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The Apostle Bush by Joseph R. StrombergNeo-conservatives have proclaimed the president’s State of Union address cosmic, bold, tough, just the thing, and more. The American press, generally, has signed on to this reading. The European press seems a bit muted in response, if slightly critical, but 1) they’ve heard official U.S. bombast before and 2) they know that these speeches circulate at a discount. U.S. leaders’ threats to invade the world only mean that they might invade X or Y, if the mood strikes them. Beer, Pizza, and Presidential Hermeneutics It was just possible to suffer through The Speech. This was due to the timely intervention of beer and pizza. As for the speech, it was what one might have expected. Like Gaul, it had roughly three parts: one pointing with pride at how wonderful America is (presumably the gift of the regime) and mentioning the "war"; one calling on Congress to give the administration great heaps of money; and, seamlessly flowing from the last, one claiming that the sovereign can and will make us prosperous. Don’t you see? Government spends more money and we are all of us, collectively, more prosperous. As The Speech dragged on, the pseudo-World War II theme of sacrifice yielded subtly to the Happy Days Are Here Again theme, without missing a beat. Guns and butter, simultaneously, thanks to the secular miracles made manifest by "small government" Republicans - and global moral jurisdiction. Aren’t you happy you voted for these people? There is so much in The Speech that could be subjected to rigorous criticism that it is indeed fortunate that we can discount much of it. The bottom line is more spending, and with it, more control. This part we can’t discount. This promise will be kept by the self-serving hacks and rascals whose party name implies some slight connection with republican forms of government. Someone has already referred to the administration’s program as "perpetual war for perpetual re-election." Certainly, the short list of prospective new enemies gives those in power room in which to continue their experiments in reliving the Cold War and other great adventures. There were a few surprises in the The Speech. I was shocked to learn, for instance, that two major oceans have disappeared: "America is no longer protected by vast oceans." Good heavens! Why haven’t the enviromentalists mentioned this to us? The "axis of evil" figure of speech was very fetching. Mind you, an axis usually has something to do with some kind of real, mechanical relationship, and it would hard to show any such relation between the "rogue states" mentioned as making up the "axis." But no matter, we will be allowed to see the evidence in fifty years or so. You can’t expect a U.S. leader to pass up a ringing axis metaphor when dealing out high moral theory for all mankind. Self-Running World War Two Theme Park Besides, the supposed existence of an enemy "axis" can only mean one thing: World War Two is back. For real state-worshippers nothing less than that will do! Think of it: the Republican equivalent of dear old Winston (or his double) going on about "blood, sweat, and tears"; Tom, Dan, and Jim going on about the greatest generation ever. Price controls! No gasoline for the unwashed masses! War bonds, war brides, war socialism, war everything. The greatest good of the greatest number – as defined by the holy state apparatus manned by the likes of Republican versions of Harry Hopkins, Rexford G. Tugwell, and the young J. K. Galbraith. Who can possibly dissent from bipartisan Social Nationalism, now that World War Two is back? Actually, it can be done, but apparently not by Americans. In his interesting book, The Abolition of Britain, Peter Hitchens – with full frontal Blimpitude – decries the terrible moment in the late sixties when it became possible, amidst the creosoted post-imperial malaise and social-democratic rubble, for Britons to shake off their own defining moment. It became possible for the Brits to mock World War II. Good for them. You see? They are always ahead of us, those clever Brits. The day Americans can look at World War II realistically and, yes, with some mockery and regret, or worse, will be the day we liberate ourselves from the gospel of the state. Evidently, that day will not come soon. End of Ideology, End of History, End of Republican Falsehoods It has been noted here and there that the Democratic Party (dealing in stolen goods) does reward its followers, while the Republican Party (dealing in stolen goods) pretends to defend its voters’ interests and invariably betrays them. The con has worked up to now because the lords of the GOP have been careful to allow their Southern and Western office-seekers to go about proclaiming the Party’s deeply held faith in individual liberty, limited government, lower taxes, and economic freedom. After fifty or more years of idle rhetoric and consistent betrayal, a Republican president has finally given up even the pretense of adhering to the Party’s alleged values. That is what is new in Mr. Bush’s speech. A moment of clarity has arrived, if anyone cares to see it. The Republican Party must be torn down and thrown on the trash heap of history, if America is to live under freedom. I hasten to add that, as Murray Rothbard pointed out, human action does not take place in "infinitely small steps." This is why mathematical modeling is both useless and misleading in economics. Spotting decisive steps in human events is a matter of historical judgment. Thus, questions of whether the Republican Party ever had any real principles and exactly when those worthy gents finally sold out their professed ideals may be controversial. The process has been gradual and continuous. Even so, the Bush speech seems a good symbolic conclusion to a sorry tale. After all, how much do they have left on which they can sell out?
Knowing it will do little good, I nonetheless call upon all true Americans to give two years of their lives to not voting for Republican Party hacks. February 1, 2002 Joseph R. Stromberg [send him mail] is the JoAnn B. Rothbard Historian in Residence at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and a columnist for Antiwar.com. Copyright © 2002 LewRockwell.com |