In the Fall of every year, the Program Committee meets to begin planning for the following season’s Friday Speaker Series and the first item to be determined is the theme for the following year which provides the context for Topics and Speakers to be recruited.  There are 14 members on the Committee and they started with at least 20 different themes being considered/discussed (this is an interesting process to watch, which is what I do quietly). 

From this two-hour discussion threats to the liberal World Order emerged as the leading theme but with concerns expressed over that word “liberal.”  The meeting adjourned with plans to finalize the theme the following month.  At the next month’s meeting the discussion resumed with concerns being voiced over that word, yet again.  What I found interesting, as I watched, it was the Liberals who were questioning the word and the Conservatives (yes, we have some of each on the committee with the majority being Centrists) defending the word “liberal” in the context of liberal World Order. 

When Maureen put the biennial survey together, she included the theme for the coming year as a discussion item and elicited comments from you.  The survey garnered a 28% response rate overall which translate to 327 of you, which is very good.  Of those of you whom commented on the theme most of the comments were positive, but there was a significant minority who feared we had fallen off the left side of the aisle and that next year’s ID Name Tags would be PINK. 

Such is not the case and let me provide some context:

• • First off there is a significant difference between liberal with a lower case “l” and Liberal with a capital “L,” as at least two of our speakers this past year commented on
• • As most of you know, I am a historian by training, so let me provide some historical perspective:
  • In 1648 the Peace of Westphalia brought an end to the 30 Years War and established World Order (granted only in Europe) with the recognition of nation states
  • 100 years later the Enlightenment came about, challenging the rule of kings and providing the underpinnings of our constitution and the rule of law, thus creating on a small scale a liberal world order that was designed and built mainly by conservatives
  • With 18 Brumaire (1799) Napoleon hijacked the French Revolution but the Congress of Vienna put that genie back in the bottle and world order was reestablished
  • In 1848 the Liberals revolted by attempting to overthrow the various crowned heads in Europe and establishing constitutional order.  Many of those Liberals emigrated to the US and the arch-conservative Bismarck created the initial German scheme of pensions, healthcare and welfare (all Liberal constructs in today’s world) in the 1870-80’s
  • The 20^th Century brought two devastating World Wars before ushering in a US established liberal World Order.
• • In December every year, The Economist publishes an edition that looks forward rather than a backward-looking reportage of events.  This edition is more opinion pieces written by statesmen, futurists and The Economists staffers.  In the 2018 Edition Senator John S. McCain (AZ) eloquently made the case for a liberal World Order.  I do not always agree with John, in fact, there are days that I swear that when he bailed out over Viet Nam, he landed on his head.  BUT, in this case I think he nailed it.  I commend it to you – download a PDF of the article and see for yourself.