Rick Spencer Back in Action....Again!!

Hello C-133 crew-members! I must apologize for falling behind my personal commitment to post a book review once a month that somehow ties into our USAF service no matter how tenuous the tie may be. But, I, as you, was very busy with the summer as that is when the kids and grandkids visit, perfecting my golf swing is a high priority, and the daylight hours take away from my time for reading and writing. Also, during this summer we began to market our house in order to move to Reston, VA, to be close to our youngest son and his family. We continue that effort, to no avail, as the Delaware housing market has flat lined.

We are now spending our 5^th winter in Key West where I mostly golf, fish, and read while Sue continues with her painting. Key West is an easygoing town loaded with cultural activities that are easily accessible and also has a large military presence. The Navy’s East coast Top-Gun fighter training base, Boca Chica NAS is next door, and the F-16’s and F-18’s are in the air as I write. My first official USAF mission with the 39^th ATS was to Key West during the Cuban Missile Crisis where KW was turned into an invasion port. Oddly, it was Florida’s largest city at the end of the 19^th century and has loads of history. Visit, if you can.

Now that I am settled in here for the winter, I have begun to commit several of my year’s readings to short reviews that hopefully provide you with enough ‘meat’ so that you may enjoy them as well. So, I thought that I would try something different and share my winter list with you in the event you find them of interest for your winter hibernation as well.

As you can tell from my past reviews, I like to write about the wisdom of history as it traces our nation’s rich intellectual legacy largely garnered through the invaluable lessons of Western thought that, in turn, lead us to insights about the three hundred years of Capitalism that has shaped our country and provided us with a very rich personal and national life. I would say, a life beyond our wildest dreams; one desired by all others; one to be protected for our progeny from future financial or villainous calamity.

But, mostly, I like to read about the every day American who stepped forth upon the world stage to represent us in times of great national or international peril with their unsuspected innate abilities to seize the moment and rescue the day regardless of its great personal danger. That singular aspect, some call it the essence of American Exceptionalism, has been the history of America and fosters ordinary citizen desire to protect our freedom and our Republic. Those moments of national danger also teach us much about the risks and rewards of being a superpower. C-133 crew-members were an important part of such history during the latter part of the 20^th century and we celebrated many of the events that involved our uniformed service during our last reunion.

So, I follow now with my winter 2012 reading list that feasts upon America’s past as it has been molded into greatness through the profundity of its leaders imbued with western thought. Enjoy!

1. Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs of Legendary Ace, Robin Olds

2. Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Eighties

3. The Complete Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes

4. Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

5. The Art of War by Sun-Tzu, The New Translation

6. Gabriel Allon Series by Daniel Silva

Winter 2010/11, List & Book VI

I. James Madison by Jack N. Rakove

II. The Law by Frederic Bastiat

III. Present at the Creation by Dean Acheson

IV. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt

V. The Math Book by Clifford A. Pickover

VI. Before the Dawn by Shimazaki Toson and translated by W.E. Naff

I first began to read this immense novel about 19^th century Japan two years ago but faltered when summer arrived. It became lost somewhere in the house unable to be found until just recently when I discovered it on a ‘hidden bookshelf’ with my page marker exactly where I had placed it those many months ago. Now, if this had been in the garage, it would still be misplaced (call that lost) according to certain family members!

Before the Dawn was first published in 1932 with the English translation being completed in 1987 by William Naff as a result of his doctoral dissertation about Shimazaki Toson, the author. Toson departed for Paris in 1913 as the first Japanese writer to take up residence outside of Japan. His reasons to leave Japan were not exactly honorable and he never intended to return, but the outbreak of WWI took him home after only three years.

Naff suggests it was some years later before Tolson was able to publicly rehabilitate himself through his second novel, Before the Dawn, by telling the story of his father’s life in the middle of the nineteenth century. This proved to be his masterpiece as it was a fictional history about that time according to Tolson, “…when the old was being discarded even though the new things to replace them had not yet been created”. These were the years leading up to the Meiji Restoration of Imperial Rule.

Before the Dawn is Tolson’s version of the Meiji Restoration, which played a defining role in those events of the nineteenth century that entered the Japanese national consciousness, and had been “…too painful and too filled with ambiguity … to be confronted by the Japanese public”.

The startling chain of events leading to the restoration of imperial rule in 1886 saw Japan evolve from being a feudal society to one having a capitalist economy with a lingering Western influence. The samurai had passed into oblivion.

The history of Tolson’s own family had also been too painful and embarrassing for him to face, and Before the Dawn thus satisfied his personal desire for a more complete and public approach to his family’s actions. It is the story of rural Japan, beginning in 1558, with his fictionalized family of samurai origins, and the great emphasis upon stability, family, and order facing the changes brought about by “enlighten rule’.

Such rule, that was to combine western advancements with eastern values to the centuries old traditions ‘of order of life’, that protected, fed, and nurtured the citizens of rural villages is told in stark detail by Tolson. Of all the shocks that Tolson’s protagonist, Hanzo, had to endure was the program of Europeanization that was so quickly initiated and most difficult to bear. Hanzo loved his vision of the imperial institution. Naff points out that the implications of what took place in nineteenth-century Japan are still unfolding in our own day and no nation or individual remains untouched by them.

Naff further states that the writing of this immense novel as marking the apex of Tolson’s career and had long since earned its author a secure place among the leading figures in modern Japanese literature. Its appearance was the major literary event of its time. To give one an idea of the prodigious writings of Tolson, Naff points us to a 1983 “selected bibliography” that lists one hundred thirty-four books, forty-seven special journal issues, and some seven hundred articles and essays. Before the Dawn, even though a fictionalized version of those historic times, remains the standard against which all other novels about that period of immense change in Japan’s culture are measured.

As I begin once again to read, I am flooded with the mental images describing the life of 19^th century rural Japan by Tolson; its adventure, turmoil, and tragedy; and, the richness of its characters that come alive with his writing. I feel assured that you will enjoy this novel as much as any that you have ever read. It is loaded with all that good writing can produce. Enjoy!

Richard Spencer

39^th ATS, DAFB, 1962-1965

Book Reviews to Come:

VII. Leviathan by Hobbes

VIII. The Berlin Airlift

IX. Sacred Fire

Winter 2010, List & Book IV

I. James Madison by Jack N. Rakove

II. The Law by Frederic Bastiat

III. Present at the Creation by Dean Acheson

IV. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt

Check out this YouTube video:

The Primary Lesson in This Book

This is a text that I have always wanted to own, but hesitated because of the many others I have concerning free market economics. Finally, I decided it is time; and, as touted through the years, it has been my mistake. Free market economics can be taught in one lesson, if taught by Hazlitt; and, everyone to their everlasting benefit can understand it. If ever a book was written that foresaw how national policies predicated upon economic fallacies could financially destroy a country this is it, and we are now living it.

First published in 1946, at a time of rampant statism in the U.S., Hazlitt outlined precisely the bad consequences of putting the government in charge of our economic life. All that he forewarned against has come true with our one hundred year embracement of Progressive economic sophisms culminating in our Faustian bargain of debt, dependency, and default. The IMF is now estimating our unfunded liabilities as two hundred trillion dollars ($200 T) and as an unsustainable financial burden. Professor Kotlikoff in the article further notes, “... that we should get real…as the U.S. is bankrupt!”

Hazlitt is considered one of the most brilliant public intellectuals of the twentieth century. His bibliography totaled more than 10,000 entries with a major interest in economics but he was not particularly political. Hazlitt was also the most important public intellectual within the Austrian tradition of economics. The Austrian economists were continuously warning against the false promises of ‘free ice cream’ that leads a nation down the road to serfdom. Early on, Hazlitt objected to the regimentation of the regime of the ‘The New Deal’; and that inspired him to promote free markets as the path to individual personal and economic freedom as they are inseparable. Personal liberty was his goal, and exposing and destroying the economic fallacies impeding it was his life.

There are three broad parts of the book: The Lesson, The Lesson Applied, and the Lesson Restated. He begins by stating the whole of economics can be reduced to a single lesson, and that lesson reduced to a single sentence. “The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act of policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.”

He concludes that about 90% of the economic fallacies that are working such dreadful harm in the world are the result of ignoring that one single lesson. And, given our political history of interest groups manipulating government to benefit themselves at the expense of others, who can repudiate his statement? Hazlitt, in one hundred and eighty three pages, destroys every economic fallacy that not a major government in the world is devoid of, if not having an economy almost wholly determined by these very fallacies.

After reading Economics in One Lesson one will better understand the vision of the Founding Fathers in their determination to create a constrained and limited government to better promote economic liberty. This was to be a nation with a government, not a government with a nation: that freedom works! This book will be popular for as long as democracy survives, as it is a lesson for the American ages.

Do not let your children and grandchildren age before learning the lessons of free market economics, as it is in their best interest to soon do so. Free markets are simply the best of all economic alternatives to enhance the general welfare of its citizens, to promote democracy, to ensure liberty; and, especially, to promote cooperative worldwide peace. Our historic success can be largely attributed to an emphasis for respect of other people’s views along with Western thought and its collaboration with free market economics.

Copies are now on the way to my children with my hearty admonition to make certain their children read it early in life, and often throughout their life. Enjoy!

Richard Spencer

39th ATS, DAFB, 1962-1965

Book Reviews to Come:

V. The Math Book by Clifford A. Pickover

VI. Before the Dawn by Shimazaki Toson and translated by W.E. Naff

VII. Leviathan by Hobbes

VIII. The Berlin Airlift

IX. Sacred Fire

Curse of the Cargomaster Feedback

Thank you for the following Comments:

The article was quite interesting and informative and one part in particular caught my attention; the testing at Edwards. It prompted this question.

Is there anybody out there who was at Wright-Patterson during the investigation of the C-133 when all 42 aicraft were grounded? There was an extensive inspection, and testing going on at the same time with two A models, 56-2000 & 56-2008 at Wright-Pat. Just curious?

Robert Houston


Thanks for the articles. I made one flight as a reservist several years after I separated from active duty. A major problem with the props had been fixed and the old birds were making some trips to Vietnam without maintenance delays. A lot of the tension that existed when we were in the 1st Squadron had disappeared. This was before the crash due to the structural failure.

Marion Johnson


I was asked by Gen Wallace to fly an airplane to Warner Robbins to have the plane dismantled and inspected by some of the best aeronautical minds in the U.S. This was done and then Gen. Wallace asked that I go as the FE, retrieve the aircraft, micro preflight the airplane and bring it home when ready. I spent two days inspecting the aircraft and then we flew it home. The first flight at home was with Gen Wallace on board. It is only fair that we give credit to Gen. Wallace as he is the one who insisted we fly our own aircraft to and from on all missions, no more staging C-133’s. He was, in every sense, the aircrewman’s general.

Sandy Sandstrom


My name is Art Szmuriga. I was a C-133 Pilot in the 1st MAS at Dover from July '68 through Jan '70. I went through the 2nd pilot, 1st pilot and AC upgrades before being sent to Cam Ranh Bay (Click on Air Base for history) to fly C-7A Caribous.

I read your letter to Mr. Sotham with great interest. I remember that when I graduated from Moody in June '68, I was extremely happy to get to Dover and accepted the C-133 mission with joy since we would go world wide, no staging, etc. I didn't know about many of the crashes, etc, and we didn't talk about them much at Dover. By the time I started flying the C-133, most of the problems were corrected. I have pleasant memories of flying the C-133 even though I had a few in-flight emergencies that turned out okay.

I would like you to check and confirm the date of the B model that disintegrated over Nebraska. Your letter gave a date of Feb 6, 1967. Please check this for correctness. I was at Dover when this happened and I seem to recall that it may have happened in 1969, but I'm not sure. Since I was at Dover from June '68 through Jan '70, it was in that time frame, rather than 1967. I also recall that they grounded the fleet and put the "belly bands" on after that crash.

If I am incorrect, please accept my apologies for not remembering correctly. If I am correct, you can go from there.

Thank You,

Art Szmuriga
Matthews, NC

NOTE: Art gets the "prize" for catching an inadvertant typo. It was 1969, and our blog post has been corrected.


I really found this interesting, I was on the way back to Dover when the one went in off Kadena, and we heard about it right after we got back.

I was deadheading back to Dover and was originally scheduled to catch the one that blew up over Nebraska, it was due to quick stop Travis about midnight, but I found out just a little earlier that there was one coming through at 0300 and elected to spend another couple hours in bed with my future wife and catch it. As we were through flying that one, we were hauled into Ops and almost locked up in a secure room. We could have no contact with the outside. After what seemed like hours, we were told what happened , taken right back to the plane and launched for Dover. I always had a theory, knowing that some loads I had helped haul out of Nam and found out later had been booby trapped, figured that this one had been, and it worked.

The reason I was deadheading, I'd been through the training on the RC-121 for Korat, and my shipment date was delayed several months, and had taken a short leave, gone back to McClellan to refresh before going to the Batcats.

James Mitchell

Curse of the Cargomaster Update 2

Lou Martin also wrote a fascinating, multi-page letter about his 133 experiences to the author of the article, Curse of the Cargomaster. It's too long to show in its entirety on a blog post, but below are a few beginning and ending paragraphs. I will also forward the entire letter to our current e-mail list, so those interested can access the whole thing. Any questions or comments should be sent directly to Lou at his e-mail address: pilotlou@aol.com

September 2, 2010

Mr. John Sotham
Air & Space Smithsonian
MRC 573 P.O. Box 37012
Washington, D.C. 20013

Dear Mr. Sotham,

Having logged 4,700 hours of pilot time in the C-133 I found your article, The Curse of the Cargomaster, in the September 2010 issue of the Air & Space Magazine very interesting and well done. However, I would like to add a few personal anecdotes regarding my experiences when flying the legendary C-133.
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I reported into the 39 MAS in July 1964 and after completing ground school I made my first flight in a C-133 on August 17, 1964 and by mid September was flying missions, mostly to Europe, as a second pilot (the lowest ranking for new copilots). My first impression of the Cargomaster was that it was noisy, vibrated constantly, had a nearly uninhabitable cold uncomfortable cargo compartment and that the aircraft commanders I flew with appeared irritable and somewhat apprehensive regarding the reliability of the aircraft. They seemed ready to abort whenever they experienced a strange sound or a momentary disruption of RPM (burble) in one of the propellers. However, I had flown problematic aircraft in the past so I just carried on, enjoyed the return trips to Europe and the Christmas shopping in the well-stocked military BXs.

On November 7, 1964, when in crew-rest in the Azores Islands we heard of the fatal crash of a C-133 shortly after taking off from Goose Bay, Labrador. My aircraft commander told me that this was the sixth fatal crash of a C-133 with the cause of each listed as “Undetermined.” The flight back to Dover was void of the usual cockpit chatter.

On January 10, 1965, we learned of another C-133 crashing into the Pacific Ocean soon after a night takeoff from Wake Island. This was the seventh unexplained fatal crash of a Cargomaster that had claimed the lives of 50 crewmembers. Compounding the mysterious crashes was that in each accident there were no radio reports from the pilots indicating an impending emergency. Disregarding the fact that the C-133 was becoming more important in supporting airlift requirements for the expanding war in Vietnam, the Air Force grounded the remaining 42 aircraft. This grounding order was accompanied with the following statement, “C-133 Cargomasters will not be allowed to resume flying until a cause factor for past accidents is found and corrective actions are taken to prevent similar loss of aircraft and crew.”
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The aircraft was extremely noisy, the tips of the 18 foot diameter propellers spinning at supersonic speed caused a vibration so severe that it could cause bodily discomfort and frequent maintenance problems, the cargo compartment was so cold and noisy that it was not suitable for carrying passengers and rendered the two bunks in the forward cargo compartment unusable and its “Jack-in-the-box” reputation for in-flight malfunctions kept the crew members ever alert for another Douglas Cargomaster surprise.

Unfortunately, the Air force and other aviation related organizations have not recognized the tremendous job the Cargomaster and it crews performed. A few years ago, the official Air Force Magazine published an account of the aircraft flown during the War in Vietnam. I was disappointed and surprised that the C-133 was not included. (I wrote a complaint letter to the editor but received no response.) In addition, I was recently reviewing books in a Barnes & Noble bookstore and came across a large book titled: The Air War in Vietnam. The book was loaded with large color pictures of every aircraft utilized, except the C-133. It was not even listed in the extensive index section. I am pleased that you bestowed long overdue recognition to the C-133 in your article.

Following the ditching accident on April 30, 1967 the C-133s enjoyed nearly three years without an accident and flight crews from both Dover, AFB and Travis AFB were becoming adjusted to the frequent Douglas in-flight surprises and providing critical worldwide airlift support in a creditable manner. However, on February 6, 1969 this record was tragically shattered. A C-133 crashed in Nebraska killing all five crewmembers following a nighttime in-flight breakup from 25,000 feet. The fuselage just forward of the wing constant section had separated from the rest of the aircraft due to a antique crack in the metal skin and suddenly, like a crack in an eggshell. Propagated around the entire fuselage. Seemingly, the metal skin had weakened through thousands of hours of vibration from the sonic boom pulsations from propeller tips rotating at super sonic speeds. (This was the ninth fatal accident of a C-133).

The accident must have been an unbelievable catastrophic experience for the crew as one second they were sitting in a well-lighted warm cockpit and a second later, they were in complete darkness, with no engine sounds and a sensation of falling to earth five miles below. It is estimated that the severed cockpit section took two to three minutes before crashing. All five crewmembers were found still strapped in their seats.

This accident was especially painful for me as the aircraft commander was Major Bill Tabor. We had been assigned to the same C-119 squadron in Germany during the 1950s and a few weeks before the accident he was on an overnight at Dover AFB. We shared several beers in the Officers’ Club while discussing what we were going to do after retirement. Following this accident, all C-133s were inspected for fatigue cracks and to prevent a similar accident 16 steel straps were wound around the forward section of the fuselage. From a distance, these straps took on the appearance of duct tape and the common mantra among crewmembers was; “Now the generals want us to fly aircraft held together with duct tape.”
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Your article for further reading recommends Cal Taylor’s outstanding book Remembering An Unsung Giant. I would also, in an unassuming manner recommend my book Close Encounters with the Pilot’s Grim Reaper. I devote an extensive chapter on flying the C-133 from a flight crew’s viewpoint along with many exciting encounters in this memorable aircraft.

Sincerely,


Lt.Col. Lou Martin (ret.) USAF
E-mail: pilotlou@aol.com


AND the following further update: A reply from John Sotham to Lou Martin....

Lt Col Martin,

Thanks very much for the letter--the magazine staff forwarded it to me
and I really enjoyed reading it. I sure wish I had known about you when
I was writing the story!

Thanks again for your interest in Air & Space, and mostly for your
service to our country.

Regards,
John Sotham

Curse of the Cargomaster Update

Our Crew Colleague, Lou Martin, offers the following commentary regarding the ditching of C-133B, S/N 59-0534 off Okinawa in April, 1967:

I was the pilot investigator for the ditching accident on April 30, 1967. The ten members of the accident board quickly determined that the reason the propellers were stuck in fixed pitch was due to a rupture of the electrical power in the main junction box, due to the inherent vibrations of the aircraft.

When voting on the primary cause, I was shocked as nine members had stated “Pilot Error” with just myself voting “Material Failure.” The contention taken by the board was that if the pilot had not descended to 2,500 feet the engines would not have flamed out. I pointed out that unless Kadena could have raised the airport to 6,000 feet he was going to have to descend in attempting to land.

After more votes we were unanimous in listing the primary cause as “Material Failure.” We now had to come up with a recommendation to prevent similar accidents. I recommended the feasibility of establishing an “Estimated Engine Flameout Procedure” (EEFA), which was met with sarcasm as the board members thought it would be ridiculous to suggest such a maneuver. However, it was coordinated with Headquarters 22nd Air Force and sent to Edwards Air Force Base. The procedure developed by test pilots is outlined on pages 71, 72 and 319 in Cal Taylor’s book Remembering an Unsung Giant and on page 389 in my book, Close Encounters with a Pilot’s Grim Reaper, ACs were required to perform three EEFA approaches until all aircraft were modified. The recommendation, initially scoffed at, was recognized as a significant proposal by the board president and General Graham, commander 21st Air Force wrote, “Please convey my appreciation to Colonel Martin for his outstanding performance during the ditching investigation. His idea of establishing an EEFA was accepted and developed through flight testing and may be significant in averting another accident of this type.”

Contact: pilotlou@aol.com

Ref: Click on the following link (in red) to go to the Aviation Safety Network "Accident Description" for the Flight Safety Foundation.

August Book of the Month

A Conflict of Visions

by Thomas Sowell

Basic Books, 2007

New York, NY 10016

Introduction

Many of our citizens lament the present lack of serious discussion in the political world that seems only to revolve about partisan venom, character assassinations, and juvenile discourse. They are prone to think such activities are something new to the country; and, that our problems could be solved if only this chattering mob resorted to civil language it would lead to compromise. However, in thinking so, they sorely misread our political history.

Early Political Discussion

Our country’s early political discourse among the populace, the politicians, and the overly partisan newspapers used such highly charged and venomous language that it led to beatings, duels, and the most outrageous of personal attacks. Much to the chagrin of Washington it began during his first term with Jefferson and Madison squaring off against Hamilton leading to the first political parties: Republicans and Federalists divided by their stands on States rights vs. Federal rights. Even so, and different from today, their arguments were motivated by early attempts to construct a framework of governance for a fledgling democratic country that lacked precedent, not necessarily adding to the political power of a party.

Upon assuming the actual governing of our Republic, the Founding Fathers thus left behind them the impeccable manners they had used in dispensing wisdom among themselves to now expressing their beliefs with an unusually savage verbal vehemence. While coming face to face with the realities of their nascent political world, their divisive use of abusive language greatly surpassed that of today’s as it was enhanced by the gloriously richness of the 18^th century style of written communication. After all, they were revolutionaries with high energy and with even higher personal philosophical goals that often clashed when practical policy implementation was confronted. It has been thus ever since, and it will be thus as long as we are a democracy. How can it be otherwise? . Compromise is the acceptance of less by each side and is usually twice as costly to those who pay the bill. It also exposes the two sides to political danger or disgrace, so gridlock becomes less painful and less costly. In turn, that may be more productive.

The Two Visions

In order for one to better understand this never ending struggle of political ideas one need only to read A Conflict of Visions, by Thomas Sowell. Here the story of the two controversial and opposing visions of governing that revolves around generations of ethical and ideological political disputes is told. Dr. Sowell has written a classic with remarkable insight by framing the discussion as a ‘constrained’ or an ‘unconstrained’ vision of the people who are to be governed by those who govern. His arguments are persuasively outlined, clearly detailed, and fundamentally appropriate in today’s political environment. These visions have troublesome communications, as there are few commonalities, so participants tend to talk past one another. There is little or no room for compromise.

Dr. Sowell uses the human nature of man, such as man’s ultimate potential and ultimate limitations, as the framework for his analysis. The dynamism of a capitalistic democracy that is ever changing, that embraces free speech, and that is governed as a republic suggests a forced end to the controversy by one side or the other to be the end of our personal liberties. Despotism would rise as the victor.

This basic conflict about governance has been the fuel for the best of mankind and the worst; and, it is at the forefront of our democratic world that struggles to govern mainly through political parties. However, the folly of the argument for our country lies in the fact that the Constitution is largely one of a constrained view of the people to be governed. There should be no argument as our Founders’ goal was to construct a governance system that allowed man his individual freedom to be all that he can be. As you will see, that is far different than the unconstrained view of Progressives.

The Unconstrained Vision

The tradition inherent to the unconstrained view is the conviction that immoral or foolish choices explain the evils of the world and that wiser social policies are the solution to create a more humane society. In other words, the social engineering that seems to come naturally to academics, journalists, and Progressive politicians as they deem themselves wiser then the individual to make decisions about how one should live. They believe that a larger, centrally controlled apparatus is better for the individual than the individual is for himself. It is always found in fascism, communism, and socialism. In fact, it is the central theme for each of these and the end result has always been a disaster for those subjected to it, and seldom bloodless. It is the false promise of a utopia failed.

The present administration has ushered into our society some of the most radical social changes the country has ever experienced while acting within their unconstrained view of those they govern. Progressives have been largely guided by concepts that revolve around intentions and using words such as sincerity, commitment, and dedication all leading to the social justice they desire, usually the controlled conduct of our personal and economic lives. They create social contrivances through their artificial logic without regard to the unpleasant side effects that deceptive reasoning always produces. Their unconstrained view of governing largely rejects the doctrine of American exceptionalism and its values of self-reliance. It thusly rejects one’s own private stock of reasoning for guidance to his life’s concerns. They are viewed as the Liberals/Progressives among us.

The Constrained Vision

Turning to this vision, and as Sowell points out, those favoring the constrained vision put little faith in those deliberately designed social processes touted by the unconstrained vision since there is so little faith that any set of decision-makers could cope with the enormous complexities of designing an appropriate system of morality or politics for governance. In fact, the constrained vision does not envision any man-made social contrivance that would encompass the values and be more worthy than those that have historically evolved with their systemic order and without a deliberate design.

The constrained vision sees freedom as finite and that government power is accumulated at the expense of private freedom. Hayek, Smith, Hamilton, Burke, and our Founders were proponents of the constrained vision of governance for those to be governed and thus it became the basis for our Constitution. Those who value free trade, limited government, rational decision-making, are Constitutionalists, and believe that the bigger the government, the less free the society, make-up the present day body of citizens favoring a constrained view of governance. They are viewed as the Conservatives among us.

The Disease of Progressivism

As opposed to the unconstrained view, the constrained view accepts its citizen’s own private stock of reasoning as appropriate guidance for life’s concerns. That was the basis for our revolution, for our Constitution, and for our nation’s guidance until the Progressive era began at the turn of the 20^th century. However, Europe has long been infected with ‘the disease of progressivism’ in the form of socialism but is now running from it, just as we seem to be embracing it. Central planning has never been the American way and it remains to be seen if out citizenry accepts it as a way of life.

The Conflict of Visions

The embittered politics engendered by these visions has reigned unabated and presently pervades all branches of our government. As Sowell states, “These are not merely differences of visions, but conflicts of vision.” That is why there is little compromise and may never be. Sowell opines that the moral impulse driving each vision cannot be jettisoned for the sake of winning, without making the victory meaningless. The acceptance of the best paradigm for the governing to govern has always been a fight to the finish, and a mean fight it is. But, in the long run of history, that may be in the best interest of the governed if they are engaged as well.

For those readers wanting a better understanding of the political conflict raging among us and between our two party system, I know of no better writing than A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggle, by Thomas Sowell. Your effort will be well rewarded and your mind may be set more at ease, or it may not! Enjoy.

Richard Spencer

39^th ATS, Dover AFB,

1962-1965

Rick Spencer Published Again!

Our 133 Crew Colleague, part time Reunion Program emcee, and Book of the Month Reviewer, Rick Spencer, is periodically published by the Caesar Rodney Institute. Here is the opening to his latest:

Unfunded Liabilities:
A Solution
by Richard L. Spencer, Ph.D.

The Legacy of Unfunded Liabilities

As the premise for this short analysis of unfunded liabilities, I shall use the figures put forth by President Fisher of the Dallas Federal Reserve in a recent interview at the Wall Street Journal. His office has estimated the present value of the unfunded liabilities for Medicare and Social Security alone to be in excess of $99 trillion or about seven times our current GDP. Fisher lamented that our political leaders have “dug a very deep hole” for the country.

Most economists agree and believe that we are positioned at a crossroad concerning our country‟s financial future, as there is no reasonable expectation that we can tax, grow, or borrow our way out of such a crushing, unfunded debt. It is a lethal picture of delusion and idealism that knows no boundaries and recognizes no financial realities. Hauser‟s Law states that federal tax receipts always fall short of 20% of GDP. That alone makes any suggestion these programs can be fiscally supported divorced from the totality of fiscal prudence. The U.S. has entered into a Faustian model of debt, dependency, and default. It is Ponzi on steroids and the country is the victim!

To read the full article in The Caesar Rodney Institute's Town Square forum, click on:

CRI: Unfunded Liabilities

Or to read another version in The Canada Free Press, click on:

CFP: Unfunded Liabilities

Then respond to Rick's challenge at the end, by posting a Comment below, or with an e-mail to: samspencer@mchsi.com

March Book of the Month

Our talented reviewer and 133 Crew Colleague, Rick Spencer has been busy this winter down in Key West, keeping warm, playing some golf, publishing articles for the Caesar Rodney Institute, and with some heavy duty reading for this month's review. I remember referencing this author at some point in my early "learning cycle," but Rick's review is probably the only chance I'll have to really understand the importance of his most famous work. Enjoy this Review Rick has related to our particular interests!

DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: Volume I & II

Alexis de Tocqueville

Pub. 1835 & 1840

The Henry Reeve Text as revised by Francis Bowen now further corrected and edited with a Historical Essay, Editorial Notes, and Bibliography by Phillips Bradley, 1945.

Is it possible that the most powerful and influential published work ever written about modern democracy, hailed as the most remarkable book ever written about early America, was actually crafted by a Frenchmen visiting the country over 180 years ago? Many historians consider Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville, to be the most significant manuscript ever written depicting the early ethos of our burgeoning American experiment.

De Tocqueville’s writings address the larger issues and deeper meanings concerning the impact of democracy sweeping through Europe and America of the beginning 1800’s. Aided by a youthful physical energy and a superior intellect he produces an energetic and reasoned political philosophy, Democracy in America, that details the nature of the institutions and organizations creating American liberty. Astonishingly, the making of these liberties continue to this day!

As I have often found, the best place to begin the reading of many historical texts is within the Appendices. That is certainly true for Democracy as Phillip Bradley outlines the events leading to Tocqueville’s authorship in Appendix II, “A Historical Essay”. This is a marvelous read that enables one to fully understand the yet-to-be worldwide impact of two young men who landed at the foot of Manhattan on the morning of May 11, 1831. They had arrived on an official mission from their government, France, to study the American prison system. Thus, Alexis deTocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont began their travels that covered over seven thousand miles through America and Canada before setting sail for home on February 20, 1832. Only later did they decide to write individually of their experiences in America, “…each maintained his way in perfect accord” and remained life long friends.

Their grand design shifted, however, from the prison system, to the nature and working of democracy in America as it might apply to Europe. De Tocqueville’s mind had moved away from the political ideas of the ’ancient regime’ toward the French liberal movement that was leading the way toward democracy. France, after its disastrous attempt to copy the American Revolution, was to spend the next 75 years in a constant upheaval of religious and political turmoil bringing to birth their new democratic relationships. Because de Tocqueville’s work was of the highest intellectual standards and his methods of research surpassed most of his contemporaries, Democracy was recognized as a political treatise of the first order and a foundation to guide and to test the French change to democracy. It was received as a masterpiece from its first day of publication, and, so, it remains to this day.

Until de Tocqueville, most foreign writings about America were casual and vitriolic travelogues full of ridicule. De Tocqueville’s lack of bias and degree of accuracy were unprecedented in the genre. As one noted with high regard, “ The difference between de Tocqueville and our common herd of travelers, is, that when he speaks of the principles of government he knows what he is talking of.” Some acknowledged it as ”… the best philosophical work on American democracy yet written.” Nevertheless, it was slow to gain full recognition in America because of the prejudice against the French promoted by General Andrew Jackson’s war spirit.

Particularly germane to C-133 crewmembers are five chapters that contrast a democratic nation’s desire for peace and their armies’ for war. De Tocqueville reasons that a desire for peace emanates from men acquiring property, the growth of personal wealth, and the gentleness of heart all that cool the military spirit. However, de Tocqueville makes it quite clear that all nations must have an army, as there would be no escaping worldwide aggression. He believed that the best citizens of democracy would shun the military because it does not reward with property or wealth. Consequently, the democratic soldier would generally feel inferior as he gained status only when the democracy is threatened with hostilities–creating an ongoing dynamic tension between the democracy and it army.

In my opinion, history is not on the side of de Tocqueville regarding this theory. Since de Tocqueville’s time, there has never been an instance in modern history where one democratic country has attacked another. And, secondly, democratic nations in their maturity have made the military an honorable profession – recognizing democracy’s inherent vulnerability to totalitarian aggression. For example, America’s all-volunteer force is regarded as the world’s best and held in high regard by its citizens. In fact, it is considered the highest rated government institution in America by a large factor.

A notable and prescient judgment about the future made by de Tocqueville that will interest crewmembers is from the last paragraph of Volume I and concern ‘two great countries’, Russia and America. He seemed to sense the growing ideological conflict that would increase between these two nations that lasted over fifty years, consumed most of the life of C-133 crewmembers, and was armed in nature. However, a worldwide conflagration was avoided through the advent of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).

De Tocqueville saw them starting from different points but destined for great influence. “Each seems marked out by the will of Heaven to sway the destinies of half the globe.” They had grown up largely unnoticed but were suddenly in the front ranks among nations, and the world was ‘learning of their existence and their greatness’. All others had seemed to reach their natural limits and power and had seemed to stop or to proceed only with extreme difficulty, but these two alone were proceeding with ‘ease and celerity’ along a path which ’no limit can be perceived’

These two great nations, of course, collided during the 20^th Century and during the life of C-133 crewmembers. De Tocqueville’s initial impressions that democracy, the great experiment of America, would create a nation made by civilized man that would, in turn, create a ‘spectacle for which the world had not been prepared by the history of the past,” all came to fruition during the Cold War. America’s advance by the plowshare and by principles of freedom trumped Russia’s advance by the sword and servitude. One country became part of the totalitarian, mega-murdering communists, and the other the savior of the free world.

Throughout the decades of an ever-changing political landscape, politicians of all stripes have quoted salient excerpts from this historical writing to bolster their arguments. Other than the Constitution and The Federalist Papers, Democracy is arguably the most important work about citizen participation in government during the early formation of our country and illuminates America’s meaning to the Founders. A major personal regret of mine is that I did not read it while in my teens and every decade since. I am sure other readers will share this lament. It is a powerful story!

Richard Spencer, Ph.D.

39^th ATS, DAFB

1962-1965

P.S. I have now published about 20 reviews over the past two years and it is time to sincerely thank those who have helped me, especially with the editing. My brother, Ronald Spencer, J.D., and a family friend, Deborah Hartman as both have unselfishly given of their time. Also, Dick Hanson for posting them in a manner that provides for pleasant reading and viewing. And, thank all of you for your kind comments.

Rick Spencer Published Again!

Our 133 Crew Colleague and Book of the Month Reviewer, Rick Spencer, is periodically published by the Caesar Rodney Institute. Here is the opening to his latest:

Do Not Take Lightly the Perils of Peace

Is Peace beyond Humanity’s Reach

By Richard Spencer, Ph.D.

Upon completing college, teaching a year, and waiting to be drafted, I volunteered for active duty with the USAF in 1961. The country soon became embroiled in the Berlin Crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the start of the Vietnam War, the India/Chinese Border War, and a continuing worldwide commitment to the Cold War. I became directly or tangentially involved in all of these while flying thousands of miles every month delivering military cargo. We always considered “peace as our profession” and we were proud to serve the country.

However, during all of these years, those of us in military uniform were largely derided by the public as those who somehow pursued war rather than those who served the country in order to protect its citizens from the ravages of war. We were not seen as purveyors of peace, and it was always an eerie feeling when in public and while in uniform to be treated as the enemy. After all, this was only a few years after the end of WWII and we had great reverence for veterans of that era, many of whom were family members. As well, there was the same public distrust of public and federal law enforcement officers. What had gone wrong? We were at War.

For the full article, click on:
Do Not Take Lightly the Perils of Peace

Rick Spencer Published Again!

Our 133 Crew Colleague and Book of the Month Reviewer, Rick Spencer, is periodically published by the Caesar Rodney Institute. A couple of his recent articles relate to books he's reviewed on this blog. To read the two articles, please click on the following:

#1 Individual Liberty vs Government Authority

Here's an excerpt from this article:

While teaching graduate level Economics in Delaware during the 90's, I used The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayekas a required secondary reading. Hayek was the 1974 Nobel Prize winner in Economics and a proponent of the Austrian school that free markets enhance mankind’s liberty. Every week my students were to write a one-page summary of each chapter, and to report about personal discussions they had with others.

Go here to read Rick's December, 2007, review of The Road to Serfdom, and his April, 2009, Follow-up on this blog.


#2 To Shut the Door on Utopia

Here's an excerpt from this article:

I would refer those lacking such appreciation of this era to The Black Book of Communism by Stephane Courtios, et al, which outlines how Communism was the great and evil story of the twentieth century and at its zenith, ruled a third of mankind. Communism seemed poised to spread indefinitely and then it collapsed like a house of cards. It violated one of the basic tenets of civilization: "Thou shalt not kill."

Go here to read Rick's November, 2007, review of The Black Book of Communism on this blog.

Click here to learn about The Caesar Rodney Institute.