Chicken

Increasingly, the political calculus seems to be the game of chicken. In the US debt extension negotiations in Congress this summer the idea of compromise was considered unacceptable, largely by the Republicans. In the European debt crisis going on now, the Germans have taken the same position. The idea that intransigence is a smart political strategy is a foolish one. Sometimes it works but when it breaks down the unintended consequences are terrible. Philatelists know the devastating effects of WW I from our hobby and postal history- the Occupation issues and locals and regionals that were created as governments fought for territory and order. But what is often unseen in philately is human suffering. The consensus of historians is that WW I was caused by a colossal game of chicken. After the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand, central European countries each felt that the others would back down in the face of military mobilizations. It didn’t happen that way. Over fifteen million people, most of them young men, died in that war. And since WW II was just a continuation of WW I add another sixty million killed to the total of a game of chicken gone wild. This is what is so scary about what is going on right now in Europe and the US. Many politicians seem unaware of the risks of not seriously negotiating problems. The “my way or the highway” mentality may work in small human circles but in the larger world it is a prescription for disaster. Philatelists have enough stamps and covers to collect without issues caused by political failure.