Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The worst Neocon article ever

Here's a nearly unreadable but comically revealing piece about Neoconservative foreign policy — and thought, such as it is. It's entitled, "Does One Right Make a Realist?" A better title would've been "Do two Neocons make a right?" It combines leaden academic prose with jingoistic puffery -- with a big, slimy dose of Lincolnian messianism thrown in. For those of you with the stomach for it, I have extracted this representative sample so as to spare you the misery of having to digest the whole thing. See if you've ever encountered a more self-congratulatory, delusional screed in your life:

Their stress on American values emerges from a deep sense of national pride that in its more exuberant form translates into a feeling of moral superiority in international affairs. Neoconservatives refuse to separate the pursuit of American self-interest and those of the greater international good, arguing that serving America’s cause is the world’s cause. They are not idealists or realists, but nationalists. ...

Neoconservatism is not a nationalism of the soil as is the case with American isolationism or other nationalisms across the globe. Rather, it is based on the superiority of American ideals and values, a universal nationalism. As a result, even more than others, American nationalism has a strong moral component that distinguishes it sharply from the amorality of realism.

"Universal nationalism"? Isn't that kinda like slutty virginity?

Seriously, when will Neocons get their heads out of their endless theories and wake up to the fact that they've crippled not only Iraq and Afghanistan, but the US economy and military?

Now let's see -- we've lost over 4,100 men, thousands of amputees will require a lifetime of public assistance, we've wrecked countless American families, over 2 million Iraqis are now refugeed, at least 50,000 killed, we're over a half-trillion (and counting) in debt to Japan and Red China to pay for the war, and the end result is that Iran now controls Iraq. Then there's the great leap in government power over our lives you can expect from any war, though this one, having normalized warrantless citizen surveillance, is probably the worst yet for our liberties.

And the chief cheerleaders for invasion, Bush and Amnesty McCain, oppose the timetable for withdrawal the Iraqis insist on. That's a victory?

The actual results of the Neocon globalist agenda has failed to advance either "American self-interest" or the "greater international good." In fact, they've done long-lasting harm to both. There's some "realism" for you.

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