Yet idealism has lost some of its luster. Neoconservatism, whose ascendancy has scared liberals into a new round of soul-searching, seems plenty idealistic, bent on spreading democracy and human rights. Indeed, a shared idealism is what led many liberals to join neocons in supporting the Iraq war, which hasn’t turned out ideally. In retrospect, realists who were skeptical of the invasion, like Brent Scowcroft and Samuel Huntington, are looking pretty wise.
Much has been made of the neocons' beginnings as liberals. I have always had a hard time believing they were. Any look at history tells you that in the 1960s, it was fashionable to be liberal....I think many people adopted the guise under peer pressure and not necessarily because they were really grounded in liberal principles. There is a kind of 'feel' to liberals just as there is a kind of 'feel' to conservatives. People like Wolfowitz don't come off even remotely like liberals.
Furthermore, I don't now of any liberals who joined with the neocons in wanting this war as the author claims. In fact, I don't see the neocons as idealistic. I see them more as egotists who are trying rebuild the world in their/the US's image. Liberals are far too empathetic to step all over another's culture like Bush has in Iraq. And idealism to a liberal is seeing the good in a culture and trying to build on it to make a better nation. Z is a classic liberal. I find the author's contentions to be a bit insulting. S/he looks to be trying to find an acceptable middle ground between liberals and conservatives but I don't think you do that by blaming one side for the problem. And finally, no one will every convince me that the architects of this war......Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush......ever had a liberal bone in their bodies.
Neocons may be ~neo but it was the GOP that lapped up their ideology. Now is the GOP representative of the conservatives as well as the neocons......or just the neocons? I think the answer to that question needs to be determined before any of us can go forward. The truth is a lot of Bush's base is very much intact and they are no small splinter group. Their numbers are measured by the millions. Even people like Elroy who claim they didn't vote for him believe in what's he's doing.
I'm afraid I find this author a bit glib. In my mind, the Iraqi war has made us all conscious of a major problem in this country. I never knew that there was a large group of Americans who believe that power makes right; that America sits next to God.......if not literally, then figuratively. I think that issue needs to be dealt with before we morph into "progressive realism" or any other ~ism.I think there needs to be a national discussion as to what it means to be American and how we see ourselves in the world. Nations go through soul searching from time to time. I think now is America's time. I am afraid if we don't that 30 years hence we will be right back where we are now. |
