Tag Archives: politics

The Necessity of Subordinating Emotions in Decision-Making: Alexander Hamilton’s Fall

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Amidst battling a cold and feeling physically drained, Commander-in-Chief John Adams, driven by a sense of duty, traveled from his hometown of Quincy to Trenton in 1799. There, he convened with his cabinet to deliberate on strategic options in the event of possible war with France.* At the time, American maritime trade was under constant threat from French warships at the Atlantic, provoked by the administration’s favorable stance toward Britain, a rival of revolutionary France. Adams believed in Peace Through Strength, thus he was interested in establishing a strong navy as a deterrent and a tool for leverage in future negotiations with France.†

Previously, Adams’ envoys faced a degree of humiliation at the hands of the French Directory, where they were largely dismissed and treated as subordinates. However, with Napoleon Bonaparte’s ascension to power, the dynamics shifted, offering renewed hope for a better relationship between the U.S. and France.

The newly established United States faced the delicate challenge of navigating alliances among the dominant European powers. Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists favored policies that aligned with Britain, while Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson, sought closer ties with revolutionary France. John Adams, burdened with the responsibility of his office, despite being aligned with the Federalist camp, displayed political mastery by treading carefully between these two competing interests, ensuring a balanced approach for the young nation with a focus in developing industries and the navy.1

Image 1: Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull 1805

Alexander Hamilton, a prominent Federalist renowned for his eloquence and energy, fervently advocated for war with France, perceiving President Adams’ reluctance as a direct challenge to his Federalist principles. Convinced that a war was necessary, Hamilton had previously persuaded George Washington to support the formation of a resource consuming standing army, with Hamilton himself appointed as its commander. At the time, Hamilton’s ambition was well-known, and it was rumored that he suffered from a type of “Napoleon complex,” a notion reinforced by Abigail Adams, who mockingly referred to him as “Hamilton Bonaparte.” in one of her letters.2

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The Gulag Archipelago: Inner Radar

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The Gulag Archipelago1 offers a personal and introspective account of the soviet gulag system as Solzhenitsyn reflects not only on his own experiences but also on the broader ideological framework that underpinned Stalin’s Soviet regime. In his book, he describes the systemic cruelty of the soviet prison systems (Gulags), examining the role of the “blue caps” — the Soviet officers who administered the brutal labor camps and interrogated prisoners at their headquorters2 — and the broader philosophy (or lack of a real philosophy?) that shaped their actions. He points out how the corrupt nature of a social system can tempt even honorable individuals to conform to it, bringing out their worst sides. And if not succumbed to the system, then unmercifully exiled or, in most cases, imprisoned. He argues that when a corrupt idealism and philosophy drive evil acts, people are often drawn further into darkness. Solzhenitsyn’s work probes into the dehumanizing effects of this system, illuminating both its individual and collective dimensions. According to him, one of the primary factors enabling such pervasive evil by the blue caps was the level of compliance of ordinary Russian citizens, who, without any resistance, passively obeyed, leading to their eventual interrogation and transfer to the Gulags on a massive scale.*

One theme that particularly resonated with me was his discussion of the “inner radar.” Through his interactions with new prisoners and observations of camp dynamics, Solzhenitsyn describes a nearly instinctual ability to identify possible informants and those with possible malicious intents by analyzing certain visual cues and body language, an intuition he learned to trust through time, as this skill was crucial for navigating such an environment.

Image 1: Book cover of The Gulag Archipelago by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
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