From Constantinople to Washington - Sometimes One Man Matters

They say history repeats itself. Properly forewarned, it doesn’t have to.  As Americans prepare to write a pivotal history for the ages this November – one way or another – it might be helpful to take a quick look at an earlier moment in time when a much divided, fractured world faced a pivotal challenge, and how complacency sealed its fate.

Constantinople, the city founded by Constantine the Great in 330 AD and later protected by the Theodosian Walls, stood as the capital of the Roman Empire for 1,000 years. (What we refer to as the Byzantine Empire was at the time referred to as the Roman Empire.) The city, surrounded on three sides by water and walls on the other, was thought to be impregnable. 

It was attacked in 1204 by Crusaders (4^th Crusade) who were ostensibly on their way to retake Jerusalem from the Ottomans. As the result of dynastic and political battles between the east and the west, the crusaders diverted to Constantinople and sacked the city and carved up most of the Empire. (They never did breach the Theodosian walls.)

The Byzantine Empire had been shrinking for centuries and by 1400 consisted largely of Constantinople and a few Greek outposts. The city, however, sitting at a key point between Asia and Europe, still played a major role in the battle between the east and the west. 

The rising Ottoman Empire would end that century stretching from the modern states of Algeria to Yemen to Hungary.  But in 1453 Constantinople was still Christian, and a major thorn in the side of Muslim Sultan Mehmed II. He planned to fix that.

By late May, after a two-month siege of the city and making no headway, Mehmed was preparing to retreat.  A small number of his advisors suggested giving the siege one last day before they withdrew.  Mehmed agreed and on the 29^th of May the Ottomans threw everything they had at the city, and each of the first three assaults was turned back and the Ottoman generals despaired at the prospect of defeat. 

But then one of the great turning points in history happened.  Among the 40,000 defenders – vs an Ottoman force of approximately 80,000 – were 700 Genoise fighters defending the most vulnerable parts of the walls. The defenses stretched thin, these Genoise warriors had, led by their captain Giovanni Giustiniani, held the Turks at bay for two months.

Through the third assault of the day, the Genoise had performed impeccably, and the smell of victory was beginning to waft through the defenses.  At that very moment however, just as the fourth and final assault was commencing, Giustiniani was shot. Wounded, Giustiniani commanded his troops to evacuate him from the city.  Either because of a miscommunication of the evacuation order or because they were afraid they could not succeed without Giustiniani, the 700 Genoise abandoned the walls and left the most vulnerable defenses unprotected. Seeing their opportunity, the Ottomans made their move before reinforcements could be diverted and breached the walls and took the city. Mehmed would later make Constantinople the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

Giustiniani would die from his wounds two days later as he was being transported home. Given the timing of his injury history posits that he may have been shot by a traitor within the walls timed to coordinate with the last assault.

Whatever the case, Constantinople fell and all of the west became fearful that the Ottomans were going to conquer the entirety of Europe. They wouldn’t, but they would haunt many a European’s nightmare for centuries.

The ironic thing is however, the city fell because it didn’t have the resources to effectively defend itself.  Despite pleas, most of those caterwauling kings and nobles of the west had been too busy with their domestic concerns, dynastic infighting and petty jealousies to bother sending support. As a result, a mere 700 men, or in reality, one man, stood in the way of the loss of what was seen as the Christian bulwark against the Muslim menace in the east, and when he left, the city fell. 

There are lessons to be had from the kings’ and nobles’ inaction. How many times have you heard a pro-lifer say they can’t vote for Trump because they feel he’s soft on abortion? Or a free-market advocate say they can’t vote for Trump because he supports tariffs? Or someone who says he won’t vote because everyone’s corrupt?

We all know Trump is flawed. But the reality is, we’re all flawed. We just know more about Trump’s flaws because he spends so much time talking.  I dare anyone to speak for a fraction of the time Trump does and not leave a trail of breadcrumbs that the propaganda ministry can’t use to paint you as Satan.

But here’s the truth, all of those people who say they won’t vote for Trump because of this or that are basically casting a vote for that very thing, only exponentially worse. And not only that, the election of Harris will come with a cart full of other things they likely don’t want.

If Harris is elected in November, the Republic as we know it will disappear.  Democrats will eviscerate the Supreme Court. They’ll add DC and Puerto Rico as states and the GOP will never again control the Senate. They’ll implement a 45% capital gains tax and a 25% tax on unrealized gains. DEI will become the law of the land with “equity” replacing merit as the fundamental measure upon which society is built. The scientific fact of men and women will be obliterated.  They’ll outsource American foreign policy to the WEF and the economy to the climate change cultists.  The open border will remain and millions of 3^rd world “refugees” with little appreciation for American mores or allegiance to the United States will pour over the border and then suddenly, not only be able to vote, but will get houses for no money down and benefits beyond what citizens receive. And freedom of speech and the 2^nd Amendment will be distant memories before the midterms.

Given this reality, those people who say they cannot in “good conscience” vote for someone they don’t like, are in reality not of good conscience at all.  They’re cowards. As any parent who has to discipline their kid knows, sometimes adults have to make the difficult decision to do things they don’t like.  As such, when the Republic is faced with an existential threat, when the choice is between a party that wants to save it and one that seeks Communism, to choose to do nothing is a choice, a choice to empower tyranny.    

Once the Republic is gone – in fact if not in name – all of those issues over which such men of “conscience” are wringing their hands will become moot. Not only will they lose out on those issues, but they will lose out on everything else. In a tyranny you control nothing, from your money to your family to your voice. 

This is the most popular quote of the 20^th century:  “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” As pedestrian as it sounds, in 2024 it might be the most important quote of the day.  This November, anyone who decides to sit out the election because they’re offended by an imperfect man, or worse vote against him because of that imperfection, is literally voting to eviscerate the American Republic.  They deserve no respect, they deserve disdain, derision and contempt. 

Collapse of Civilization: Lessons Voters Might Take From Roman Britain

“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it,” said George Santayana. He could well be describing modern leftists, careening back into the dark ages of post-Roman Britain.

At the end of the 2^nd century AD Britain was a fully developed province of the Roman Empire.  It was as Roman as any city in the Empire. While still largely rural, Roman Britain developed towns and cities that mirrored those found in Italy or North Africa and connected them with a spectacular roadway. They had majestic villas, sprawling estates, baths, plumbing and of course aqueducts.  The Romans brought industrial sophistication to mining, unprecedented architectural capabilities and improved agriculture.  The province was awash in imported goods from around the Empire: Wine from Gaul, olive oil from Hispania, pottery from North Africa, and philosophy teachers from Greece; all the while exporting precious metals, agricultural products, shellfish and salt across the Empire.

One of the extraordinary things about the Roman Empire was the unprecedented, widespread prosperity it created from the Pillars of Hercules to the Levant and virtually everywhere in between. While there had always been a market for fine goods such as silk and porcelain and exotic foods, the Romans brought those goods to the masses. By building roads, ports, transportation hubs and funding the trade necessary to support the Legions, the Romans drove economies of scale and created a mass market for goods that had formerly been available only to the rich but had become inexpensive across the Roman world.  In doing so they created a cosmopolitan empire so thoroughly Roman that people from what are today Morocco and Britain and Germany and Israel likely spoke some version of the same language and would have found familiar products available regardless of where they were in the Empire.

Back in Britain, three hundred years after Caesar first invaded the untamed island in 55 BC the province was a sophisticated, shining example of all of the Empire had to offer. It was not to last however… In less than a century after the Romans abandoned the island for good in 410 the population collapsed, the economy collapsed, cities became ghost towns or disappeared and chaos reigned. Londinium, whose population peaked at 60,000 in the 2^nd century, dropped below 20,000 and saw more than 75% of its buildings dismantled with the materials carted off into the countryside.

In less than a century Roman Britain went from a rich, flourishing cosmopolitan province with bustling urban centers and goods from across the known world to an economic and cultural backwater where modern architectural, plumbing and farming techniques seemed to have disappeared along with most of the import of goods. 

Most of the people living on the island in the middle of the 4^th century probably assumed, like much of America in 2022, that the advances of civilization move only in one direction, upward.  They expected to continue to enjoy inexpensive food and pottery and clothing from elsewhere in while selling their wares in return.  The government would continue to provide protection and would maintain the ports and roads that facilitated trade. 

When those things didn’t happen life in Britain became a far darker experience.  Cities disappeared, warlords set up fiefdoms and invaders came from seemingly everywhere. Farming techniques were lost, building techniques were lost, trade collapsed and citizens were forced to become self sufficient as numerous petty would be “kings” set up trade and travel barriers and goods from the Continent became scarce.  The opposite of economies of scale and free trade took hold and Britain became far less prosperous as goods became more expensive, countless products and varieties of products simply disappeared and staples had to be produced locally.

It’s here where Santayana’s missive becomes relevant. Given that the history of post Roman Britain so clearly demonstrates the fragility of civilization’s advances, we might want to pay attention.  The reality is, our world, far more tenuously than the Britain of 1700 years ago, is but X bad decisions away from an agrarian, subsistence economy with no electricity, no gas, little trade, few economies of scale and most certainly no security or safety. 

Go through a day and see how many things we rely on that we couldn’t replace if a disaster occurred.  Imagine a blackout.  How many things would that loss of electricity impact?  Not only the lighting in our homes, but the refrigerators, phone chargers, garage door openers as well.  Outside our homes there’s even more: Elevators.  Gas pumps. Plumbing.  Street lamps & stop lights. Virtually everything in a hospital. Cell phone towers. Police switchboards and dispatches. Train signals and countless other things.

Then there’s the social aspects of such a crisis.  Rules and laws would go out the window, and it wouldn’t take long. During the New York City blackout of 1977 crime surged, with looting, vandalism and arson rampant (over 1,000 fires were set) while police arrested 3,776 people in the largest mass arrest in the city’s history.  The chaos cost over $1 billion in today’s dollars, and the lights were off for less than 24 hours!  Now jump forward to the BLM / Antifa riots of 2020 and the defunding of police.  Not only was there chaos and mayhem, there were murders, assaults, and rapes nationwide and communities literally burned to the ground. Then there is the mass looting and random violence that has occurred since 2020 and seems to be growing worse every day… and through all of this we still had electricity!

Of course electricity is only one element of what keeps our society civilized.  There’s gasoline, there’s trade, there’s what used to be a widespread respect for the rule of law.  Imagine no diesel fuel.  Trucks wouldn’t be able to deliver food and store shelves will go bare.  You probably have enough food in your kitchen for your family to last a few days or maybe a week at most. Then what? Are you going to grow wheat on your windowsill or in your backyard?  Is the neighborhood stray cat going to be your family’s next meal? Do you have a cow for milk? Not to mention medicines, building materials, gasoline for your car… the list of goods delivered via diesel is endless. 

One of the downsides of trade, division of labor and economies of scale is that most of us are dependent on others to provide for us those things we don’t produce for ourselves… which is to say, almost everything.  Our society is based on a trade system where we get paid to do some things and we pay others to do the things we don’t. It’s a well oiled machine… until it’s not.    

And that’s the point.  The climate alarmists who want to do away with fossil fuels have no concept of the ramifications of that folly. The equity cultists who want to eliminate the police and “reform” the justice system don’t care about the consequences of that absurdity. 

Just as the razor thin layer of atmosphere surrounding the earth sustains life on earth, our modern society thrives thanks to plentiful, inexpensive energy and a respect for the rule of law.  Inexplicably, those are the two primary targets of the Democrats who are currently in charge of wide swaths of the United States.  Indeed Californians regularly endure the absurd manmade disaster of rolling blackouts while Illinois is about to essentially decriminalize crime.  Neither is necessary…

When Americans step into their well lit, safe and private voting booths on November 8^th they’d do well to think of those 5^th century Britons who were about to careen into a darkness from which it would take almost a millennia to emerge, and vote accordingly.