A farewell reminder to the outgoing Bush administration--from Spain, 1936

[DFW]

"Vencerán, pero no convencerán. Vencerán porque tienen la fuerza bruta. Pero no convencerán, porque para convencer hay que persuadir. Y para persuadir, necesitan Ustedes algo que les falta: la razón."

Basque author Miguel de Unamuno, addressing the future Fascist conquerors of Spain.

"You will conquer, but you will not convince. You will conquer because you have brute force. But you will not convince because to convince, you have to persuade. And to persuade, you need something you lack: reason/being right*"

* in Spanish, the way Unamuno put it, it can be translated either way.


Cheneybush did have the brute force, but, as their 19% (or whatever it has dropped to these days) indicates, they ultimately did not convince.

Let us all hope that Obama is more interested in "convencer" than "vencer."

As far as I can tell, the alternative didn't turn out so well.

[Maestro]

1. Unamuno was/is one of my favorite writers.

One of the great philosphical writers of the time and part of the Generation of '98 in Spanish lit. His words are true.

[DFW]

2. It's weird how he differed from fellow Basque Baroja of the same generation

Unamuno was near death when he stood up to the fascists with those words, but
they still took great courage to utter at the time and place he did. And as you
said, they were true then, and they are true now.