Vanguard News Network
VNN Media
VNN Digital Library
VNN Reader Mail
VNN Broadcasts

Old October 20th, 2006 #1
Abzug Hoffman
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 3,483
Default The Goldberg Doctrine

Jonah Goldberg calls it "the Ledeen Doctrine", but hopefully "The Goldberg Doctrine", such a perfect name, is the name that will stick to it...

From Justin R. at antiwar.com :

"The widely noted dumbing-down of conservatism has elevated the clueless, the vapid, and the downright dangerous to leadership positions in the movement. The radio shouters and boob-tube oracles have reduced the thoughtful philosophy of Russell Kirk, Richard Weaver, and Frank S. Meyer to the braying, mindless sloganeering of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Ann Coulter. Their Bizarro World "conservatism" is an inversion of the original: it means big government and the surveillance state at home, and a "revolutionary" policy abroad. The noted conservative philosopher Claes Ryn aptly describes the post-9/11 Right as "neo-Jacobin," because it seems to have been generated by sheer bloodlust and a will to dominate.

This accurately captures the savage spirit of the new "conservatism." Cruelty is the leitmotif of the War Party's polemics, whether it's Max Boot's lament that the Afghan war – in its early stages, at least – was the occasion for too few casualties, or the following from an old Jonah Goldberg column.

After making the argument that the fate of Israel depends on our decision to go to war, and that the destruction of Israel would be perceived by the Islamists as evidence of American weakness, Goldberg wrote:

"So how does all this, or the humble attempt at a history lesson of my last column, justify tearing down the Baghdad regime? Well, I've long been an admirer of, if not a full-fledged subscriber to, what I call the 'Ledeen Doctrine.' I'm not sure my friend Michael Ledeen will thank me for ascribing authorship to him and he may have only been semi-serious when he crafted it, but here is the bedrock tenet of the Ledeen Doctrine in more or less his own words: 'Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business.' That's at least how I remember Michael phrasing it at a speech at the American Enterprise Institute about a decade ago (Ledeen is one of the most entertaining public speakers I've ever heard, by the way)."

It was never about "weapons of mass destruction," or Mohammed Atta supposedly high-fiving the Mukhabarat at Prague airport, and it sure as heck wasn't about "democracy," either. It was all about the "Ledeen Doctrine" – the joy of bashing "some crappy little country" against a wall. We did it because we could do it, if only for its cathartic effect..."
__________________
"Go, Nazis, Go!"
 
Reply

Share


Thread
Display Modes


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:18 PM.
Page generated in 0.19837 seconds.