I thought it would be fun to survey some of the major posts from the past, so I am presenting the first installment of Neocons Greatest Hits, Part One
1.) One must suppose that the happiness of a great nation rests solely on its prosperity to
take to heart the so- called sanity check. If the integrity of the culture matters also, in such
matters as respect for the law and a sense of honor, then it is a strength of this nation that
it has continued to pursue this matter, not a weakness. Just this past week, in the
Maryland suburbs of Washington, there were 5 shootings, a couple of them fatal, related
to the theft of Eddie Bauer coats. There are kids growing up without conscience or a
sense of solidarity with their fellow citizens, much less the human race generally.
Combating the breakdown of norms in our society is confronting one of our really big
problems. We cannot have a sociopath lead the country without repercussions.
2.) It was the pro- growth policies of the Reagan administration that set us up for our
current prosperity. While pundits were touting MITI and suggesting we emulate the high-
tax, high- trade- barrier, industrial policy model of Japan, its economy was about to take a
plunge into the toilet, and ours was about to take off, even in the midst of significant
defense reductions that dislocated the economies of several states (and thus belying the
liberal canard that the Cold War was a way of maintaining economic growth).
And, by the way, junk bonds helped to finance a lot of the high- tech start up that is paying
off so handsomely in the '90s, not merely as a sector, but in the ripple effects of increased
productivity, low inflation, and the empowering of the workforce. If the biggest revolution
in high- tech has been the development of user- friendly devices and software, it has also
enable otherwise low skilled people to get decent jobs. Cashiers now scan, and depend on
their registers to calculate change. Secretaries who could barely type without numerous
errors now have spell checks to enable them to speed up. The dearth of people qualified as
programmers has lead employers to offer huge starting packages and training to non-
college graduates as inducements. Our prosperity is not the result of a ponzi scheme, but
of the Cyberevolution, that was at least helped along by many of the policies and financial
instruments it is common to vilify.
3.)Although Clinton ran as a Bible- toting centrist, he immediately began to govern to the
left, trying to satisfy debts to the gay lobby, the feminists, and the organized black lobby.
Clintoncare was the most daring attempt to take over a major segment of the economy
that anyone has seen since the New Deal. If the Republicans had not handed him a peace-
dividend, and won the Congress, who knows what havoc he might have wrought? Instead,
under the guidance of Dick Morris, he "triangulated", and the result is fiscal responsibility,
welfare reform, and appointments designed to reassure Wall Street. Thank God that he did
no more "good", but was essentially coopted to battle on the margins.
4.) Reagan challenged the Soviets far more credibly than Carter, and finally scared them
with the SDI initiative. The desire of the Politburo to initiate Detente2 kept Gorbachev in
power, unlike Khruschev, and this time the thaw meant something. If Reagan had not
gotten the intermediate range missiles into Europe, and succeeded in increasing defense
spending, especially on technological innovation; if he had not funded the Contras and
shown a willingness to use force in Grenada; if he had not supported resistance to the
Soviet Empire not only in Afghanistan, but in Poland and other Eastern bloc countries; if
he had not reenergized the Cold War, and demanded "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this
Wall" in Berlin; we would likely still be in the middle of the Cold War.
5.)Anyway, the evaluation of the productive allocation of resources can only be based on a
realistic assessment of security needs. If you need a lock on your door, it is no answer to
say you could have bought a fishing rod. Finally, enlightened opinion did indeed think that
Reagan would make the Cold War worse, and it was wrong.
6.) By the way, the Reagan era and its aftermath also puts the lie to the claims of those
like Noam Chomskey who asserted that the Cold War was manufactured to buttress
American capitalism, which would falter without the "war economy".
7.) Let's see: the Republican party captured the House of Representatives in '94 for the
first time in 40 years, and added the Senate to boot. It is nice to say that Clinton co- opted
the Republicans, but at least as arguable the other way. They retained the Congress in the
last two elections, despite losing the Presidency, and the loss of several seats in the House
has been widely, although incorrectly, blamed on the drive to impeachment. The polls
continue to tell the Republicans that they are paying a price for all of this. A: Why should
they be so hungry for a victory?; B: Why would they regard this process as politically
beneficial?
8.) 1. Either it happened or it didn't--- the law of non- contradiction, which is the first rule
of logic. Both could be lying in other respects, but either it happened or it didn't.
2. The point of "absent a definitive adjudication, we are free to surmise either way " is to
concede that you have as much right to disbelieve Paula as I do to believe her, since the
question is undecidable under the circumstances. But it is no more certain that the story
was manufactured, and I have a right to believe her.
3. None of your insinuations definitively rebut my version, they merely cast sufficient
doubt as to keep your version alive. Since I have already said that my principal contention
was that she deserved her day in court, I don't see that I am being slippery.
4. I didn't say that Paula's sincerity was "obvious". She could be a good actress. I said that
she appeared sincere to me.
By the way, ever since the '92 primaries, when he got caught out in prevarication after
prevarication, to a degree that astonished even the mainstream press core, Clinton has
been branded an egregious liar. Coupled with his aura of fake sincerity, he is considered
stomach turning by many. And Monica does at least demonstrate that the general
reputation that he has for womanizing is warranted. It is against that background that I
find these other women more credible than him.
9,) 1. Most of us don't hate Clinton, which implies a certain ferocity of feeling, but think
that he's a jerk. Since there is ample evidence that that is so, regardless of one's political
persuasion, I would say that "Clinton hating" is a perfectly rational response to the man.
2. Republicans are glad that Clinton has gone along with much of their agenda, and many
of them would have been glad to have shared credit with him, but he is a back- stabbing
S.O.B. and credit- grabber. Remember, many of us fled the Democratic Party, and
supported the Democratic Leadership Council ( of which Clinton was once head).
3. I actually find that a lot of my distaste for the man falls into the first of Sullivan's
categories. When I was a teenager, I volunteered in a McGovern campaign office, and got
to know a bunch of aspiring young collegiate Democrats. Some of them, generally in law
school, combined smugness with an aching ambition, allowing them to pursue their own
petty interests and feel self- righteous at the same time. Bill reminds me of those creeps.
10,) Suppose that Hitler had been prevented from occupying the Rhineland (Bill Shirer, in
"Berlin Diary", has said that he had it from government sources that the Nazis were not
prepared to fight, and would have fallen back). Suppose also that the British and French
had called his bluff on the Sudetenland. Finally, suppose that the United States had joined
in the commitment to defend Poland, and stationed troops in the U.K. for joint training.
Do you doubt that history would have been quite different? And yet, the very effectiveness
of such measures would have made it impossible to say what would have happened had
they not been adopted....The Reagan administration reacted aggressively to Soviet
provocation. Liberals said that the Soviet Union would become more belligerent as a
result. Instead, the Soviet Union fell apart. I can't prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that
we did it, but it sure looks like it.... |
