Reading 21
“As [Lewis Carroll’s] poem opens, the Walrus and the Carpenter—who, we can suppose, allegorically and respectively represent Britain and the United States—have worked themselves into a typically Protestant and Anglo-Saxon froth of transcendental idealism. The state of the world’s beaches can no longer be borne:
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
‘If this were only cleared away,’
They said, ‘it would be grand.’
“Foreign opinion is often bemused by the way in which the Anglo-Saxon powers are so frequently troubled by the existence of conditions that are almost as old as humanity and likely to be just as long-lived. Bribery, protectionism, cruelty to animals, smoking, sexual harassment in the workplace, the excessive use of saturated fats in cooking, unkind verbal epithets for low-status social groups, ethnic cleansing: in much of the world things like these are deplored, but a vigorous and puritanical attempt to suppress them altogether is viewed, not entirely unreasonably, as a cure that can be worse than the disease. This is not the approach of the Anglo-Saxons, and it is not the approach of the Walrus and the Carpenter. Democracy must reign around the world. Vice must be suppressed at all costs. All beaches must be cleared of sand.”
- Walter Russell Mead, God and Gold: Britain, America and the Making of the Modern World (2007)
“Time and time again, the Anglo-Americans have suffered terrible defeats in Europe and Asia; time and time again, they have turned to their command of the global system to deny its resources to their enemies—and to acquire the resources they need to raise up new coalitions to replace the ones that have fallen apart.
“The Anglo-Americans’ enemies gradually go bankrupt; all their victories on land never seem to make a difference. Napoleon conquered Europe from Moscow to Madrid—but he could never strike at the heart of British power, and her wealth, annually renewed by her overseas trade, enabled her to support her weakened allies and carry on the war through final victory. For three years, Hitler beat Britain and its allies everywhere he faced them—yet after three years of dramatic, historic victories it was Hitler who worried more about losing the war than Churchill did. When the Germans briefly overran American camps during the 1944 Battle of the Bulge, a German general realized that the war was lost when he saw that American privates were getting chocolate cakes from their families back home. With Germany desperate for every ounce of fuel, every bite of food, the Americans had enough food and enough shipping capacity to send birthday cakes across the ocean to ordinary soldiers.”
- Walter Russell Mead, God and Gold: Britain, America and the Making of the Modern World (2007)
“The traditional method of European governments facing financial crises was to extort money from merchants under the thin guise of forced loans. John Morton, chancellor of England in the reign of Henry VII, had perfected the technique of impaling merchants on a dilemma now known as Morton’s fork. Visiting a merchant who was living large, with lavish entertainment, fancy clothes, and lots of retainers, Morton would tell the merchant that since he was so obviously rich, he must have plenty of money to lend to the king. Visiting a merchant who lived abstemiously, Morton would note that anyone who saved so much money must have plenty to lend to the king.”
- Walter Russell Mead, God and Gold: Britain, America and the Making of the Modern World (2007)
“In the mass consumer societies that result from the marriage of Anglo-American finance with rapidly advancing, market-driven technological change, wealth is also a gift of the people. If ordinary consumers do not like the cars your firm produces, the firm declines. If the dogs do not like the dog food, the dog food company, its shareholders, and its executives will all suffer. In the contemporary world, everyone from Hollywood stars to clothing designers must study the masses.”
- Walter Russell Mead, God and Gold: Britain, America and the Making of the Modern World (2007)
