

we simply conjure it up. Indeed, we can further espy the actions of the Federal Reserve, engaged in

the arcana of quantitative easing, and wonder if such policies are helping Main Street anywhere near

as much as Wall Street. And we can further wonder whether our own flourishing imperial capital is

thinking about the wellbeing of a wilting heartland.

Those are all questions that we have to answer for ourselves, through our own politics. Still, a goodperspective on the pastincluding what happened to Spainprovides some useful guideposts for

the present. We may be an exceptional nation, but we arent so exceptional that we can evade the

harsh lessons of history.

James P. Pinkerton is a contributor to the Fox News Channel and a TAC contributing editor. Follow

him on Twitter[5]

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25 Comments To "Yesterdays Spain, Todays America"

#1 Comment By libertarian jerry On January 8, 2013 @ 7:58 am

Good article. About the only thing that government,in America, takes the lead on today is notinfrastructure or encouraging industry. Instead it takes the lead on redistribution of wealth from theproductive Economic Class to the unproductive Political Class for the reason of buying elections by

politicians in order to achieve political power. The Welfare State along with the Warfare State hasbankrupted America. It seems that all the mistakes made by the Spanish Empire and indeed before

the Spanish Empire the Roman Empire are now being repeated by America. I would guess if history

teaches us anything is that it repeats itself over and over again. I believe Americans will never learnfrom these past mistakes.

#2 Comment By Constantino Paz. On January 8, 2013 @ 9:05 am

Good article? Its full of lies.

1.- The muslims invaded Europe on both sides: Spain and Byzantium reaching almost Viena.

The Spaniards expelled the jews and the muslims because they dindnt wanted to incorporate to aCatholic State and conspired against Spain.

In the other side of Europe, christians didnt expell the muslims and they have suffered theconsequences from since in Greece, Romania, Bulgary, Russia, Albania and the extinct Yugoslavia.

In fact, there has just been a horrible war in the extict Yugoslavia which is the result of the invasion

of the muslims centuries ago.

So do you think spaniards made a mistake expelling the invader muslims and their friends jews fivecenturies ago?

#3 Comment By Uncle Vanya On January 8, 2013 @ 9:09 am

Thanks. A wonderful article, indeed, and yes, while we do always hear about the harm to civil life

caused by the fall of the Roman republic and the rise of the empire, Spains empire is closer in timeand space to us and we can see the effects of its history quite visibly in our daily lives.

The psychotic advocates for American Greatness offer the most seductive arguments for empire to

those of us on the right. Happily, independent-minded conservatives have seen through their

self-serving hypocrisy and mostly turned their backs on them. Until the GOP does the same, they

will remain off on the fringes of the political arena, like Lear, howling into the wind.

#4 Comment By Manfred Arcane On January 8, 2013 @ 9:41 am

The Spanish forgot how to do anything but fight and persecute and consume?

That seems way off the historical mark with more than a whiff of the notorious Black Legend about

Spain propagated by the 16th century Protestants. Certainly Spain did overreach, especially in its

constant and draining European wars, trying to hold on to Flanders (part of the Spanish KingsBurgundian inheritance), defending Catholicism in the Wars of Religion, etc., blunting the advance ofthe Ottomans.

I suppose all that effort could have gone into building roads and commerce in the Iberian peninsula.

But this same culture and period also produced the writings of Cervantes, Lopez de Vega, Calderonde la Barca, the music of Victoria, the spirituality of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Teresa of Avila, John of

the Cross. The art of Zurbaran and Velasquez. Much of the Americas and the Philipines became

Catholic because of Spain. Not such a bad record actually (will we leave as much of real substance


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behind?) I think.

#5 Comment By Amarus Cameron On January 8, 2013 @ 10:27 am

@ Libertarian Jerry

Sadly I think you are wrong, Americans have indeed learned from these past mistakes. But forthose of us who understand what is happening and how possibly to avoid it, our only reward is to

watch as it all burns down.

Wisdom cries out in the streets, people who can see this will publish articles and argue until theirfaces are blue but I see chances of a change are slim at best.

#6 Comment By Carlos On January 8, 2013 @ 11:24 am

Hope you enjoyed your travel to my country. Your article is good as synopsis of what happened in

Spain between the Middle Ages and the Modern Era. However, as all recaps, there is a

simplification in the story told. Id like to point other historical facts that will blur your ideas about

the reactionary nature of Spanish culture:

- muslims did not invade Spain in 711 CE, because Spain began as a united political entity in 1469,

just as a marriage of two kingdoms. So you can say muslims invaded Iberian Peninsula or VisigothKingdom in 711. This is important because the Reconquest was not a Spanish enterprise but a

Christian enterprise that was carried out by castillians, aragoneses, vasques, francos etc, in a

similar way as the Crusades.

- North Africa was invaded shortly after the Reconquista had been completed in the IberianPeninsula, not because the spaniards wanted to fight Muslims somewhere, North Africa had been

part of the Holy Roman Empire and was now under infidel rule, so it was a pursuit of continuing the

Reconquista (that Christinan enterprise). The discovery of America ruined this idea and just a few

cities like Oran were conquered while militar resources where diverted somewhere else (overseas).

- even after Spain was unified, there was social unrest and war within AGAINST CATHOLIC

IMPERIALISTIC DESIGN. It was called the Revolt of the Comuneros and cities like Toledo, Madrid,Segovia, Toro or Tordesillas fought to rule out the King Charles that had been raised in the

Netherlands with little knowledge of Castillian Spanish. In 1519, Charles was elected Holy Roman

Emperor. He departed for Germany in 1520, leaving the Dutch cardinal Adrian of Utrecht to rule

Castile in his absence. Soon, a series of anti-government riots broke out in the cities, and local city

councils (Comunidades) took power. It can be seen as a typical rebellion against high taxes and

perceived foreign control.(english wikipedia) The comuneros lost the battles and as a warcompensation, the Habsburg kings Charles V and Philip II increased taxes to Castille, suffocating ourindigenous industries for the rest.

- the Inquisition General, Toms de Torquemada, his grandparents were among those converted to

our Holy Catholic faith, that is to say, he had Jew blood. It happens so often, those who feel notcompletely pure, trade if off with the purest behaviour. I could tell you paralells with American

contemporary history, but the FBI would not agree.

I am more than happy that the spanish military-religious complex collapsed, I just wanted to makeclear that it was imposed upon us at one point. Maybe you can also draw comparisons with your

Manifest Destiny.

#7 Comment By Andrew On January 8, 2013 @ 12:04 pm

Very good article!!!

We might pause over one problem that Spain faced: For the most part, it was not manufacturing the

weapons it needed; instead, it was importing them. One neednt be a Keynesian during World War

Two to see the economic difference: A foreign war effort based on a domestic arms industry is

expensive, but win or lose, the factories, and the knowhow, remain to enrich the country, even after


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the fighting is over. By contrast, a war effort based on imported weapons is simply, well, expensive.

Ability to manufacture the complex machinery is what constitutes the real might of a nation (mightbeing the broad measure, not only military), the rest is derivative. Huntington might have, as well,

quoted Marxists when wrote his 14 reasons on why the West dominates the world. Out of those 14only three are dealing with capital markets and bankingthe rest (10) are about manufacturing and

R&D and one is about consequences of previous 10, which manifests itself as the so called Soft

Power. It is an axiom that the producer of the ballistic missile (the good one, not of the North

Korean variety) wields a lot more influence than the producer, say, of the surfing board. Another

matter that today those truths are beyond the comprehension by the Wall Street crowd , who think

that I-Phones and $2000.00 espresso machines are Hi-Tech. What Keynes has to do anything withit, though, is puzzling. Peter The Great lived way before Keynes and modern economic discussion,

yet, he figured it out that the production of the REAL hi-tech (at that time these were ships, cannons

and muskets) starts with the creation of the manufacturing base at homefrom metallurgy and

timber industry to finished product. The rest follows. The war effort based on imported weapons, asa rule, withing the nation-states paradigm, is bound for failure or, as was the case of Lend-Lease for

Great Britain in WWII, may result in a greatly diminished geopolitical status and the eventual loss ofthe Empire.

#8 Comment By Andrew On January 8, 2013 @ 12:45 pm

So now we are starting to see how Spain could arrive at such a paradoxical condition: how a country

could be so rich and yet so poor.

One wordRussia. With one caveat, thoughrelatively poor.

#9 Comment By Russell Seitz On January 8, 2013 @ 12:54 pm

On the eve of the Louisiana Purchase , Jefferson spent days listening to Humboldt report on the

colonial economies of Cuba and Mexico. The written version of his observations informed Prescott,

and remains fascinating reading to this day.

#10 Comment By Adam On January 8, 2013 @ 1:42 pm

The Welfare State is created and expanded because of the Warfare State and financialization. Until

we recognize that fact and work to change it rather than vilifying those unfortunate enough to get

caught in the Welfare State, then nothing will change. Im sure there is a percentage of people that

are perfectly happy in this so called Welfare State, but theyre few and far between. If yousystematically take away the incentive, you take away the will.

#11 Comment By PeterC On January 8, 2013 @ 3:58 pm

Excellent article with well taken points. We have to act on issues like:

- Is the U.S. really the best place in the world to do business? Or is it simply a good place to be rich?There is, after all, a difference between pro-business and pro-rich.

- China is projected to overtake the U.S. in the overall size of its economy, and even now, the U.S.

ranks just 11th in per capita income. And in other metrics, including education, health, and life

expectancy, the U.S. is unimpressive. The one place where America has the clear edge is the

military.

The strength and prosperity of a country relies on its industrial and scientific might, not on financialexpertise (aka gimmicks) or rentier mentality (aka capital gains).

Military might relies on industry and science. We have to rethink the export of manufacturing.

Rebuilding the blue collar middle-class and its complimentary white-collar managerial class is also amust. Education is not really a solution: we cannot have a country of college grads.

I would add that while Spain had great artistic achievements, it was and stil is a non-entity in


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science and engineering.

One can think of the number of Nobel prizes (in science) obtained by small goups like the Dutch or

the Hungarians compared to the number of such prizes from the much larger Hispanic group.

This discrepancy is also a sad result of Spains misguided policies.

#12 Comment By J. OMorain On January 8, 2013 @ 6:31 pm

Re. comments by Carlos:

Excellent observations, Sir. Thanks.

#13 Comment By Richard Parker On January 9, 2013 @ 2:20 am

The artworks tell us that in 17th century Holland and Flanders, for instance, many of the city

streets and plazas were paved; those in Spain were not.

Perhaps this happened due to the wet climate and poor drainage of the ground in the low countries

ajoined to the North Sea rather than any great insight into cleanliness. My guess is that if the Dutch

lived in a dry climate, they would have had dusty streets just like 17th centuury Madrid.

#14 Comment By Avi Marranazo On January 9, 2013 @ 1:26 pm

This article on the glorification of Muslim Spain provides an excellent primer to understanding Spain

during the 16th 18th centuries:[6]

Also, Kevin MacDonalds book on antisemitism, Separation and Its Discontents provides an

excellent background on the reasons for antisemitism during the Inquisition[7]

#15 Comment By sglover On January 9, 2013 @ 1:28 pm

The Spaniards expelled the jews and the muslims because they dindnt wanted to incorporate to aCatholic State and conspired against Spain.

Wow! I doubt that anybodys made assertions like this since maybe 1940. And then it would have

been in some place like Francos Madrid. I guess Constantino Paz is what youd call an old school

conservative.

But if Jews really were so reluctant to incorporate to a Catholic State, how come so many

conversos were so prominent in the upper echelons of the society of Ferdinand and Isabella? But Isuspect it would be even more entertaining to hear Mr. Pazs speculations about the Ottoman

Menace.

#16 Comment By Geraldo Kaprosy On January 9, 2013 @ 2:06 pm

This discussion avoids the Americas Holocaust, the hundred plus million of indigenous peopleexterminated by the Spaniards, their greed, their cruelity and their diseases. This is no Black

Legend but a reality that historians and arthropologists recognize, some of whom suggest a number

over 200 million for the century after the Conquest.

#17 Comment By SecurityEcology.org On January 9, 2013 @ 2:48 pm

Michael Vlahos wrote a worthwhile 2-part series exploringWhy America Is Like Imperial Spain:

[8]

[9]


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But cultural renewal and national salvation via Infrastructure?

What infrastructure? Designed for whose purposes?And with what unanticipated consequences?

Burkean caution suggests we take a step back examine our assumptions

and ask if we are not Immanentizing the Eschaton.

In 1948, at the birth of the military-industrial complex,

Gen. Omar Bradley recognized that we were becomingtechnological giants, but moral midgets.

(Our individual and cultural Ethical Responsibilityis not remotely commensurate with our Technological Power.)

So-called progressives and conservatives alike

pursue Faith-based Technological Fixes

as a cheap and easy substitute for the hard work ofmoral progress, individual discipline and cultural development.

Both Welfare State and Warfare State seek theirManifest Destiny via Economic Infrastructure.

But while most Infrastructures embody Amartya Sens notion

of Freedom as Capability, every Infrastructure also becomesan Iron Rice Bowl an Architecture of Captivity.

Infrastructure means both the old smokestack industries,

and especially the new Digital Networked architecturesthat permeate our lives.

Churchills 1924 speech to the English Architecture Assoc.

was explicit and emphatic:

There is no doubt whatever about the influence

of architecture and structure upon human character

and action.

We make our buildings and afterwards they make us.

They regulate the course ofour lives.

(Russell Kirks term Mechanical Jacobins

is less applicable today to cars and TVs,

than to the inner Constitution of the Consumer.)

Welfare State and Warfare State have converged on ashared technological fix: a Surveillance Griddeeply embedded in the Behavioral-Economic Architectures

that shape us and regulate the course ofour lives

all electronically-coupled everyday activities.

(Of course, only criminal Terrorists operate

digital malwarenetworks. Who needs Civil Liberties,

when Freedom Fighters like Obama, Google, and Microsoftdata-mine our every move, to secure libertine freedom,

and enhance our consumer paradise?)

The road to freedom via our 2-way Information Highway

has become a 1-way Surveillance Street, used to condition

peoples thoughts, nudge customized, machine-learnedBehavioral-Economic incentives, and influence

cultural herd dynamics a form of progress that benefits. . . what? Cui bono?

For more on our Empires influence operations

in the guise of cyber-security, please see:


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[10]

#18 Comment By Philip Giraldi On January 9, 2013 @ 4:28 pm

Good article Jim and some interesting insights from Carlos, but north Africa was never part of the

Holy Roman Empire, by which I assume Carlos means the successor state to Charlemagnes Empire.

North Africa was part of the Roman Empire, much of it falling to the Vandals in the Fifth century and

later recovered by Justinian for the Byzantines. In the seventh century it was conquered by theArabs who then pushed on into Spain. The Spanish began their attacks on north African coastal citiesin the fifteenth century because they were pirate havens, a process that was later continued by the

French (and Americans to the shores of Tripoli).

One of the interesting things I learned while living in Spain in the 1990s was the degree to which the

Spanish had long memories of their imperial experience. Opinion polls indicated that Spain was the

most xenophobic country in Europe, largely because of the wrongs inflicted by the British, Napoleon,

the ungrateful American colonies, and finally by the United States in the Spanish American War. Iguess if we follow a course similar to that of imperial Spain we too will wind up blaming everyone

but ourselves.

#19 Comment By Miguel On January 9, 2013 @ 10:41 pm

Good article.

I have two comments.

First, it always amazes me how everybody put so much light on the Reconquista issue, without ever

speaking of how incredibly crazy was the Visigothic Spain. Basically, the Moors (some of whom

werent even real Moors, but Arabic invaders of North Africa (Magreb)), invaded the Peninsula in a

mater of three years. WHOA!!! Hows that possible? Because the Hispania that created the Romans

was a real wasps nest. Some of todays Spain problems have been wanting a solution since the timethe bloody Julius Caesar was around.

The Church (Catholic Church, to be precise) has not been as positive as its usually said. It not only

didnt solve some problems (they only cover the garbage with a very large carpet), but helped

creating new ones. And its not that we in Spain envy the fate the Reformation-affected countries

had, since Reformation also bring about new complications to untieable knots, but it is a joke to

propose that Spain was better off without the Reformation.

Today we have a multitier gridlock, caused by the stupidity of three generations of politicians who

barely can write their own names, and who have less moral fiber than a snail. The King is not part of

the solution, either, but the alternative is discouraging. Spain is truly a country that honors the

legacy of that great hypocrite that was Seneca, who wrote insightful lines about morals, but never

cared following what he recommended to his relatives and friends in that lines. Truly a great master

of politics of all times.

If Jerusalem killed their Prophets, Spain has managed since at least XII century A.D. to humiliate,

slander and ostracize its best minds and most faithful sons. That is why we are in such a terrible

economical and political mess right now.

We Spaniards need to learn from the errors of our ancestors and make a total reform of our nation.

Its no likely to happen, but either we try or we die out and human species will lose most of its

charm.

Regarding the Empire thing I want to say that, somehow, Empires are regarded as good and

desirable, and, when lost, something historians and school teachers cry for. But Empires are very

cumbersome. It seems that Empires citizens are very lucky and happy, and are not oppressed and

live at the expense of slave nations. But I say that the perfect state for any nation is being a free

republic, with free commerce and no tariffs, with ties to no other nation, and being the slave of

nobody and the master of none. It can be achieved? Yes, there are some examples in History. Canthis perfect Unions last? Not really, because they soon become Empires that end up collapsing,


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causing great turmoil and disaster that never ends. It happened to China, India, Persia and Egypt

thousands of years ago, it happened to Rome, it happened to Spain, and it is happening to the USA.

And we are seeing it happening and you, stupid Americans, are helping your enemies. Welcome to

the Eternal wake of the Biggest Losers of History!

To destroy a Republic you need to transform it into an Empire first. And you can only do that from

within. So you need to infiltrate your enemys side and cause the damage you cannot make on the

battlefield. War is the consequence of evil, not its origin.

By the way, Muslim religion is as much as enemy of Western religion as Big Corporations, Central

Banks, debasement of currency and Welfare-Warfare State. We cant combat the former while beingsubject to the latter.

But all this, of course, it just a worthless opinion of yet another Spanish donkey.

Mr. Pinkerton, good work!

When the paragraphs sting then are ready for publishing.

#20 Comment By James P. Pinkerton On January 10, 2013 @ 3:19 pm

Thanks, all, for these informative and enlightening comments. One more thing to savor aboutAmConsmart and thoughtful readers.

#21 Comment By Carlos On January 10, 2013 @ 5:09 pm

In response to Philip Giraldi, I meant West Roman Empire, not the Holy one (which was a translatio

imperii or second Rome). My mistake. Anyway my point is still that the conquest of North Africancities was no more than the follow up of the Reconquista. The portuguese were the first to Crusade

against moorish in the stronghold of Ceuta (north Africa) with the agreement of the Pope in 1415.

Oran in todays Algeria was conquered by Cardinal Cisneros himself in 1509 as part of a greater

Crusade against the moorish, but lacked further military support from king Ferdinand.

#22 Comment By Thomas O. Meehan On January 10, 2013 @ 8:46 pm

Im sorry to see your use of CE over AD.

As to the Muslim conquest of Iberia, even the Romans never truly ruled the place completely. It does

seem that the Visigoths became reasonably good stewards of much of Spain, especially after they

converted to Roman as opposed to Arian Christianity. But there was no powerful unified Visigoth

state and the Muslims had lots of help from other elements within Iberia.

Regarding the Barbary Pirates and Spanish aggression in the Western Mediterranean, There wasrelatively little Muslim piracy there before the Christian defeat of the Ottomans at Lepanto. It seems

that organized piracy was displaced to the Western Med by out of work Ottoman sailors on the

make. The Spanish were well advised to suppress it as much as they could.

#23 Comment By Russ Haas On January 12, 2013 @ 1:13 am

While Mr. Pinkertons article has much good meat in it, we would be better served had he read

William Thomas Walshs biography of Philip II, for a detailed view of Spains role in the 16th

Century, and Philip Wayne Powells Tree of Hate which, while focused on US relations with the

Hispanic world, covers 5 centuries of the efforts and effects of the Black Legend.

Treated lightly if at all are:

the never-ending clashes with Englands navy and pirates; the havoc wrought on Catholic subjects in the Low Countries;

the constant danger of Turkish aggression in the Mediterranean;

the cost and successes of education in the New World;


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the actual decrease in Spains population due to emigration to administer and evangelize the lands

abroad;

the poison of the ideas of the Enlightenment and French Revolution spilling over the Pyrenees.

the real problems of a state within the state re its minorities; the checking of Islamic expansion in the Philippines;

the fact that Spanish domains became too big for any mortal to successfully govern;

and the incessant 5 century long propaganda war waged from Frankfurt, the Low Countries, and

England.

The wonder is that Spain accomplished as much as it did.

#24 Comment By may On January 13, 2013 @ 12:10 am

US has been de-industrializing since the 1960s. A warfare economy has been harming Main Stream

in plain sight. If you look at the chart (in link below). It has been down hill since 1960-62! Looks

like Melman analysis.[11]

Labors Declining Share in the Computer Age

In fact deterioration in the production competence of U.S. industries had been well under way since

1960 and was reported in some detail by 1965.[12]

Chaper 3 Deindustrializing the US: The War Against American Workers

#25 Comment By Fernando On May 11, 2013 @ 8:36 am

For those of u who can read spanish , here u have a response to this article here ( 7parts by now )

Here the first part

[13]

Article printed from The American Conservative: http://www.theamericanconservative.com

URL to article: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/yesterdays-spain-todays-america/

URLs in this post:

[1] clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrVbr4vIGgg

[2] wrote: http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&

staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=875&chapter=63919&layout=html&Itemid=27

[3] Report on Manufactures: http://constitution.org/ah/rpt_manufactures.pdf

[4] projected: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder

/2004rank.html

[5] Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/JamesPPinkerton

[6] : http://www.firstprinciplesjournal.com/articles.aspx?article=1364

[7] : http://archive.org/details/SeparationAndItsDiscontents

[8] : http://www.theglobalist.com/storyid.aspx?StoryId=8937

[9] : http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=8938

[10] : http://www.theamericanconservative.com/jacobs/the-future-of-the-internet-episode-

6789/comment-page-1/#comment-781472

[11] : http://raceagainstthemachine.com/2011/12/06/labors-declining-share-in-the-computer-age/

[12] : http://ejournals.library.vanderbilt.edu/index.php/ameriquests/article/view/127/136

[13] : http://actualidad.rt.com/expertos/dr_lajos_szaszdi/view/86385-comparando-

espana-imperial-eeuu-historia-historias-parte-i


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The American Conservative » Yesterday’s Spain, Today’s AmericaT

Documents

Transcript of The American Conservative » Yesterday’s Spain, Today’s AmericaT