by Tom Kratman
Thus, to succeed, the cosmopolitan must eliminate free will and choice, for too many people will, left to their own, choose something besides cosmopolitanism. Indeed, true cosmopolitanism is the choice of a very tiny number. Why should this be? Kos' admissions alone seem inadequate. Rather, they are closer in spirit to corporate greed and Mara Salvatrucha drug running than to the cosmopolitan ideal.
Breathes there a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said:
"This is my own, my native land?"
—Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel
Ralph Nader, whatever else might be said of him, is a patriot. In 1996, he wrote to one hundred of America's premier corporations, asking that they show their support for "the country that bred them, built them, subsidized them and defended them" by opening their annual stockholders' meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.[12]
In a stunning display of cutting edge, transnational, corporate greed, indifference and disloyalty, with no pretense to either nationalism or cosmopolitanism, ninety-nine declined. Ford, Motorola, Aetna and Costco, at least, declined explicitly. (No, I will never again buy a Ford, Aetna or Costco product. And I'll dump my RAZR as soon as contractually possible. I'd rather buy a non-American product than an un-American one.)
I'll suggest to you, though, that Ford, Aetna, Costco, Motorola, MS-13, the KKK, and Legionnaire De Gaulle are all rational. For people give loyalty to what matters to them: Kos to his family, the corporate CEO to his paycheck and golden parachute (which is usually, ultimately, for his family), the KKK member to his klavern and what he thinks of as his "race," the MS-13 assassin to his peers and his pack leader. All have rejected loyalty to their entire nation, but they have not thereby acquired any notable loyalty, any transcendent loyalty, to mankind. Instead, each has picked a smaller group than the nation as the focus of their devotion.[13]
This should come as no surprise. Humanity, the Family of Man, asks nothing but it also gives nothing. It is an abstract, distant and ineffectual. People need the closeness and emotional support of some group they can know or, at least, think they can.
It is human to hate. For self-definition and motivation people need enemies: competitors in business, rivals in achievement, opponents in politics.
—Professor Samuel P. Huntington
In Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism, Martha Nussbaum wrote about concentric circles and how, having drawn one arbitrary circle at the level of nation, there is nothing to stop people from drawing ever smaller circles, from nation to religion to class, etc. , Indeed she seems to make the claim that drawing the one circle practically demands that one draw ever narrower circles, excluding more and more of the human race.
Another writer, Lee Harris,[14] has pointed out that this flies in the face of the historical record which demonstrates that the nation has, in many cases, been the only thing shown capable of overcoming such narrow circles.[15]
That's both interesting and true. More interestingly to me, though, is that the converse is also true. The nation overcomes interior small differences by presenting people with a set of exterior larger differences. But it is with de-emphasis on the nation, with a closer approach to that cosmopolitan ideal, with the decline of the legitimate nation, or in its absence, in other words with "post-national citizenship," that people define themselves and confine themselves into ever smaller groupings. We see Scotland gradually seceding from the United Kingdom. We see Quebec threatening to disassociate itself from Canada ("Good riddance," say most of my Canadian acquaintances). Yugoslavia breaks up, bloodily. Czechoslovakia splits, fortunately without bloodshed. Arab Shiites and Sunni Kurds in Iraq want out from under the Arab Sunnis. Indeed, everywhere we have seen some close approach to denationalization, we have seen just what Nussbaum informs us is the ultimate logic of nationalism. This is not a coincidence.
Consider Africa just as it was about to be decolonized. There, the European white devil provided the enemy, the outsider, the other, that held the locals together in a common cause. With that enemy gone, however, with that unifying phenomenon out of the picture, the overwhelming bulk of sub-Saharan Africa fell into mere tribalism and, wherever there was some power to be exploited for personal and family gain, amoral familism.[16]
Cosmopolitanism doesn't appear to lead to the ideal of Utopia, somewhere down the road, but to the miserable reality of sub-Saharan Africa, to Rwanda, Biafra, and the Congo, just around the corner.
The world is a vastly better place because it contains people whose only fault is the desire to make all people as good and reasonable as they themselves are.
—Lee Harris[17]
Respectfully, I disagree. For the world to be better the cosmopolitans would have to have some good effect. At a minimum one would hope that things might stabilize at a level no worse than we now have. Can they? What chance?
A cosmopolitan might say, "Look, if people can be educated and trained to die for artificial, even abstract, constructs like nations, surely they can be educated and trained to live for natural, concrete humanity."
It's not a bad argument, up to a point. Unfortunately for cosmopolitanism, that point comes quickly.
Nations, and especially first class and hyper-powerful ones, have many advantages in training and education that the Family of Man simply lacks. We typically share a common, or dominant, language and a common, or dominant, culture that is, in broad terms, knowable and comfortable to most citizens and legal residents of the nation. Where is Man's common language? Not Davos Man's, which is English, but Man's? Where is his common culture? Not Davos Man's, which is money, but Man's. Where is the history upon which Man can agree is important? Who are the heroes, the role models? They do not exist. They would all have to be created or recreated and imposed.
Nations have three kinds of neighbors and peers: different and potentially hostile, different and probably hostile, and different and positively hostile. These, the foreign difference and the hostility, can draw together very tightly even such linguistically differing folk as the Swiss. It is not clear that anything else can. It is unclear that cosmopolitanism can do what it would need to, in the absence of the sort of external threat that binds the citizens of a nation together. There is obviously a down side to all that hostility; I offer this only as an element of evidence that there are some educational advantages even an artificial construct like a nation has that cosmopolitanism is unlikely to be able to match.[18]
Additionally, a nation can give its people a sense of superiority, even if utterly unwarranted,[19] to all others that further binds them together. What, after all, binds the intellectual class of Europe and the Colleagues of the EU together if it isn't their hate for the United States and all things American?
Perhaps the chief problem with cosmopolitanism is that, while Kant may have envisioned it and Nussbaum may preach it, both are powerless to overcome those human default states of "me" and "mine," that narrow focus that allows people not only to join their efforts and affections to others, but to derive the emotional support and sense of belonging they need.
So, yes, cosmopolitanism can undermine nations but, no, it cannot then substitute for nations the Family of Man or Mankind.
There's another problem, too, a worse problem, and it's our problem. Cosmopolitanism is unevenly spread. Really, it exists only in the West and the West's institutions, including, of course, the corrupt dictatorships of the Third World and the World Bank and the NGOs that shunt them their graft.
True, Islam has a different version of it, but that version is exclusionary. In a sense, it is ultimately exclusionary, as there are certain human types, atheists and gays come to mind, which Islam cannot accept but, rather, must destroy. Still others—women and those not of the Islamic faith, for example—must be subjugated. Communism, too, is a kind of cosmopolitan philosophy. Yet it draws a circle around and excludes, then usually kills, anyone who does not fit the communist cosmopolitan ideal.[20]
Being, then, a fairly local phenomeno
n, what can true cosmopolitanism do? It can't make cosmopolitans of tribalists. It can't make true cosmopolitans of Moslems. It can't stop the Chinese Communist Party cadres from looting or letting their children loot the people's wealth. It can't even get Kos not to put his family first.
But it can, where it is strong and accepted as logical and legitimate, undermine the faith of peoples, nations and cultures in their own worth, undermine their will to defend themselves, and leave them open to enslavement by those who still have that faith and that will. I mentioned in the beginning that cosmopolitanism feels as good as sex and drugs. Like those, it helps transmit a kind of disease. Cosmopolitanism, because it is a local phenomenon, that weakens, locally, is a sort of societal HIV, a disease that does not kill, of its own, but destroys the resistance of those who acquire it to those things that do kill. Cosmopolitanism—whatever the ideals or motives of the cosmopolitans—is doing so as I write.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to the many people who helped with this, from concept to copy editing: Yoli (who puts up with me), Matt Pethybridge, Sam Swindell, Bill Crenshaw, Mr. William Dunnell, Mo Kirby, Barbara Johnson, Isabelle Andrews, Genie Nickolson, Sue Kerr, my brother John, Scott C, Dr. Jakob van Zyll, Toni Weisskopf and, of course, Jim Baen.
And OZ, including the crew and the design, modification and refit team of the Dos Lindas and the classis, in no particular order: Charlie Prael, Sean Newton, Peter Gold, Mike Gilson, Tommie Williams, Dick Evans, Dave Levitt, Mike Fagan, Bill Lehman, Jeff Wilkes, Bob Hofrichter, Jon Thompson, Al Hattlestad, Phil Fraering, Dave Dwyer, Conrad Chu, Dan Neely, Fionn Ryan, Mickey zvi Maor, Jason Long, Andy Stocker, Leonid Panfil, Chris French, Mark Turuk, Neil Frandsen, Gordon Gailey, Steve Stewart, Dean Sutherland, Paul Gustafson, Justin Bischel, Jose Clavell, Dexter Guptil, Alex Stace, Alex Swavely, Steve St. Onge, Andrew Gill, Rodney Graves, and Dick Atkinson. If I missed you, so far, I'll kill you off as opportunity presents. I promise.
If I've forgotten anyone, chalk it up to premature senility.
Appendix A: Glossary
AdC Aide de Camp, an assistant to a senior officer
Ala Plural: Alae. Latin: Wing, as in wing of cavalry. Air Wing in the Legion. Similar to Tercio, qv.
Amid Arabic: Brigadier General
Antania Plural: Antaniae, Septic mouthed winged reptilians, possibly genengineered by the Noahs, AKA Moonbats
BdL Barco del Legion, Ship of the Legion
Bellona Moon of Terra Nova
Bolshiberry A fruit bearing vine, believed to have been genengineered by the Noahs. The fruit is intensely poisonous to intelligent life.
Cazador Spanish: Hunter. Similar to Chasseur, Jaeger and Ranger. Light Infantry, especially selected and trained. Also a combat leader selection course within the Legion del Cid
Classis Latin: Fleet or Naval Squadron
Cohort Battalion, though in the Legion these are large battalions.
Conex Metal shipping container, generally 8' x 8' x 20' or 40'
Consensus When capitalized, the governing council of Old Earth, formerly the United Nations Security Council.
Dustoff Medical evacuation, typically by air
Eris Moon of Terra Nova
Federated States Drachma. Unit of money equivalent in value to 4.2 grams of silver
Hecate Moon of Terra Nova
Hieros Shrine or temple
Roman number one. Chief Operations Officer, his office, and his staff section
Ia Operations officer dealing mostly with fire and maneuver, his office and his section, S- or G-3
Ib Logistics Officer, his office and his section, S- or G-4
Ic Intelligence Officer, his office and his section, S- or G-2
Adjutant, Personnel Officer, his office and his section, S- or G-1
Ikhwan Arabic: Brotherhood
Jaguar Volgan built tank in legionary service
Jaguar II Improved Jaguar
Jizya See Yizya
Karez Underground aqueduct system
Keffiyah Folded cloth Arab headdress
Klick Kilometer. Note: Democracy ends where the metric system begins.
Kosmo Cosmopolitan Progressive. Similar to Tranzi on Old Earth
Liwa Arabic: Major General
Lorica Lightweight silk and liquid metal torso armor used by the Legion
Landing Zone, a place where helicopters drop off troops and equipment
Makkah al Jedidah Arabic: New Mecca
Mañana sera mejor Balboan politico-military song. Tomorrow will be better.
Coastal Defense Submarine under development by the Legion
Multiple Rocket Launcher
Mujahadin Arabic: Holy Warriors (singular: mujahad)
Mukhabbarat Arabic: Secret Police
Mullah Holy man, sometimes holy, sometimes not.
Na'ib 'Dabit Arabic: Sergeant Major
Naik Corporal
Naquib Arabic: Captain
Nongovernmental Organization
Noahs Aliens that seeded Terra Nova with life, some from Old Earth, some possibly from other planets, some possibly genetically engineered, in the dim mists of prehistory. No definitive trace has ever been found of them.
Ocelot Volgan-built light armored vehicle mounting a 100mm gun and capable of carrying a squad of infantry in the back.
Precious Metal Certificate. High Denomination Legionary Investment Vehicle
Progressivine A fruit bearing vine found on Terra Nova. Believed to have been genengineered by the Noahs. The fruit is intensely poisonous to intelligent life.
Push As in "tactical push." Radio frequency or frequency hopping sequence, so called from the action of pushing the button that activates the transmitter.
Pickup Zone. A place where helicopters pickup troops, equipment and supplies to move them somewhere else.
Rocket Grenade Launcher
Radio-Telephone Operator
Sayidi Arabic form of respectful address, "Sir."
Self Propelled Anti-Tank Heavy Armor. A legionary tank destroyer, under development
Self Propelled Laser Air Defense. A developed legionary anti-aircraft system
Subadar Major
Surah A chapter in the Koran, of which there are 114
Tercio Spanish: Regiment
Tranzitree A fruit bearing tree, believed to have been genengineered by the Noahs. The fruit is intensely poisonous to intelligent life.
Trixie A species of archaeopteryx brought to Terra Nova by the Noahs.
Yakamov A type of helicopter produced in Volga. It has no tail rotor.
Yizya Special tax levied against non-Moslems living in Moslem lands.
Appendix B:
Legionary Rank Equivalents
Dux, Duque: indefinite rank, depending on position it can indicate anything from a Major General to a Field Marshall, Duque usually indicates the senior commander on the field.
Legate III: Brigadier General or Major General. per the contract between the Legion del Cid and the Federated States of Columbia, a Legate III is entitled to the standing and courtesies of a Lieutenant General. Typically commands a deployed legion, when a separate legion is deployed, the air alae or the naval classis, or serves as an executive for a deployed corps.
Legate II: Colonel, typically commands a tercio in the rear or serves on staff if deployed.
Legate I: Lieutenant Colonel, typically commands a cohort or serves on staff.
Tribune III: Major, serves on staff or sometimes, if permitted to continue in command, commands a maniple.
Tribune II: Captain, typically commands a maniple
Tribune I: 1st Lieutnant, typically serves as second in command of a maniple, commands a specialty platoon within the cohort's combat support maniple, or serves on staff
Signifer: 2nd Lieutenant or Ensign, leads a platoon. Signifer is a temporary rank and signifers are not considered part of the officer corps of the legions except as a matter of courtesy.
Sergeant Major: Sergeant Major with no necessary indic
ation of level
1st Centurion: Senior non-commissioned officer of a maniple
Senior Centurion: Master Sergeant but almost always the senior man within a platoon.
Centurion, J.G.: Sergeant First Class, sometimes commands a platoon but is usually the second in command
Optio: Staff Sergeant, typically the second in command of a platoon
Sergeant: Sergeant, typically leads a squad
Corporal: Corporal, typically leads a team or crew or serves as second in command of a squad
Legionario, or Legionary, or Legionnaire: private through specialist
Note that in addition, under pending Legion regulations, a soldier may elect to take what is called "Triarius Status." This will locks the soldier into whatever rank he may be, but allow pay raises for longevity to continue. It is one way the legion may flatten the rank pyramid in the interests of reducing careerism. Thus, one may someday hear or read of a "Triarius Tribune III," typically a major-equivalent who will have decided, with Legion accord, that his highest and best use is in a particular staff slot or commanding a particular maniple. Given that the Legion—with fewer than fifteen hundred officers, including signifers—has the smallest officer corps of any significant military formation on Terra Nova, and a very flat promotion pyramid, the Triarius system seems, perhaps, overkill. If adopted, regulations may permit but not require Triarius status legionaries to be promoted one rank upon retirement.
