Dear Joe,
Shaw was an arrogant man, but blessed with wit which is a redeeming factor -
especially as his main target was the English who lionised him.
As to America, a country whose Constitution, opportunity for all and devotion
to the rule of Law has been a beacon of hope for all mankind. Like ll
countries its policies are a strange mixture of the benevolent, the benign,
the erroneous and the bad. Human beings make nations, and all humans are prone
to error from time to time. The difference is that America has enshrined
superb philosophy in its constitution and, most of the time at least, has
lived by it. It is when that country proclaims the rule of law and democracy
and then denies those very values to others after decades of preching human
rights to the various dictatorships in this world that we in Europe who admire
the American ideals, get worried. Yet when, in a spirit of friendship, we
raise these justified reservations, we are accused of being anti-American.
Luckily that will pass in time. For me it is still the country who rebuilt
Europe with the Marshall Plan and one who has been our ally in two world wars.
Best wishes
Tim
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