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Gettysburg, Then and Now

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Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Seven score and ten years ago today the Battle of Gettysburg was over.   The carnage was horrific and the course of the Civil War was set.  It would take nearly two more years to wind it down, but a different nation emerged from the blood that soaked the land.  We celebrate 150 years of this battle as a people changed and humbled, yet in many ways still fighting what “liberty” and “equal” mean.

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Suspension of Disbelief

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Everyone has the experience at some time.  You’ve read a book or seen a movie that you absolutely loved, and you want to tell the world about your new obsession.  You might even know someone that you’d love to share this new world with.  So you start telling them about the intricate details of the plot and characters and after rambling on and on … and then you see their eyes slowly glaze over. What went wrong?  Often it’s that you had suspended your disbelief in something that sounds too absurd to tell easily.  It makes sense to you, but the retelling leaves you sounding a bit crazy.

This doesn’t just happen with fiction.  A  disconnected world requires a lot of suspension of disbelief.

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The Rhyme of Texas History

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Senator Wendy Davis knew exactly what she was getting into.  Her stand was to be a 13 hour test of endurance, constantly speaking without any food or water.  Since she couldn’t even sit, a back brace reinforced her spine.  Her feet that would carry the load were shorn with pink running shoes, the uniform of a marathoner.  She girded herself for the physical strain of a filibuster, the only way to stop SB5, a series of restrictions on abortion that would close 37 of the 42 clinics in the state if passed.  The rights of all women of Texas were on the line, and Senator Davis would not yield.

On a warm day 177 years earlier Jim Bowie heard the army of General Santa Anna was approaching San Antonio.  Though he was ailing, he readied for the fight.  He and 188 other men made their last stand for freedom in the mission known as the Alamo.   After a 13 day siege, Santa Anna’s troops stormed in and slaughtered them all.  But the process wasted 3 weeks, giving Sam Houston time to organize – and the news of the slaughter confirmed it was now a death match.  They would either win their freedom or die trying.  The Texans rallied and eventually won their independence.

Senator Wendy Davis’ fight is not over, and with a new special session it is likely to end in defeat.  But like the Alamo, sometimes a battle lost is a war won.

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Wealth is How You Feel

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Around the world, two stories have been consistent since 2008 – the developed world is struggling with a depression while the developing world largely charges ahead.  The two worlds have never been so far apart as the careen towards similarity.  But in this hemisphere, three stories have come to show where it all comes together – how “wealthy” is what a nation feels more than how it is.

Forget how Japan and Europe are wallowing in desperation for a while – on this side of the big ponds things are happening.  It may be slower than anyone wants, but change is happening.  The reactions to that change show that my favorite saying is still true – that while people are people, cultures are cultures.  Wealth, or at least the feeling of wealth, is a state of mind.

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Pirate Banking

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Avast, ye dogs!  So you live on a small rock with no resources and a pretty hard life.  Ships loaded with treasure go past all the time, hardly protected by anything other than a navy which you can spot over the horizon.  What do you do?  For big hunks of the Caribbean and many other parts of the world, the answer for many was to turn to piracy, or at least turn a blind eye to it.  Rich nations could afford to give a little bit to the cause and, as long as the gunships were far away, life was pretty easy.

Those were the good old days.

Some tiny nations that used to be havens for pirates have found a new, more lucrative way of making a living out of nuthin’.  Rather than prey on the wealthy, they help hide their wealth – not under the “X” on a treasure map, but in a real bank operated far from prying eyes (and taxing ledgers).  An estimated $32 trillion (as of 2010) is hidden away in the tiny nations on the fringes of civilization.  It’s an issue which is becoming as hot as the Caribbean sun in most of the developed world, especially the UK.  But what can be done about it?

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