In my last post, I spoke to the foolishness that follows from the adolescent militarist assumptions of our current leadership, and how it has come to define the conventional wisdom. Paul Waldman speaks to it here:
A few days ago William Kristol, who is as responsible as anyone outside the Bush administration for the neocon dream of creating an empire in the Middle East—which has become the now-familiar nightmare—made clear his preference for military action against Iran, sooner rather than later. And not only that, once we start dropping bombs, the Iranian people will do their part and rise up to overthrow their government. “The right use of targeted military force,” Kristol told Fox News, “could cause them to reconsider whether they really want to have this regime in power.”
That Kristol could make such a prediction without getting laughed out of Washington, never to be invited on television again, tells us something about the miasma of inanity and insanity that envelopes our politics like a fog. Being wrong—or being an outright fool, or being possessed of not a shred of morality, for that matter—carries no cost. Only being “weak”—that is, insufficiently enthusiastic about spilling others’ blood—will earn you the contempt of the Washington establishment.
Why? Because that establishment, both governmental and journalistic, is ruled by weenies. They burn to show that they’re real men, that they’re tough and strong and mean, that they don’t cower from a fight, that they’re the ones who get going when the going gets tough. Washington is an arena of institutional and ideological competition, but it is also a throbbing mass of insecurities.
That extremists like Kristol have come to play a huge role in defining the conventional wisdom is a symptom of how Americans have lost their way. Kristol is not a madman; he is an expert fabulist. He has proven time and again, that if he is given the megaphone, he can say the most ridiculous things, and if he says them often enough they become accepted as conventional wisdom. All talented propagandists understand this, and Kristol is among the best. I have often watched him do his talking head thing in slackjawed amazement. They guy is a snake, but he knows the rules of the game, and he games the system with consummate skill.
Genuine courage is much needed in the corridors of power just now to stand up to this adolescent, macho nuttiness. It’s something we need from our elected representatives on both sides of the aisle. And courage requires that these leaders step forward and offer sensible, adult alternatives to this militarist madness.
Why have I no hope that this will in fact happen? Why is it that the only time anything gets done is when people take to the streets? The answer is simple–because it’s the only way the opposition gets the megaphone. You have to have media credibility, and you don’t get it unless you appeal to the adolescent mind that shapes conventional wisdom within the Beltway establishment. People like Kristol recognize that all the cool kids in the Beltway establishment are acting and thinking as if they’re still in high school. He got his media cred by appealing to the adolescent mentality that needs to prove its toughness.
So maybe the only alternative is for a sixties type street movement which counters with adolescent slogans and street behavior. I’m becoming more convinced it’s the only way some oppposition to this alarming trend toward a deepening authoritarianism and militarism can gain any traction. Just talking sense doesn’t seem to get it done anymore.
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