The New Model Army

ROUNDHEAD, n. A member of the Parliamentarian party in the English civil war --so called from his habit of wearing his hair short, whereas his enemy, the Cavalier, wore his long. There were other points of difference between them, but the fashion in hair was the fundamental cause of quarrel. The Cavaliers were royalists because the king, an indolent fellow, found it more convenient to let his hair grow than to wash his neck. This the Roundheads, who were mostly barbers and soap-boilers, deemed an injury to trade, and the royal neck was therefore the object of their particular indignation.

- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

January 30, 1649 dawned cold and dark in London, as it does each year.  But that year was darker, as Charles Stuart, late crowned head of the realm, walked to his death at Whitehall.  King Charles had lost the English Civil War to a Parliament led by Oliver Cromwell, and that Parliament had condemned him to death.

The dispute was - as all are - over money and power.  The England of Elizabeth the Virgin Queen was a quite different place.  Parliament met infrequently under good Queen Bess, when she needed more tax money.  While she always needed money, she was famously thrifty, and so being a parliamentarian wasn't exactly a full time job.

The new Stuart Kings were different.  While they also tried to keep Parliament from meeting, their ambitions ran higher.  Charles played with military adventures in France, supporting the protestant rebellion at La Rochelle (of Three Musketeers fame).  That ended badly, and in desperate need of new revenues, he imposed crushing fines on the Kingdom to raise money.  Sort of the post-Elizabethan speed camera plan.  It was even less popular then that the cameras are now.

It came to a head in 1642, when Charles himself took his army to the Houses of Parliament.  Unsuccessful in his attempt to intimidate the body, he fled London with his family and supporters.  Parliament rallied its supporters, and England descended into its own Civil War.

In some sense, it was similar to the American War Between the States ("Civil War" to Yankees).  The better generals were on the Royalist side, but the bulk of the population was behind Parliament, and when the New Model Army - England's first true professional army, as opposed to local militias - was fielded in 1644, the gig was up.  His armies destroyed, Charles was forced to give up his attempt to rule without the consent of the people.  Under arrest, it went badly when Royalists broke a cease fire, and were then wiped out.  Charles was implicated, tried by Parliament, and convicted.

At the King's trial in 1648, Cromwell told Parliament "I tell you we will cut off his head with the crown upon it."  And so they did.  Many people disliked this ultimate expression of Lèse majesté, feeling that certain people should rule by virtue of birth, or class, or education.

Some still feel that way, and like the Royalists place little store in the feelings of the people or the consent of the governed.  But like the Royalists at Naseby, they're about to join a battle that will prove to be their undoing.  A wave of Leveling is sweeping the land, and they're on the wrong side of it.  It's not a desire for economic leveling, but like the Parliamentary forces in 1645, it's a wave sweeping political privilege before it.  A wave rejecting a received wisdom, a "Divine Right" to rule based on a dogma taught to a small class of would-be overlords.

A wave that uses new technologies and techniques to harness previously unseen and unconsidered forces.  A wave that is surrounding and overwhelming the establishment across the entire country.  Celebrities like Bill Maher can no more deflect this wave than Charles' great cavilier Prince Rupert.

A common theme is that the Educated Class in this country is pathetically ignorant of history.  Like Charles, they thought that they could rule by Force majeure. Like Charles, they thought that they were to the Manor born, fit to rule men of lesser station, ignorant and lesser men from the hinterlands.  Like Charles, they thought that the current power structures of the realm would be their bulwark.

Like Charles, they didn't see a movement - led by leaders they despised as unworthy, like Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell - ready to crystallize in defense of ancient freedoms.  Like Charles, everything after will be different, although it is hard to predict precisely how.  But the broad sweep of history is now upon us, and bears down on those who recently thought themselves to the the Lord's Anointed.

Dr. Johnson once said that When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully. It is now only a fortnight until the elections.  Will we ultimately see a restoration, a return of the Old Regime, a la Charles II?  Perhaps, but if so it will be a limited restoration, just as with Charles.  A great power has been awakened in the land, and has risen up to contest the usurpations of an arrogant ruling class.  That class is about to be swept away, and good riddance.

A Parliament is that to the Commonwealth which the soul is to the body. It behooves us therefore to keep the facility of that soul from distemper.

- John Pym, English statesman, 1641