From 1095 to 1099, in a remarkable
military campaign known as the First Crusade, the Knights of
Christian Europe reconquered the City of Jersualem and various
surrounding territories from Muslims who had themselves conquered it
a few hundred years prior. The country the Crusaders established was
known officially as the Kingdom of Jerusalem (and a few related
countries), and unofficially known either as the Kingdom of Heaven or as the
“outremer,” a term which I read was based on the French word for
“overseas.”
For better or worse or both, however,
the achievements of the First Crusade were undone within a few
generations, and less than a hundred years. In 1187, the City of
Jerusalem was re-reconquered by Muslims under the leadership of
Sultan Saladin. The rest of the outremer fell, city by city, over
the next few centuries, interrupted by a few periods of minor
expansion.
There were many factors at play in the
Crusaders' ability to reconquer Jerusalem and then hold it for as
long as they did, under very adverse conditions and against a
numerically superior, militarily comparable, comparably motivated,
and sophisticated enemy. There were also many
factors at play in why they were unable to hold the outremer for even
longer than they did.
One of the most important factors to
all three conditions (reconquest, temporary holding out, and eventual
loss), however, was the lack of unity among their enemies. The
Crusaders attacked at the best possible moment for them, and the
worst possible moment for the Islamic world, a moment of rare disunity and dissension in the Medieval Islamic world. The Crusaders then
lost the outremer at a moment of rare unity and lack of
dissension in the Medieval Islamic world. Sultan Saladin was a great
unifier of his people.
The Republican Majority Conference in
the New York State Senate finds itself in a position remarkably like
that of the Christian outremer: Surrounded by enemies, plagued by a
lack of ability or a lack of willingness to recruit competent
personnel, and surviving in large part by a lack of unity among their
enemies. When I read about how the Senate Minority Democratic
Conference is unwilling to deal significantly with the Independent
Democratic Conference in order to acquire the majority, I laughed out
loud. This is exactly the kind of thinking that the Democrats do not
need. It's as if the Democrats are taking political advice from
Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, their enemy, and wondering why
things aren't going well.
The Democrats appear to have learned the
wrong lesson from their failures with the “Four Amigos” or “Three
Amigos” some years ago. The right lesson wasn't to not deal at all
with dissenters. Rather, it was to deal on favorable, smart terms
with stable people, not on unfavorable, stupid terms with unstable
people. The Four Amigos were unstable. Of the original four, only one is
still in the Senate and he finds himself increasingly marginalized. He is also the only one of the three to not have severe legal problems. Dealing with them was always going to be problematic. Not dealing at all, but dealing with them in particular in the manner they were dealt with. Any idiot could have predicted trouble.
The Independent Democratic Conference, by contrast, is stable, and
can probably be dealt with.
Going back to the Crusaders....
Until their enemies unified, the
outremer could not only continue on, but continue on behaving
stupidly, and yet still survive. They made treaties, then broke them. They tried to expand
when they should have solidified. They were plagued by a lack of
competent personnel. So it was with the outremer, so it is with the
Senate Republicans. Granted, the Senate Republicans aren't behaving as badly, but there's still a lot of room for improvement. And, given their unstable position, the Senate Republicans can't afford much wiggle room.
Disunity didn't last forever. So it
was with the outremer, so it will be with the Senate Republicans.
Sooner or later, their enemies will unify. When disunity among their
enemies faded away, the outremer fell victim both to its enemies, and
to themselves, to the logical and foreseeable consequences of their
own actions.
As, likely, will the Senate
Republicans.
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