| Hail to the Victors! It's amazing how much a Trump presidency, combined with a non-inspiring performance by the GOP Congressional leadership and a depressingly scary world out there, can lead one to focus on sports. So I've been paying a fair amount of attention to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. I've recovered from the disappointment of the one Ivy team, Princeton, (barely!) being eliminated in the first round, and of Cinderella Northwestern (sorry, Joe Epstein!) losing in the second round (partly as a result of an awful non-goaltending call by the officials—here's a nice piece on that by the Washington Post's Chuck Culpepper). But there will be happiness at today's editorial meeting, for the University of Wisconsin upset #1 Villanova to make it to the Sweet Sixteen. Steve Hayes will replay the game at length, as our colleagues nervously look at their watches and remind him there are Comey and Gorsuch hearings going on they might be paying attention to. (Unfortunately I'll miss this morning's meeting, as I'm taping a couple of "Conversations" today, one of them on Europe with our own Chris Caldwell.) But remind me to write Steve an email telling him how excited I am by Wisconsin's glorious victory.... Actually, the team that I am excited about is Michigan, which made it to the round of 16 by upsetting Louisville. Why, you ask, do I care about Michigan, since I have no particular connection to the school or the state? Because their fight song—"Hail to the Victors"— is not only one of the first fight songs, but in my totally uninformed, strongly held opinion, it's the best. (Since you asked, it was composed by a Michigan student, Louis Elbel, about whom little else seems to be known. If you do know something about him, write me—I'm curious.) But really, isn't it possible that "Hail to the Victors" is the best music ever composed in the U.S.? (If you're shocked by this Philistine suggestion, keep your disdain to yourself.) In any case, the NCAA tournament will take us through another couple of weeks, and then the baseball season will begin. I haven't paid any attention to spring training, but I do look forward to having baseball to watch in April. For now, let me call your attention to a very fine piece in the Post by Tom Boswell on Max Scherzer and his knuckle ailment. It begins, "The price of greatness can be destruction." Even if you don't care much about Scherzer or baseball, it's worth reading the whole thing. * * * ADVERTISEMENT
* * * Whither Europe? I mentioned I'd be filming a Conversation with Chris Caldwell on Europe. There are a ton of interesting questions to ask about Europe's future, many of which Chris has addressed over the years in TWS, including in his cover story in the new issue. I highly recommend Chris's book from 2009, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, which is as relevant as ever today. I also recommend a new book out from occasional TWS contributor Jamie Kirchik, cheerfully called "The End of Europe: Dictators, Demagogues and the Coming Dark Age." As an appetizer, you'll enjoy Jamie's new piece in Politico, "The Road to a Free Europe Goes through Moscow." I served in the George H. W. Bush White House when the Berlin Wall came down, Germany was unified as part of the West, and Bush articulated a vision of Europe whole and free. Some progress was made over the next couple of decades, but we now seem to be on a downward path in terms of the strength of liberal democratic institutions on the continent at any level. Well, to reverse the famous comment of T. S. Eliot, "there is no such thing as a Gained Cause, because there is no such thing as a Lost Cause." History didn't end, and the fight for liberty and self-government go on. * * * Derek Walcott Speaking of T.S. Eliot, and therefore of poets, Derek Walcott, winner of the 1992 Nobel for literature, died on March 17. I know little of his work, but we have published two appreciations of him, both of which make him sound very much worth reading. Take a look at the essays here and here. Of the various snippets of his poetry quoted, I rather liked this: Because Rhyme remains the parentheses of palms
shielding a candle’s tongue, it is the language’s
desire to enclose the loved world in its arms; I also like Bill Buckley's original mission statement for National Review, which I use as the peg for my editorial this week—particularly this bold and spirited assertion: We have nothing to offer but the best that is in us. That, a thousand Liberals who read this sentiment will say with relief, is clearly not enough! It isn't enough. But it is at this point that we steal the march. For we offer, besides ourselves, a position that has not grown old under the weight of a gigantic, parasitic bureaucracy, a position untempered by the doctoral dissertations of a generation of Ph.D's in social architecture, unattenuated by a thousand vulgar promises to a thousand different pressure groups, uncorroded by a cynical contempt for human freedom. And that, ladies and gentlemen, leaves us just about the hottest thing in town. In case you're interested, I followed up the thought in the editorial with several tweets on Saturday morning: A few further thoughts after this editorial. Against assault of the left & drive-by denigration by Trump, I've thought it important to defend the modern GOP & American conservatism. They're a party and a movement of which I'm proud to have been part. But I am increasingly convinced that defense of the old and even the true aren't going to be enough. The failure to repel Trump and now the fact of the Trump presidency are likely to do real damage, perhaps irreparable damage, to the old party & the old movement. And it's also true the party and movement have become creaky & reactive. So I suspect we're in something of a 1955 moment (Buckley starts NR) or a mid-70s moment (birth of neoconservatism). And I wonder if the key isn't to reclaim the word "liberal." After all, what are we for? Liberal democracy, liberal education & I'd say (to be provocative) liberal empire. And what virtue is perhaps most threatened by left and right & most needed? Liberality. * * * Onward. Bill Kristol * * * |
