... and of course, as we used to say in the 60s, scratch a liberal and find a Nazi. Oh, those were the days! What brio we had!
This train of thought was set off by a fine item from the esteemed IOZ:
This is the problem with the left, and this is why, though their language of "national interest" is somewhat distasteful to me, I so often identify more closely with the isolationist right than the sort-of anti-imperial left.... Most lefties apparently do not [understand] that American governments taking up the rhetorical cause of rebels and revolutions are not engaging in rare, admirable acts of solidarity.(IOZ even manages to work in one of my favorite heroines from English literature, Mrs Grendel of Grendelpool.)
Now though I am a Lefty and IOZ is not, I have to admit the justice of his comment. Way too many Lefties are really just liberals at heart; the moralizing universalism, and the fixed belief that the US Marines might, in the right hands, be a force for good, give the game away.
Where I part company with IOZ is in his lukewarm endorsement of isolationism. C'mon, we can do better than that. Proclaim it from the housetops -- we're proud, unabashed, supermax isolationists. US Out Of Everywhere! Don't wake up, America, whatever you do!
It's kind of amazing how unthinkable isolationism has become in the American ideasphere -- though it's probably still the fundamental (and quite sensible) outlook of most ordinary Americans, who generally have to be cozened with some ginned-up threat to support our adventures abroad. But among respectable college survivors, isolationism is literally unthinkable -- one of those words that evokes a blank stare of gobsmacked stupefaction if you use it in any other context than that of reprobation. It's right up there with human sacrifice and female circumcision.
And this is particularly true, I'm sorry to say, among Lefties. Mention isolationism and they'll start gabbling about Charles Lindbergh and Father Coughlin. It's as if they all fell into a Rip van Winkle nap sometime in the 30s and only just woke up.
Comments (8)
Mention isolationism, and you get to reductio ad Hitlerum inside of 30 seconds.
Posted by chomskyzinn | April 15, 2011 3:39 PM
Posted on April 15, 2011 15:39
If the political class can not meddle in foreign nations'affairs, they will merely increase their meddlesomeness domestically. It is the law of the conservation of meddle. So overall it is probably better to have them meddle ineptly overseas than meddle ineptly at home.
The problem with the current college educated redundants is that they wish to meddle in both arenas and thus they cause instability in the amount of meddle the populace can digest.
Posted by CK | April 15, 2011 3:44 PM
Posted on April 15, 2011 15:44
Don't forget Rwanda, CZ.
Posted by Jack Crow | April 15, 2011 3:46 PM
Posted on April 15, 2011 15:46
Not to mention that, when we're talking about opposition to military intervention, it's a bit of a misnomer to call it "isolationism." Like if your preferred mode of interaction with the outside world doesn't involve bullets and humanitarian missiles, you're some kind of cave-dwelling crank.
Posted by Joe | April 15, 2011 4:27 PM
Posted on April 15, 2011 16:27
Mighty fine thinking from the American Conservative.
Posted by sk | April 15, 2011 6:45 PM
Posted on April 15, 2011 18:45
sk: Like me some Larrison. What a RATIONAL writer he is.
It is particularly painful to type in the spambot code when reading and opining on this particular topic.
People are outright shocked when I question American exceptionalism and interventionism. "One cannot think in terms of black and white" "What about the civillians", etc.
Of course, when I note that they are the ones demanding the missiles rain down (and the billions of dollars in borrowed money flow) and thus they should be the ones proving THEIR point, not me....silence.
Posted by Brian M | April 20, 2011 6:00 PM
Posted on April 20, 2011 18:00
sk: LOVE me some Larrison. What a RATIONAL writer he is.
It is particularly painful to type in THAT spambot code when reading and opining on this particular topic.
People are outright shocked when I question American exceptionalism and interventionism. "One cannot think in terms of black and white" "What about the civillians", etc.
Of course, when I note that they are the ones demanding the missiles rain down (and the billions of dollars in borrowed money flow) and thus they should be the ones proving THEIR point, not me....silence.
Posted by Brian M | April 20, 2011 6:01 PM
Posted on April 20, 2011 18:01
Oops. Browser failure. Sorry, folks.
Posted by Brian M | April 20, 2011 6:08 PM
Posted on April 20, 2011 18:08