From the Ashes of Empire...

There is much to be criticized in the life and legacy of Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), but much to be lauded as well. In the latter category, despite his militarism and often mind-numbingly bureaucratic sensibilities, there remains the uncontrovertible fact that, without Ataturk's timely intervention, modern Turkey would be a patchwork of colonialist "protectorates," professionally managed by (and in the interests of) foreign powers and their local condottieri. In other words, Turkey would be another Frankenstein created by Europe and its North American allies instead of an independent nation embarked upon the never-ending experiment of government of, by, and for its own people. From the ashes of empire, Ataturk constructed a republic. That is the proper direction for a nation to travel.

The government of the United States of Amnesia, on the other hand, continues on the mission it adopted in the early 19th century with (ironically) Thomas Jefferson's purchase of the Louisiana territory from France: the construction of an empire from the ashes of a republic.

One studies history in order to gain an intimate acquaintance with the kind of record that historical events inevitably establish: a record that discloses how unintended consequences are by far the most important factor in the determination of the course of human events.