C-Span (times e.t.)

A favorite of many on this blog, Historian David Hackett Fischer delivered the Irving Kristol Lecture at the American Enterprise Institute’s annual dinner in Washington, DC, after receiving the Institute’s Irving Kristol Award for 2006. His speech will be shown at 8:05 EST on Sunday, BookTV, C-Span 2. In “American Leadership: The Invention of Tradition,” Mr. Fischer describes George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt as three great leaders. He argues that the open and flexible leadership skills of these men were the key to their success.

Shelby Steele is the guest on the 3-hour In-depth, beginning at noon e.s.t. on Sunday.

Why So Few Immigration-Related Protests in South Florida?

Miami blogger Robert comments on a thoughtful Miami Herald column by Fred Grimm:

Grimm suggests the reason may be because many immigrants here are content with their special status, particularly Cubans and Central Americans. He has a point, although I wouldn’t say all Cubans are content with the wet foot/dry foot policy. Haitians certainly aren’t happy with their status, but you still didn’t see them protest en masse.

It’s certainly not because there are a lack of illegals here.

I suspect the main reason is something Grimm didn’t address: lack of resentment for the United States of America.

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds says, “PHOTOS LIKE THESE aren’t likely to stir sympathy for illegal immigrants.”

That’s putting it mildly. How do the Mexican irredentist wannabes think Jacksonian America is going to respond to their political argument?

To Borders Rewards:

I see you don’t have a customer feedback category for freedom of speech. That is unfortunate. I understand that you will not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Until you grow a spine, don’t expect to see me back in your store. My Borders Rewards number is XXXXXXXXXX. I will not be needing it again, apparently, so I will be taking the tag off my keychain. Please go to hell, and convey my compliments to the devil.

Piling On – Immigration

Comment become post: Two audios demonstrate differing perspectives. The Blogosphere one gives broader context: near the beginning of the Helen/Glen podcast interview with Austin Bay/Jim Dunnigan the factors of contemporary immigration versus that of the century before are discussed. The MSM (well, NPR) take is more politicized; Melissa Block interviews former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castaneda on All Things Considered.

When I was a kid in the middle of the last century, we felt the centrality of immigration to our sense of who we were as Nebraskans. My father talked of walking down main street in the thirties, when he could hear three or four languages. (Main street was only about three blocks long.) Towns nearby were known as Danish (Minden), Irish Catholic (Heartwell), German Catholic (Roseland), German Lutheran (Kenesaw), Swedish (Oakland), Czech (Wilber) etc. etc. The Cuban immigration after Castro influenced some of our culture as did the Lithuanian and Latvians in post-WWII movements. This was who we were – we were all these but all these were us, no more & no less than those whose ancesters had come west during reconstruction or followed the trains as they connected east & west. Out of the many came America. Now, Asian & Hispanic ethnicities add their culture & foods & voices.

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Publicizing a new(ish) venture

Recent political discussions among my friends and acquaintances in Britain have been rather depressed and depressing. We all start off by saying that we absolutely have to get rid of Blair for all sorts of reasons, too numerous to list on this blog.

Then somebody asks rather gloomily what will happen when (and if) he is succeeded by Gordon Brown. We all groan. The idea of that prissy Scot who oozes hard core socialism as well as misery as Prime Minister fills everyone with loathing. (And I do mean everyone. Gordon Brown managed to lose Labour a safe seat recently in a by-election on his own doorstep in Dunfermline.)

Of course, Blair may well not leave until Brown had completely discredited himself. That is my own reading of the situation and I rather regret not putting any money on that before Blair said that he now regretted saying that he would not be leading the party in the next election.

What many people forget is that the Labour Party elects its leaders and, given its slightly crazy view of the world, it may not elect Brown but go for someone else, like the egregious Prescott. Probably not, but you never can tell.

On the other hand, somebody says, brightening momentarily, Brown will not win another election. (Prescott could not win a three-legged race against arthritic tortoises.)

And that will do what, another says. Well, we shall have a …. um … a Conservative government …. that is to say … the Conservative Party will win an election …. perhaps. That’s when the real groans start. For there is no doubt in anybody’s mind. The government that this Conservative Party with the Boy-King David Cameron and his court in charge might form will not be a Conservative one. Actually, it will not be anything but a tie-less version of a possible Liberal-Democrat government.

So, there we are. What is one to do? In my case, the obvious answer is turning to conservative history (with a small c as it is not just about the party and past governments).

Some time ago I took over the editorship of the Conservative History Journal and, having published three issues, have just finished proof-reading a pamphlet on the career of Sir Michael Hicks Beach.

That is not enough in the modern day, even for a Conservative History Group. So, I have started a blog, which will, in the fullness of time, be turned into an all-singing, all-dancing website.

In the meantime, I anticipate lots of ideas, suggested postings and (hey, if you dream, dream big) even articles for the Journal from my co-bloggers and readers.

(Link to Conservative History Blog)

Cross-posted from Albion’s Seedlings