Brookfield Basics

Just as Veterans Day was once known as Armistice Day, Memorial Day also began under a different name. It originated in 1862 in the Civil War torn South, when widows of Confederate dead would spend the day decorating the graves of their fallen husbands. By the 1880’s this practice evolved into Memorial Day, and May 30 has since been a day established to recognize, remember, and appreciate our nation’s fallen soldiers.

I take the name of this article from the ancient lines of the Greek Poet:


“Go tell the Spartans, those that passeth by,
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie”.


These lines refer to the heroic group of three hundred Spartans who blocked the Pass of Thermopylae, protecting their homeland from the advance of Xerxes’ Persian Army. They knew they would die, but they stayed and fought anyway. They did so because they were raised to believe that some things were worth more than even their lives.

On Memorial Day of 2007 I think of many people. I think first of my father, father-in-law, and two uncles – World War Two veterans all. Three of them are gone now, and though they did not fall in the field, I still think of them this day.

I think of former Brookfield Central Lancer and US Army Sergeant Scott Brown, recently fallen in Iraq. I grieve for his family and young son, and if any of them should happen to read this, please know that we have specifically prayed for you this week, and stand ready to do whatever modest things we can do to show our sorrow and our appreciation.

I think of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, who penned their names to a document that ended with the words “and to this Declaration we pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor”. Today many elites mock these men, claiming that they were only a privileged few trying to protect their lofty status. Aside from being lazy and arrogant, this is simply inaccurate. While it is true that some who signed were wealthy and established, most were self-made men of little means, many of whom would dangle at the end of a British rope for having signed that document. They felt their sacred honor was worth more than their lives.

I think of George Washington and the men of his rag-tag army, walking barefoot in the snows of Valley Forge.

I think of the private in the US Army of the Potomac, writing a letter to his young wife and four sons just a few days before Gettysburg. It is a missive of such pure and evocative beauty that it transcends our physical experience. I have had the good fortune of traveling much of this world, and I well remember visiting St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, gazing in stupefied awe at Michelangelo’s “Pieta”. But even that did not have the impact upon me that Gettysburg did. I remember standing on that hallowed ground in Pennsylvania. And I remember thinking I never want to meet the person who can stand on that ground and remain unmoved.

I think of Sigfried Sassoon, the World War One British Infantry Officer who left the safety of his trench to venture out into the killing fields to look for his injured comrade. Upon finding him, his wounded friend gazed up at him softly murmured, “I knew you would come”. He died shortly cradled in Sassoon’s arms.

I think of Winston Churchill, alone and magnificent, standing up to Hitler as he proclaimed to an imperiled Western World, “We shall never surrender”.

I think of Douglas MacArthur, America’s greatest soldier and the liver of an almost mythological life. I envision him in his 80’s on the plains of West Point, shoulders firm and jaw square as he gave his last public address to the graduating long gray line of the Corps, proclaiming boldly, “Duty, Honor, Country”.

I think of the U.S. Marines fighting their way through sub-zero temperatures and three hundred thousand Chinese infantry in the Chosen River basin in North Korea; their legendary leader Chesty Puller muttering, “we have them right where we want them”.

I think of the opening scenes of Spielberg’s masterpiece “Saving Private Ryan”, with the enormous, overarching American flags lofting in the Channel-fed breezes, keeping silent yet faithful vigil over the fallen that lie in the cemetery at Normandy.

I think of another cemetery - Arlington National outside of Washington D.C.. It is a place of such reverential beauty that it beggars description. The land for the Cemetery once belonged to the family of Robert E. Lee and was confiscated by the Federal Government after the Civil War. I suspect that Lee would approve of how his land has been used.

On Monday at 3 PM at Veterans Park, immediately following the Memorial Day Parade, twenty-five thousand balloons will be released to commemorate of country’s fallen heroes. If you have a chance go and see it. If not, wherever we are at this time, let’s stop our frenzied activities. Let’s take several minutes to think on these things and to pray our silent gratit

Something important happened a little over a week ago - something went bump in the night. It remains to be seen whether that bump will turn out to be a ghost coming out of the closet, or whether it was just a whimper of our imagination.

Daimler-Chrysler AG of Germany sold its Chrysler Division to an independent and private group of investors by the name of Cerberus. This is significant on many levels.

First and most obviously, it is a major deal – Cerberus is paying nearly eight billion dollars for what was once an icon of American industry. Chrysler Corporation, once one of the “Big Three” US car manufacturers, was purchased by Daimler-Benz nearly ten years ago. After a massively failed experiment, Daimler has unloaded it to this private group of investors.

The Daimler sale of Chrysler was highly criticized by two parties: an employee consortium which wanted to purchase the company, and Lee Iacocca, former Chrysler Chairman and longtime senior executive of Ford Motor Company. The employee group claimed they were “sold out” by Daimler and the UAW, and that they had the financial backing and the “right plan” to return the carmaker to profitable operations. How a successful plan would have come from the very group whose negotiated wage, benefit and retirement programs are the death sentence of this industry remains unclear. As for Mr. Iacocca, he offered the most blunt if not the most insightful commentary in Business Week. “Daimler screwed Chrysler royally. Chrysler was the lowest cost producer and the most profitable car company in the world until Daimler drove them off the cliff”, he wrote. Apparently he has never heard of Toyota and the Honda Motor Company, whose income statements and balance sheets have put the domestic manufacturers to shame for over twenty years.

Barring a miracle or a government bail out, the US automakers are on a one-way trip to bankruptcy. The question is not IF they will file Chapter Eleven, it’s WHEN. This is more than just a forecast; it’s an actuarial eventuality, as their sales simply cannot generate enough cash to cover their hopelessly bloated fixed cost structures. Each year the cash reserves of Ford and GM dwindle by a few more billion, as they have no recourse but to use these reserves to pay for costs that their earnings cannot cover.

What is the source of their fixed cost woes? Bloated health care costs and un-funded retirement plans. General Motors currently has five RETIRED employees on their payrolls for every ACTIVE employee, and each of those five are getting full health care coverage and pension payments. You can do the math.

So what is it that went bump? I don’t know the plans of the managers of Cerberus, but my guess is they did not buy Chrysler to lose money. It is my subsequent guess that they will begin to address these fixed costs, and that may bring some very interesting developments.

What’s the point of all this? If you are not a shareholder in Daimler-Chrysler or Cerberus, why should you care?

Domestic auto executives, having consciously and steadfastly refused for forty years to address this coming storm, are already bleating to Washington about the need for a massive Federal bail out. If that happens, we’ll all pick up the tab.

Secondly, government better think twice before they bail out Ford and GM because it has the very same problem. The collective liability of all public sector employers for these same areas of fixed cost is now measured in the TRILLIONS.

It’s all about health care costs, which in the public sector and the US auto industry run two to three times the cost of the average private sector plan. When discussing what to do about health care costs, there are essentially two choices. We can put nearly twenty percent of our entire economy into the hands of the Federal Government in the form of a national health insurance program, or we can let the market work in the form of consumer driven health care reform. I will write more about consumer driven plans over the summer.

I know which choice I prefer.

How about you?

Friday May 18th at 7 PM, the State Champion Brookfield East Forensics Team will be performing at the Sharon Lynn Wilson Center.

Attendance is free of charge, but the Team welcomes donations. These will go towards defraying travel costs associated with the Team's performances.

If your schedule permits, go and see these kids, whose academic and personal abilities brought home the State Championship last month.

Congratulations Spartans.

On this date seventeen years ago a blitzkrieg hit Waukesha County. About 3 AM heavy rains turned to snow, and by dawn we had seven inches of wet, heavy snow covering the landscape. I will never forget the carnage in our yard, neighborhood and city that morning. Though the snow would melt within hours the damage had been done, as its crushing weight pulverized trees, shrubs and plant-life.

But on this same date a far more deadly and history-shaping blitzkrieg occurred. On May 10, 1940, the Fuhrer of Nazi Germany invaded France.

It is impossible today to grasp the stunning impact of this action, which ushered in the greatest conflagration in history, re-wrote the world’s geopolitical landscape, and left FIFTY MILLION dead. Throughout the 1930’s Europe had coddled Hitler, choosing to disbelieve or simply ignore Winston Churchill’s insistent warnings. It had watched as he swallowed Austria and Czechoslovakia, and even acquiesced with his invasion of Poland in September of 1939. As long as Hitler moved eastward, towards Communist Russia, his actions were tolerated, even encouraged. But on this day his forces lunged across the Meuse River at Sedan, and poured westward into France.

The French, who for months had been mired in defeatism and denial despite the obvious signs of German intent, suddenly awoke to their peril and, along with their British Allies, rushed into Belgium to meet the tide of German troops they were convinced would be there. They left the protection of their Southern flank to the “impregnable” combination of the Ardennes Forest and the Maginot line.

That was the problem – the French trusted their fixed fortifications. The Germans however, had revolutionized warfare with the introduction of their mechanized and armored Panzer Divisions. They relied on fluid and fast moving fronts, supported by mobile firepower unprecedented in warfare. The German forces penetrated the Ardennes forest, out-flanked the Maginot Line, and deployed their lethal formations. From there they went on a four-week race to the English Channel, cutting the Allied troops off from their communications, supply lines, and political leaders. Within six weeks the Swastika would fly over the Eiffel Tower.

The Allies were stupefied by the pace and depth of the Nazi penetrations, which spread like a virulent stain over their maps. The Germans progressed relentlessly, ignoring the established rules of war and preventing the Allies from organized response. In command of the lead units, General Heinz Guederian defied the frantic pleas of his superiors in Berlin, who almost begged him to wait for the slower moving German infantry. The grim tank commander knew better, and merely growled back, “We move or we fail. Approve the advance or relieve me from command”. Reflecting back on those frenetic days of mayhem and death, Churchill would say, “The Germans were everywhere – and were everywhere victorious”.

A month later the French had already surrendered. The British Expeditionary Force had retreated to the Channel Coast and was huddled on the beaches of Dunkirk. Then, in a development that many politicians openly attributed to divine intervention, the German tanks stopped. Hitler, perhaps in a vain attempt to show mercy and thereby secure the surrender of England, held them in check. The English waited, and prayed for another miracle. They got one. A fleet of vessels emerged from the coves, tributaries, and harbors of England, and in a completely unplanned and uncoordinated effort, ventured across the Channel. Hundreds of ships, fishing trawlers, commercial vessels, dinghies, private sailing yachts, and rowboats would cross the Channel to bring their exhausted sons back home.

France would endure five years of Nazi occupation, which while reprehensible, would not even approximate the savagery of their Eastern occupations. England, protected by her Channel, would finally turn to the one man she had long scorned and banished to political exile. In London the sixty-five year old Winston Churchill’s time had come, as he had never doubted it would.

For months he would confront his fascist adversary with the only weapons he had: soaring prose and an indomitable will. He spoke to his countrymen as no one had since Shakespeare and the great Elizabeth. His broadcasts originated from an underground London bunker, and were carried to the listening world via the BBC. They stand today as some of the most stirring orations in history, and a profile in political leadership.

Last month a group of thirty-one students from Brookfield East High School left their campus to compete in the Wisconsin State Forensics Championship.

They returned with one additional companion - the State Championship Trophy. The Spartan Team has long been a powerhouse, and has several top five finishes in recent State competitions. But this was their first Championship.

Forensics is defined as “the art or study of formal argumentation and debate”. This is accurate but not fully descriptive, for at BEHS it is far more. It is a competitive team activity built upon the foundation of an Honors level academic endeavor, with nearly eighty participants. All of these are students whose shared passion and efforts converge to form a tightly woven community within a community. This community development starts with a summer picnic sponsored by the team to welcome incoming freshmen, so as to be sure they have some familiar faces to look for when they make the big transition to High School.

Brookfield resident Mary Wacker has long been the driving force behind this program, and has coached the team for seventeen years. Each year sees her commit hundreds of hours to the students, and the following narrative comes from an informal interview with her.

Work begins in October, but the “season” does not formally begin until January. The average week sees a minimum of one mandatory practice, though most students far exceed this. Each practice in turn requires hours of preparation. Meets are held on Saturdays and consume the entire day, with the kids leaving around 7 AM and not returning until after the dinner hour.

In addition to the specific skills of research, writing and speaking, the students immerse themselves in an environment of giving and receiving criticism, teamwork, and mutual encouragement and support. This develops personal characteristics and qualities that serve them for a lifetime. Each student selects an area of address with some selecting more than one. This environment developed depth, and it was the depth of this year’s BEHS team that proved the decisive factor in winning the Championship. It wasn’t just a few “stars” that carried the day. It was a large group of well-prepared and exemplary performers.

This month we have a tremendous opportunity to familiarize ourselves with Forensics in general and the BEHS Team in particular. On Friday, May 18th at 7 PM at the Sharon Lynn Wilson Center, the individuals who competed at State will be giving their respective orations. I strongly encourage anyone to attend, but in particular, parents of middle-school students who may be considering this program for their child at either High School. The evening is presented free of charge, though please note that donations are welcomed; the proceeds of which would be applied to travel costs for students to attend National Competitions and other Team costs.

I can tell you from meeting and speaking with students of both High School Forensics programs that they have more than just outstanding skills in speaking and comportment. They have a comfortable confidence and enthusiasm that is almost tangible.

So please join me in sending your heartiest congratulations to the Team.

And to Mary Wacker we send thanks for her commitment to the young people in her charge.

Though only seventeen days old, already the Virginia Tech. Massacre recedes in our emotional rear view mirrors. And even as it does we subconsciously brace for the next horrific act.

I began this series by outlining my views on the nature and cause of this incident, and then addressed the sad commentary it has generated from people in positions of authority and influence. But Part Three is much tougher. What are we to DO? It would be easy to yammer on about having a greater appreciation for those we love in our lives, hugging our kids more often, and realizing that every blessing we have can vanish like a wisp of smoke. This is all true of course, but we already KNEW that. Sueng-Hui Cho did not teach us the importance of these things; he only reminded us.

Cho was disturbed, an evil sociopath. In turn, I believe the foundation of OUR mental health is to confront and accept certain realities. We need to realize that we live in a dark and dangerous world and that this is not going to change. We need to understand this so as to avoid living in an emotionally fractured and will-destroying state of denial. Accepting this reality does not mean we are craven and weak. Rather, this acceptance is the means by which we can live sober, realistic, and prepared lives. It is also the means by which we can successfully talk to our kids about such things, so that rather than scare the wits out of them, we can prepare them as well.

The second step, it seems to me, is to become more aware of the people in our lives that are isolated. There are damaged people in our society with nowhere to put the sickness inside of them except on top of you and me. I believe we have a responsibility to be aware of this so that we can seek to pull them OUT OF the isolation that breeds this behavior. This is not only a responsibility we have to our fellow man, but is also a healthy and pragmatic step we can take to make our communities safer.

But what of public policy? What of tangible steps to make ourselves citizens safer?

Blood baths like the massacre warrant the consideration of measures that, like the murders themselves, have been heretofore unprecedented. I believe it is up to the management of every private concern to comprehensively evaluate this matter in terms of what steps they should take for the protection of people in their charge. And since they hold sway over private property and capital, whatever decision they reach is their right.

As to the public domain there are two fundamental realities to consider.

ONE – we have evil people in our midst who care nothing for civilized society or its members.

TWO - we live in a society where large numbers of people congregate on a predictably scheduled basis: schools, factories, stadiums, office buildings, and churches to name the most obvious. Even if unlimited funds were available we could not secure every building. The simple fact is there are no guarantees against such atrocities. But does that mean we throw up our hands and say we are powerless to do ANYTHING?

It is time to consider the placement of a presence in our public gathering places. I refer specifically to a properly equipped presence that stands for the defense of civilized and moral behavior, and which is trained in the use and delivery of deadly force.

It is not extremism to suggest we engage in serious and deliberate debate on such measures. On the contrary - it is Mr. Cho who has defined extremism.

Hope is a precious commodity in our lives. Greek mythology tells us that it was the one good thing that Pandora let out of her box, having been ordered by the gods on Olympus to do so.

My theology tells me that hope is a grace given to mankind by God.

But I do not believe that hope is a strategy.

And I certainly don’t believe it is a strategy for dealing with the Sueng-Hui Cho’s of the world.