The state always seeks to be, in Hegel’s approving phrase, “God walking on earth.” That certainly is Bush’s vision: it is the US state that will save the world, succor the good and bomb the evil, cure disease and end tyranny, preach the gospel of democracy, place the whole globe undere US rule (that is democracy), and bring it some version of Social Security, the GI Bill, and the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In this scenario, Bush–as head of state–is the intermediary between God and man. Some hoped that after the wreckage of the 20th century, we were done with … Continue reading The Savior State