.JOURNAL OFTIIE CHURCHILL CKNTER AND ... - Winston Churchill

CHURCHILL ONLINEnttp : //www. wins ton nurcnill. oChurchill's Political PhilosophyUSTSERV WINSTON:Subscribe free to our discussion forum. Sendthe two-word email message SUBSCRIBEWINSTON with your name toListserv@imumarist.edu—you 'II receive aconfirmation and will then be able to sendand receive comments on Churchill throughour online community by e-maUing Winston@vm.marist.edu.In case of problemscontact our List Manager, Jonah Triebwasser:I2ML@tnaristB.marist.eduEvery once in awhile Listserv Winstonlights up over a hot topic.One recent example was a debate overhow much Churchill was influencedby Machiavelli's The Prince, whichstemmed from a chance request by astudent (the major customers at ourwebsite).The digital equivalent of allhell quickly broke loose. Some subscriberstried to compared Churchillwith Bill Clinton and other modernfigures, only to receive a proper hidingby subscribers who said no suchcomparisons were possible or relevant.One of these wrote:"All politicians are productsof their time periods, no more, noless. You cannot separate the politicianfrom the political system. Politicians,just like Machiavellian princes,are not created in vacuums. Modernpoliticians are the result of a flawedpolitical system—namely the fundingaspects of it. They represent aptly thepolitical culture of the West, the sayanything-to-get-electedreality ofmodern politics. The political systemas it stands now encourages candi-Finest Hour happily publishes interestingsnippets from "Listserv Winston," but youreally need to subscribe. See box above.dates to sell their souls to the highestbidders. It forces them to find increasinglycreative sources of campaignfunding, such as coffees at the WhiteHouse or meetings with Buddhistnuns, to name the two most notableexamples."Churchill never had to gothrough this type of political system.If he had, maybe we would have seena more unscrupulous Churchill, perhapsnot. But that is a question whichis unanswerable."Although"say-anything-to-getelected"applies as well to Baldwinin the 1930s, we thought thiswriter made some fairly deft points.Lady Soames is always at pains to stoppeople comparing her father withmodern figures while speculating onhow he might react to today's issues.She will always ask the person declaringsuch things: "How do you know?"It does seem, however, thatsome of Churchill's political preceptsmight profitably be adopted by modernpoliticians. To name two: collegialityand principle—stating whatone really believes instead of what theTHECHURCHILLWEBSTTE:Aim your browser at the www addresswww.xvinstonchurchill.org and the ChurchillHome Page will appear. Click on any of thebuttons to connect to the latest informationon The Churchill Center and Churchill Societies.The Finest Hour button produces theearliest publication of the next issue. If youexperience any difficulty pleaseemail webmasterJohn Plumpton:Savrola@winstonchurchill.orsaudience wants to hear, and maintainingfriendly relations with the oppositionafter political debate has diedaway. Neither habit is very commonanymore, but they do exist. JesseHelms and Paul Wellstone, to nametwo disparate American Senators ofthe right and left respectively, exhibitboth these Churchillian traits. Doubtlessfollowers of Parliament in Britain,Canada and Australia could nameothers, though not "many.The adoption of Churchilliantraits by someone able properly to putthem over without appearing false orphony would not prevent someonefrom becoming President or PrimeMinister of a modern democracy. Notso long ago, a President who said whathe thought yet was always cordial tohis political enemies served two fullterms carrying forty-nine states thesecond time round. And we all knowthe Prime Minister who served longerthan any other Premier this century bysaying exactly what she believed. Perhapsshe was not as matey with theopposition as Churchill. But it wasfascinating, and perhaps unprecedented,when a former Leader of theOpposition paid a courtesy call on herbefore he took over at Ten DowningStreet. 45FINEST HOUR 103/42