2006/10/23
Neocons and Nazis
Clyde Wilson [professor of history at the Universityof South Carolina, editor ofThe Papers of John C.Calhoun, author of CarolinaCavalier, and a contributingeditor for Chronicles):
The likenesses between Neocons and Nazis: the same worship of force and equation of force with morality; the same disdain for other people’s ideas and interests and presumption of special and superior vision; the same contempt for law, tradition, and the opinion of the civilized world; the same forced redefinition of history according to a European ideology; the same racialist disdain for the inferior breeds—in this case Muslims; the same manipulation of the public with exaggerated and misplaced fears; the same reliance on propaganda slogans and disregard of truth; the same preference for the Leader over democratic process; the same boastful launching of illegal wars of aggression; the same blundering in military action and occupation.
On the other hand, the Neocons have a point when they claim the mantle of Lincoln. Such is the hold of Lincoln’s fraudulent sainthood on the American consciousness that many people, especially liberals, are deeply offended at having Bush likened to Lincoln. Granted: Unlike the Bush boy, Lincoln was intelligent, literate, professionally successful, and a shrewd politician who manipulated others rather than being manipulated by them. But their presidencies do bear a strong family resemblance: launching of an unnecessary war of aggression, a war largely fueled by greed, government-worship, and the blasphemous equation of God and America; repeated miscalculations in the conduct of the war; disregard for the lives and property of civilians; evasion and misrepresentation of constitutional limitations and abuse of civil liberties; a giant step toward transforming the republican United States into an empire.
Allowing that the 19th century had not perfected the instruments of totalitarianism that we now enjoy, perhaps we should admit that Junior Bush is merely fulfilling an American tradition.
The likenesses between Neocons and Nazis: the same worship of force and equation of force with morality; the same disdain for other people’s ideas and interests and presumption of special and superior vision; the same contempt for law, tradition, and the opinion of the civilized world; the same forced redefinition of history according to a European ideology; the same racialist disdain for the inferior breeds—in this case Muslims; the same manipulation of the public with exaggerated and misplaced fears; the same reliance on propaganda slogans and disregard of truth; the same preference for the Leader over democratic process; the same boastful launching of illegal wars of aggression; the same blundering in military action and occupation.
On the other hand, the Neocons have a point when they claim the mantle of Lincoln. Such is the hold of Lincoln’s fraudulent sainthood on the American consciousness that many people, especially liberals, are deeply offended at having Bush likened to Lincoln. Granted: Unlike the Bush boy, Lincoln was intelligent, literate, professionally successful, and a shrewd politician who manipulated others rather than being manipulated by them. But their presidencies do bear a strong family resemblance: launching of an unnecessary war of aggression, a war largely fueled by greed, government-worship, and the blasphemous equation of God and America; repeated miscalculations in the conduct of the war; disregard for the lives and property of civilians; evasion and misrepresentation of constitutional limitations and abuse of civil liberties; a giant step toward transforming the republican United States into an empire.
Allowing that the 19th century had not perfected the instruments of totalitarianism that we now enjoy, perhaps we should admit that Junior Bush is merely fulfilling an American tradition.
// posted by CN @ 8:12 PM 
