My Impromptus today is the expected mishmash: Oz (Mehmet), Pelosi (Paul), Schifrin (Lalo). John Wockenfuss! Also Russia, Venezuela, Israel, and Hong Kong. Check it out.
In an Impromptus earlier this week, I had an item sparked by this piece: “America Doesn’t Need a ‘Caesar,’” by Jack Butler. I wrote,
We sometimes refer to what we’re doing here in America — or have tried to do — as an “experiment.” “The American experiment,” we call it. It is an experiment in liberty and self-government, something very, very different from Caesarism.
Will it work out? Dunno. But we’ve set an extraordinary example for the world. And I say: May Caesarism stay far from us. Hail, our experiment (if anything)!
David Churchill Barrow writes in with a fundamental lesson — a golden oldie:
Your recent piece reminded me of George Washington, who went very much out of his way to set a precedent against such Caesarism. First, he publicly resigned his commission at the conclusion of our War for Independence, making it clear he just wanted to go back to Martha and Mount Vernon, as he had promised her he would years before. This act alone caused King George III to refer to Washington as the “greatest character of the age.” No doubt the king not only had the counter-example of Caesar in mind, but also Cromwell.
Then of course, Washington’s countrymen ultimately prevailed upon him to leave Mount Vernon once again to preside over the Constitutional Convention, and to become our first president under the constitution that emerged. He eschewed the frilly titles favored by John Adams and others, and instead insisted upon being called simply “Mr. President,” and, of course, he famously served only two terms, setting a precedent lasting until FDR. His farewell speech warned against “factionalism,” which in turn can lead to Caesarism.
Washington stands out in all of history for relinquishing power — not once but twice — while that power was at its peak. As far as I know, Cincinnatus went back to his plow but once.
Last week, I had a Salzburg journal. A reader writes,
This is a brief note to thank you for your annual Salzburg Festival dispatches which I look forward to every August. My wife and I have made numerous trips there over the years (alas, not to the festival yet), and one day I hope to take my daughters to some performances there.
My older daughter is a big fan of the 1954 Furtwängler Don Giovanni film, and I have had to caution her that modern productions are just a little different. Many years ago (pre-kids), my wife and I attended a Don Giovanni at the Komische Oper in Berlin, and the opera was set in a brothel. The music was wonderful, but . . .
The highlight was a little old lady who was accompanied by her not-young daughter. As the curtain dropped on the first act, she turned to her daughter and said, “Not exactly a classic production, is it?”
Finally, at the end of my Impromptus from earlier this week, I had an item about two young brothers, fighting. A reader writes,
Your story about the two brothers made me recall an exchange between me and my older brother when he was about fourteen and I twelve. I had frustrated him during an argument, resulting in his loudly calling me a sonuvabitch — in the same kitchen where our mother was cooking dinner. She immediately grabbed him by the collar but collapsed in laughter when I informed him, “Anyone who calls his brother an SOB is speaking autobiographically.”
I had a large vocabulary even then. We both got away unscathed.
Whew! Thanks to one and all.