Posted on 10/13/2004 1:21:11 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
John Kerry, in his Sept. 30 debate with President Bush, almost inadvertently unearthed what may be the most critical fault line separating the candidates -- and the poles of the Jekyll-Hyde American personality -- when he spoke of a ``global test.''
On one side of the line, half the nation believes that cooperation with the rest of the world is a contemptible, repugnant practice borne of softness, weakness, wimpness. The half on the other side believes that global consensus driven by American principles and values is the ultimate manifestation of authority and leadership.
Asked by moderator Jim Lehrer if he believed in the concept of pre-emptive war, Kerry said that he did, then added, ``But if and when you do it, Jim, you have to do it in a way . . . that passes the global test -- where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you're doing what you're doing, and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons.''
That's logical and sensible. If a president can't demonstrate to critics -- domestic and foreign -- that a unilateral action was justified, there's a fairly high probability that it wasn't justified. Nothing in Kerry's answer implied that he'd give other countries or the United Nations a veto over U.S. policy; nothing suggested that he needed permission from the world community to act if he felt that it was in the nation's best interests. He simply said that the logic behind America's actions should be sound enough to persuade most reasonable observers.
But, like the dog that hears only ''blah, blah, blah, DINNER! blah, blah'' when his master talks, Kerry's critics heard only one word of his response: global. And global, in Bushspeak, is code for evil.
Bush's debate retort was, 'I'm not exactly sure what you mean, `passes the global test.' '' He then proudly ticked off a series of examples where the United States has defied cooperative world initiatives during his administration. Nothing global about this guy, except his desire to kick the globe's collective butt.
This appeals to those who can't tell the difference between patriots, who want their country's actions to be noble and honorable, and nationalists, who define as noble and honorable whatever their country does.
This latter idea is the conceptual equivalent of an American monarchy.
Divine authority
In the heyday of feudal monarchies, the sovereign's actions defined right and wrong; the king's word was both law and verdict. It didn't matter if the king demonstrated sound reasoning by any objective standard; he ruled by divine authority, to be questioned by no mortal.
American monarchists think in a similar way: We intervene in world affairs when we please and ignore as we please. The world -- our ''subjects'' -- can neither stop us from doing what we decide to do nor compel us to do what we chose not to do. And they dare not judge us.
Patriots, however, believe that U.S. governments can and do make mistakes -- from segregation to Vietnam to gas-guzzling cars and more. But they also have faith that America, grounded in noble ideals, will learn from the mistakes and grow. Monarchists view dissent -- internal and external -- as a threat to the natural order of things.
Iraq sharply exemplifies this dichotomy. American patriots see Bush's invasion as a gross, unforgiveable misjudgment that has cost tens of thousands of lives for no discernible purpose. To Bushian monarchists -- the popular term of reference is ''neo-conservatives'' -- it was an action intended to further U.S. interests and therefore was a good thing -- no matter how costly, wasteful or immoral.
Missteps, misjudgments
This mind-set enabled Bush to dismiss as a ''focus group'' the millions of peace demonstrators worldwide who gathered on the eve of the March 2003 invasion. It's why Bush can't itemize any mistakes that he has made, why he says that he'd have invaded Iraq even knowing that it had no weapons of mass destruction or connections to al Qaeda -- and why so many Americans continue to adore him despite his astonishing record of missteps and misjudgments.
For the committed American monarchist, evidence and logic are superfluous. An American president who says that America is always right, is, by his own definition, always right.
Bush doesn't wait on a U.N. that puts tyranical nations on human rights commissions.
Bush doesn't ask the leave of bribed countries who sit on the U.N. Security Counsel.
Kerry's first mentor: Kerry's World: Father Knows Best***...."Americans," he [Richard Kerry] writes, "are inclined to see the world and foreign affairs in black and white." They celebrate their own form of government and denigrate all others, making them guilty of what he calls "ethnocentric accommodation -- everyone ought to be like us." As a result, America has committed the "fatal error" of "propagating democracy" and fallen prey to "the siren's song of promoting human rights," falsely assuming that our values and institutions are a good fit in the Third World. And, just as Americans exaggerate their own goodness, they exaggerate their enemies' badness. The Soviet Union wasn't nearly as imperialistic as American politicians warned, Kerry argues. "Seeing the Soviet Union as the aggressor in every instance, and the U.S. as only reacting defensively, relieves an American observer from the need to see any parallel between our use of military power in distant parts of the world, and the Soviet use of military power outside the Soviet Union," he writes. He further claims that "Third world Marxist movements were autonomous national movements" -- outside Moscow's orbit. The book culminates in a plea for a hardheaded, realist foreign policy that removes any pretense of U.S. moral superiority. .......***
The premise of this article:
Those who beleive that an internationally agressive America can do wrong and that its actions must be supported in all circumstances are essentially nationalists not patriots
is correct.
The liberal, Bush-bashing garbage used to back up this premise, on the other hand, is Bull$hit.
This is a badly written article with holes in it bigger than an old tennis racquet.
This is the spin Kerry is selling.
Absolute, total nonsense. Lies and slander from beginning to end.
By contrast, here is what one of the greatest feudal monarchs wrote to his son and successor:
"Maintain the good customs of thy realm and abolish the bad. Be not covetous against thy people and do not burden them with taxes and imposts save when thou art in great need.
"If thou hast any great burden weighing upon thy heart, tell it to thy confessor or to some right worthy man who is not full of vain words. Thou shalt be able to bear it more easily.
"See that thou hast in thy company men, whether religious or lay, who are right worthy and loyal and not full of covetousness, and confer with them oft; and fly and eschew the company of the wicked. Hearken willingly to the Word of God and keep it in thine heart, and seek diligently after prayers and indulgences. Love all that is good and profitable and hate all that is evil, wheresoever it may be.
"Let none be so bold as to say before thee any word that would draw or move to sin, or so bold as to speak evil behind another's back for pleasure's sake; nor do thou suffer any word in disparagement of God and of His saints to be spoken in thy presence. Give often thanks to God for all the good things he has bestowed on thee, so that thou be accounted worthy to receive more.
"In order to do justice and right to thy subjects, be upright and firm, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left, but always to what is just; and do thou maintain the cause of the poor until such a time as the truth is made clear. And if anyone has an action against thee, make full inquiry until thou knowest the truth; for thus shall thy counsellors judge the more boldly according to the truth, whether for thee or against.
"If thou holdest aught that belongeth to another, whether by thine own act or the act of thy predecessors, and the matter be certain, make restitution without delay. If the matter be doubtful, cause inquiry to be made by wise men diligently and promptly.
"Give heed that thy servants and thy subjects live under thee in peace and uprightness. Especially maintain the good cities and commons of thy realm in the same estate and with the same franchises as they enjoyed under thy predecessors; and if there be aught to amend, amend and set it right, and keep them in thy favor and love. For because of the power and wealth of the great cities, thine own subjects, and especially thy peers and thy barons and foreigners also will fear to undertake aught against thee."
Written by whom? Who but Louis IX of France, now and most justly Saint Louis.
Great post.
It does sound a lot like Bush (he he).
Uh, no, that isn't an accurate representation of the former's position. Bobby Steinback obviously isn't able to discern between those of us who refuse to give a veto of our United States policy over to France, Germany, the U.N., or environmentalists worshipping trees (Bush and other conservatives) and those who think acquiescence to these forces shows nuance, tolerance, and intelligence (Kerry, Neville Chamberlain, and other liberals).
Bobby "Surrender, Dorothy, to the Terrorists" Steinbeck just doesn't get it!
The half on the other side believes that global consensus driven by American principles and values is the ultimate manifestation of authority and leadership."
Bzzzt, wrong! The Left does not want the global consensus to be driven by American values. They want it driven by French/European values. Also, how do you reach a "consensus" with people who want to kill all non-Muslims? You can't!
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