Woot! Off!!!

There is a Woot! Off going on over at woot.com. Check it out! I love these days! Happy Wooting!

Later guys,
Matt

Google Documents

Hey guys, I have started using a service from Google called Google Documents. It's a great companion of Gmail. It lets me upload papers, use the included word processor, publish my paper to my blog or create a webpage for the paper. (It may be aa product that allows me to easily stop using Microsoft Office on my Mac!) I know it would be boring for a lot of you if I were to publish some of my papers from college, so I'll try to restrain myself with my newfound tool. This first one I posted below is a short one, but one of the better papers I wrote in college. I would refer you to this post on my old blog for some info on the grade I received on the paper.

Those of you who may enjoy the topic, or even if you don't, let me know what you think of the theory!

Later guys,
Matt

Great Man Theory

1

Matt

02/16/05

POS 471 – Comparative Politics

Professor Hugh Harris

Great Man Theory

The great empire that was Western Communism has been the subject of many discussions during the last ten to 15 years. It seems impossible that such a system could have fallen in a matter of about six months. Many factors must have played a role in the fall of such a powerful structure. Pierre Salinger’s Great Man Theory suggests that “it was Pope John Paul II who triggered the fall of Western Communism.” While the Pope may have played a major world role at the time of the beginning of the fall of Western Communism, is it possible his actions were spurious to what was already taking place? Or perhaps the Pope was the major driving force behind what took place, first, in Poland and then spread to much more of the Soviet Union.

In the late 1980’s, communist government after communist government of the Soviet Union began to experience the unrest and dissent of the citizens. In as short a time as ten days in some countries, citizens were able to bring down the communist regimes. Many have argued democracy is the outcome of a process that requires decades of effort. However, it seems that almost all of Eastern Europe came to democracy in a matter of months. For years, the people of the communist regimes had lived under authoritarian rule. Suddenly, they decided to throw it off. What unexpectedly gave the people of the Soviet Union the courage to throw off the reign of the communists?

We must apply Huntington’s propositions of democracy taking root in formerly authoritarian states.

1. No single factor is sufficient to explain the development of democracy in all countries or in a single country.

2. No single factor is necessary to the development of democracy in all countries.

3. Democratization in each country is the result of a combination of causes. (Huntington, 1991, p.38)

Assuming that these are correct propositions, we know that no particular dynamic could have caused the fall of communism in so many countries of the Soviet Union. However, the role of “Great Men” could be included in the combination of causes responsible for the development of democracy within the Soviet Union.

Perhaps the actions of the “Great Men” are what gave credence to the protesting citizens of the Soviet states. If the desire of the people to have freedom was the zeitgeist, or the spirit of the times, then it is possible that the people needed only a spark to give legitimacy to their cause. After Pope John Paul II took the papacy, he visited his home country where he had been a cardinal for years. While he was a cardinal in Poland, officially an atheist country, he was censored by the church from speaking out against the communist government there. However, once he became Pope, he was no longer subject to this censorship and he began to speak out against the authoritarian rule of his home country. When he visited Poland, he encouraged the citizens of the country to realize their own human rights; something communist regimes would prefer that the people did not know. Perhaps the Pope was the spark needed to give authenticity to the cause of freedom.

However, the Pope was not the only “Great Man” of the time in Poland. Lech Walesa had begun a trade union to challenge the existence of his job’s state-run labor union. Walesa organized a strike in Poland and the movement became known as the Solidarity movement. The Catholic Church backed Walesa’s union and soon its membership swelled to 9 million members. Eventually, the movement forced the government to adopt a multi-party system and democratic human rights. It is possible that Walesa added to the spark created by the Pope in Poland.

The citizens of Soviet states near Poland saw the Polish people act out their unrest within the state and began to feel the same dissent. The spirit of the times became freedom from authoritarian rule and one communist regime after another began to fall. Even Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union, recognized that there had to be a Perestroika, or a restructuring, and did little to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union. In fact, he may have even encouraged it. Due to growing pressure to liberalize within the Soviet Union, Gorbachev met with the Pope and developed diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the Vatican. This established freedom of religion and legalized worship in the Soviet Union, something which was not allowed under the previous atheistic communist laws.

Because it is assumed that no single factor can explain the development of democracy in all countries, we cannot say that one “Great Man” caused the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. However, when looking at the chain reaction of events which took place in the Soviet Union, one can see that the actions of great men may have incited the spirit of the times, after all. The timing of John Paul II coming to the papacy and the development of the Solidarity movement under Walesa may have been an accident that led to democracy in many Soviet states. No matter, these two men gave legitimacy to the dissent of the people. The unrest escalated and the pressure placed on the Polish Communist regime forced it to concede to the people. This created a snowball effect and soon the people of other Soviet states brought down communist regime after communist regime.

Obviously, many factors were involved in the development of democracy in Eastern Europe. This included the spirit of the times and the snowball effect, but it was started by two Great Men who incited the citizens to grasp the existence of the sovereignty of the people. Salinger correctly points to Pope John Paul II as the man who triggered the fall of Western Communism, but it was the existence of Lech Walesa and the general feeling of unrest of the people that allowed the collapse to be carried through to completion.

Works Cited

The Fall of Communism – video by Pierre Salinger

Huntington, S. (1991). The third wave: Democratization in the late twentieth century. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press.

Finally!

We have mentioned to many of you of our quandry with finding a community here in Fort Myers. We've lived here for a year now and it has taken that whole year to find a place we want to attend consistently. There is no shortage of communities in the Fort Myers area. We've visited anywhere from 15 to 20 in the weeks we've been around, and we've just never found a local body that we felt comfortable or excited about.

Sure, I am a picky guy. The time I spent in campus work at UIS spoiled me. I came out of college with significantly high expectations of what I want a home community to be.

And this year has become a very frustrating one for us. It was to the point that I was dreading the decision every Sunday concerning where we would attend. I was completely worn out and tired of looking. And it had only been a year!

But, will you celebrate with Heather and I? We've finally found a place we would like to stick with! We've now been at Fort Myers Evangelical Free Community for three weeks. And we've so enjoyed it. The thing that really hooked us is the Sunday school time. We are in a class with 5 or 6 other older people. And I mean old. Like late 60s and late 70s. And we love it! Maybe, after years of only being aroung people our age, we could stand a little change to spending more time with poeple who are older and more experienced in life. We know these people have so much wisdom to offer, and we look forward to the hour we have with them!

So, we've found a community that are pretty sure we will call our Florida home for the time we are here. Praise God! We thank Him for proving yet again how faithful He is to His children!

Later guys,
Matt

Everything Glorious

Well, it's been a couple weeks since I've posted any sort of real post on this blog, so maybe I'll give it a shot this morning.

I got up early this morning. Before sunrise, I put on my long-sleeve shirt, pants, stocking hat and gloves, grabbed the iPod and went out for a run. I knew I'd have to be quick, cause it looked likely that it would rain.

Yep, it's raining in sunny Southwest Florida.

Now I'm back, obviously. I love these mornings. I love getting up early to run and read, and then still having time to get on my computer and needing to use the light from the screen to see the keyboard. I wish I was disciplined enough to get to bed early enough every night so I don't kill myself by getting up this early every morning.

Not that I feel especially sel-reflective this morning, but it seems that if I'm ever going to be, it has to happen at this time. Before everyone is up. Before work. Before things are flooding my brain. I guess that's why I need my quiet times in the morning.

This morning I've been thinking about how God has redeemed all things.

On the run, I was thinking about how I've said a lot in the last few years that we've missed the whole picture in saying that Christ's sacrifice and defeat of death is what redeems us. And often, we've forgotten about, or not cared about everything else. Because Christ's death redeems ALL things. The earth, the sky, animals, language, music, and anything else you can think of.

But then I began to think that in stressing all the other things, I've forgotten about, or not cared about Christ's redemption of people. Sure, I've given it lipservice. But, I can't seem to focus on ALL things, losing sight of it in the mass of everything else.

But then again, my focus shouldn't be on what has been made glorious, but on What is glorious and What makes all things glorious.

Crowder wrote a song that I'm singing in devos at work this morning. This is all the song's fault.

Everything Glorious
The day is brighter here with You
The night is lighter than it's hue
Would lead me to believe
Which leads me to believe

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours
What does that make me?

My eyes are small but they have seen
the beauty of enormous things
Which leads me to believe
there's light enough to see that

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

From glory to glory
You are glorious You are glorious
From glory to glory
You are glorious. You are glorious
Which leads me to believe
why I can believe that

You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
You make everything glorious
And I am Yours

Have a glorious day, everyone.

Later guys,
Matt

Happy 2007!!!

It's crazy to think, but Heather and I are already back in Florida. The time back home went by so quickly, and we've already had a busy year up till now. We've logged a few thousand miles already and we expect many many more.

When we get a chance to settle, I'll try to give you an update on the Passion Conference in Atlanta from January 1-4 and how great it was. Until then, Happy New Year!

Later guys,
Matt