3 Comments

anthonymixan
November 17th, 2009 | 2:45 pm

Keep posting all video appearencs of David—plz tell him to too……..

Ethan C.
November 17th, 2009 | 8:58 pm

Yes, keep posting the video appearances. Also, let me say that I’m really happy with the new economic content of First Things that Mr. Goldman has helped create. I think it’s a good addition to the magazine.

Dr. Walter Molt
November 21st, 2009 | 5:57 pm

Dear Spengler,

Your article, as always when you treat history and philosophy, is inspiring. Thanks.
10th of November, Robert Enke commits suicide, 40 000 attend his memorial service. Schiller would be 250, well, birthday passes almost unnoticed. Of course, Enke was a football star.

I almost forgot Schiller, not quite however, because tomorrow I will visit a performance of Don Carlos (the opera) with my grand daughter.

I have a special relationship with Schiller: my family originates from Lorch, where he learned to read and write. His family lived in my great-great-great-great-great grandfathers house. The house where I was born is 150m from the oak, which planted in 1865, remembers the place, where he read the first time the robbers. In fact, I always considered my self to be part of the gang. Thirdly, I was teaching in Augsburg University, the city of Jakob Fugger, the great investment banker of the time of Karl V and Philipp II. It was Fugger who promoted the Habsburg noble family , bribed the Reichstag to elect Karl as emperor, financed his wars and the conquest of America, profited by having a monopoly on silver mining, making the coins, profited in owning gold mines and trading in slaves. He also sold the best of worthless papers, indulgence, much better than any of the modern derivatives, no complaints from customers, however public scorn, which than sparked the development of Protestantism. Fugger, it is said, had a margin of profit of 40%, much better than Goldmann-Sachs today. Unfortunately, he wrecked the stability of society, which turned to religious wars and finally the 30 years war, in which 1/3 of the German population perished.
Fugger recognized the Habsburgs as the coming power in Europe and contributed his part, to make it happen. Philipp was the master of the earth, his empire bigger than the one of Gengis Khan and even bigger than the power of Bush – minus the high quality weapons. That’s the world of Don Carlos. Enters the Marquis Posa.: “Ein Federzug von dieser Hand, und neu Erschaffen wird die Erde. Geben Sie Gedankenfreiheit“, promising Philipp that he will be remembered as the greatest of Kings, if he transforms from absolute monarchy to enlightened monarchy. The message of Schiller was freedom. I think Leonard Bernstein was right, when he changed the text to the ode of joy to ode of freedom, “Freiheit, edler Götterfunke”. In this poem, he proclaimed the topics of the French Revolution, liberte, fraternite, egalite, but referring these gifts to god, “überm Sternenzelt, muss ein guter Vater wohnen”. So, he was hailing more the American independence than the French revolution.
Schiller witnessed the demise of the Roman/German/Habsburg Empire, so to speak the end of the creation of Fugger, and the rise of America.
Money made the Habsburgs big. But all the gold from America could not prevent them from bankruptcy. The intolerance of their system and of Catholicism of the time made them to terrible repressors, hated at home and all over Europe. Now, as we observe the US moving toward bankruptcy, in spite of the incredible wealth of their economy – the fundamental data are good, could Philipp have said – we observe the oppression and hate, caused by their armies of occupation and we observe the fundamentalism of the American right, resisting evolution, wonder why they don’t want to have the sun circle the earth, we remember the advise of Philipp to Marquis de Posa, “beware of the inquisition”, which is stronger than the king. Schiller’s Philipp is a tragic figure, he admires Posa, but the raison d’etat and the raison du foi plus, but not in Schiller’s drama, the raison d’argent do not allow him to use his power to grant freedom, to the Dutch protestant, to his subjects in the vast kingdom and empire.

Obama, who at first look is more an idealistic Don Carlos, will he become a tragic Philipp. The Habsburg empire still survived for some time, but the decline started, not because any revolution did win, but because the world wide dominance, so profitable for the early capitalists in Augsburg and elsewhere, became too expensive for the state. Freedom was a winning slogan, but ultimately, it did win only in the US.
History does not repeat itself, yet, there is a lesson to be observed. I am not at all as optimistic as you are. I think the signs of the decline of America are all too visible. This decline however will not be a peaceful event, but may be accompanied by horrors, similar to the 30 years war. The US and Europe combined cannot control the Muslim world for ever, and not the Chinese, the Russians, Africa. We cannot convert the Muslims to become enlightened democrats. This cannot be done within the next 80 years (remember the 80 years war) and not within 30 years. The persistent conflicts will decimate the strength of the US, and of Europe. Freedom will not win, but freedom would have been the only viable alternative.
I forgot to mention that the Protestants were as horrible for a Catholic, well, as the Taliban are for us. The revelations about American torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanomo are the equivalent of an autodafe