- Chapter 32
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Editor's Introduction To:The Skills Of Xanadu
Theodore Sturgeon
Republics and empires are natural enemies. The late Herman Kahn once said that the natural state of mankind is to be governed by an empire, and the natural course of empire is to grow until it either fills the earth, or is contained by another empire.
That doesn't always work. In the eternal clash between republic and empire, the republics don't always win. But often they do—particularly if the republic is young and vigorous.
Indeed, young and vigorous republics seldom miss an opportunity to tweak the nose of empire. As an example, after the revolution of 1848 was violently suppressed in Austria-Hungary by Russian intervention, a United States Navy warship rescued Kossuth, one of the leaders of the revolution, and transported him in triumph to New York. When the Austro-Hungarian government protested, Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, made an eloquent speech of defiance. "We are," he said, "a nation that spans a continent, and compared to the United States, the domains of the Habsburgs are but a patch upon the Earth." Of course there was no possible way that the Austro-Hungarian Empire could send an army of whitecoats to these shores. The Austrian navy was neither large nor strong nor particularly adapted to blue-water cruises, but it was still much larger than the U.S. Navy. On the other hand, Webster knew he could rely on the British and the Monroe Doctrine to correct our unfortunate lack of battleships.
In later years the American republic grew more vigorous, until by 1917 the United States held the balance of power in the world, and by 1945 was able to field more military power than any empire of history. Both those cases are instructive: before either of the World Wars began, the United States was not really taken seriously as a Great Power. We had the industrial capacity, to be sure. But we had little force in being, and our political authorities were unwilling or unable to do much about that. It was only after we had been drawn into the wars that we mobilized.
It is characteristic of democracies that they seldom have sustained policies, and almost never are willing to make sacrifices now to avoid greater sacrifices—even wars—later. How can they? The elected officials are never sure that spending money now will prevent the greater harm later, but they are very sure that those expenses won't be popular, and will probably get them defeated in the next election. Better to wait until everyone can see the threat.
Republics, mixed governments, can do better and often have. It was after all the intent of the Constitution that the states take care of most details of government, leaving the federal authority to concern itself with defense and diplomacy. And since the Congress wouldn't have a lot more to think about, nor much else to spend federal revenue on, the national government might do a creditable job of providing for the common defense. There were also those oceans between us and any possible enemy.
Unfortunately, in this era, Congress seems to have a great deal more to think about than defense, and the oceans seem to have shrunk considerably.
Empires can mobilize their resources in time of war or peace. Empires can design plans that will require decades to accomplish. Empires are nearly always better armed than republics, at least when hostilities begin. It would seem that empires have the advantage.
So they do. But empires always forget what free people can accomplish.
Ted Sturgeon has said that the theme of this story is simple enough: your freedom is worthless unless you use it to free someone else, and the best way to do that is "to infect locked-up minds with the idea of freedom."
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