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Thursday, July 9, 2009

The Tyranny of Mark Levin's "Liberty"

Posted by Jack Hunter on Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 7:09 PM

Here's my latest at Taki's Magazine, a feature on popular conservative talk host Mark Levin's politics as outlined in his New York Times bestseller "Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto:"

When the average Mark Levin listener hears the phrases “national defense” or “national security,” he naturally thinks of current U.S. foreign policy, automatically assuming that our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops stationed all over the world are not unnecessary occupations or imperialism as some claim, but very necessary defensive measures of the American homeland. That this might be a bizarre way of looking at the world, and that many conservatives have said so—including giants like Russell Kirk whom Levin cites—is something the reader will never know. One even wonders if Levin knows. And Levin gives the impression that global American empire, not merely a republic in which “each state was free to act on its own,” had been the Founders intention from the beginning. â€¨

In his attempt to create a conservative defense for policing the world, Levin promotes neoconservative utopianism and imperialism by denouncing any attempts to pursue utopianism or imperialism. Confused? On the Iraq War Levin writes:

The key is that these decisions must never be motivated by utopianism or imperialism but by actual circumstances requiring the defense of America against real threats. If the war in Iraq is understood as an effort to defeat a hostile regime that threatened both America’s allies and interests in the region, the war and the subsequent attempts at democratic governance in that country can be justified as consistent with founding and conservative principles.

As for the utopian motives for invading Iraq, apparently Levin had forgot about Bush’s many “spreading democracy” speeches or the president’s seeming comfort that “hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror… bringing hope to the oppressed.” I certainly don’t remember Levin criticizing or warning of Bush’s utopianism, even for a war Levin now claims to have supported on non-utopian grounds. I have also heard Levin use similar, utopian language himself, usually in the midst of a heated pro-war rant.

As for imperialism, the subtext to Levin’s argument that “if the war in Iraq is understood as an effort” of actual defense against “real threats,” then virtually any possible future preemptive military action could qualify as “defense.” The talk radio host’s refusal to even reexamine whether Saddam Hussein was ever an actual threat is a curse that continues to plague the mainstream Right—due in large part to the glaring blindness of men like Levin. Writes The National Interest’s Jacob Heilbrunn: “the Bush administration and the neoconservatives and liberal hawks who supported the invasion didn’t just get it wrong. They got it exactly backwards. In every way possible and then some, they invented a threat that simply did not exist.”

If the obvious disaster of Iraq isn’t enough to reexamine one’s hawkish, foreign policy views, then what is? The American Conservative’s Daniel Larison’s indictment of conservatives who refuse to learn from the foreign policy mistakes of the past is custom made Levin: “Among the mainstream right, the foreign policy of the Bush administration is barely a subject of debate. Rather than reorienting Republican foreign policy towards a political center defined by realism, humility and restraint, the GOP’s leadership and activists have redoubled their commitment to Bush and Cheney’s hawkish stances and to a lock-step defense of the Bush administration’s policies.”

Read the entire article

Topics: National Politics

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Wrong, badger breath.

Posted by Mark Bonaparte on July 10, 2009 at 1:15 AM | Report this comment

Great piece! What most Americans do not understand is the primary reason for American adventurism in the Middle East is because of blind devotion to Israel. It is because of our "special relationship" with Israel that we were attacked on September 11, and it is because of American sponsorship of Israeli terror that we are so despised by much of the Muslim world.

This is a fundamental fact that we'll never read in any mainstream American "news" outlet, nor will it ever be discussed by Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, or other Neocon servants of Israel.

Posted by Source of Truth on July 11, 2009 at 2:33 PM | Report this comment

It is interesting to note that the war drums of the neoconservatives have never actually stopped. They wanted to go to war with Iran six years ago. They still want to go to war with Iran today. Their warmongering is one of the few items on which they maintain consistency.

If with the wisdom of hindsight a host such as the one you discuss cannot see that Iraq was no threat to the United States then the man is either a shill or an idiot. It took a sub-force of the the United States military something over three weeks to bring the Iraqi military to it knees. I think we lost a couple of tanks and maybe a 100 dead during that time. The battle itself was a cake-walk.

The multi-year occupation, of course, was a different matter.

Posted by Dan Hansen on July 13, 2009 at 2:37 AM | Report this comment

Dan Hansen: multi-year occupation? I distinctly remember Cheney saying the war would last months if not weeks, certainly not years. Saddam was basically the mayor of Baghdad, with no power to harm the US. The feeble attmepts of neocons to view Bush's adventure as anything less than the worst foreign policy blunder in history (at least we inadvertantly eased into the Viet Nam mess) shows that they are less interested in the truth than in never admitting they are wrong.

Posted by SCantiGOP on July 13, 2009 at 9:35 AM | Report this comment

I think you have conveniently forgotten that every major intelligence agency in the world said Sadam had weapons of mass destruction. If Bush made it up then everyone made it up. You can't analyze a decision with the benefit of 20 / 20 hindsight that did not exist at the time. Hell, even Sadam's own people have come out saying they were trying to make everyone think they had WOMDs because they feared Iran. All the intelligence agencies were wrong but there was no other choice. Why is it that liberals are fine with following the “consensus” on global warming but not the consensus of world intelligence agencies.
If the same thing were to happen tomorrow with Iran, Libia, or N Korea, Obama will do they same thing. He would have no choice.

And, what about the UN? You have to remember that the invasion of Iraq happened before we realized that the whole world had given up on the UN. We thought we were enforcing UN resolutions. We thought the world would assist. We thought the UN had a purpose and some ability to police the world. Again we were wrong.

Your assertion that Bush had some imperialist agenda is a joke. The only foreign soil that this country has ever claimed was to bury our sons who died freeing some foreign country. Hell, I wish we were a little more imperial. I would be fine with owning Kuwait, maybe we could drill for oil there…

As for the comment about “it was all for Israel”, you really need to think about the moral equivalence you are drawing between the Islamic dictatorships and Israel. They don’t hate us because of Israel. They didn’t crash planes into the WTC because
Israel built settlements in the West Bank. They hate you and your children and me and my children because we are infidels and we do not believe what they believe. They want to kill you and me because, they have been taught since they day they were born that all of the problems in their miserable lives are caused by me and you not by the tyrannical despot who steals every ounce of wealth he can squeeze from the desert beneath their feet. If you leave them alone they will not go away.

This whole fanciful idea of isolationism has never worked. You were not thinking about that on 9/12. Others like you were not thinking about that December 8th, 1941. How easy we forget. How often do we have to be reminded?

Posted by sceepe on July 13, 2009 at 8:46 PM | Report this comment

Sceepe, your commentary is so completely without merit that I'm very reluctant to waste my time responding. I could not take you seriously after your first sentence, where you make the astonishingly ignorant claim that, "every major intelligence agency in the world said Sadam had weapons of mass destruction." Your claim is complete nonsense.

Further, Israel is a brutal, authoritarian government that has been terrorizing their Muslim neighbors for decades with the direct support of the United States. You're obviously a useful idiot for the Zionists. Go back to Limbaugh, Hannity, and O'Reilly for more brainwashing.

Posted by Source of Truth on July 15, 2009 at 3:11 AM | Report this comment

Sadly, Source of Truth is very typical of the Southern Avenger's fanbase - blaming the Jew for anything and everything. Everything is the Zionists' fault. Israel is "terrorizing their Muslim neighbors." It's unbelievably absurd. While I don't necessarily agree that WMD's were a viable factor in the Iraq issue - my hypothesis is that Iraq was easier to topple than Iran and there was a bigger plan in play. I agree that isolationism went the way of the phonograph, since neither instrument is logical or feasible in 2009.

Knowing American history is all good and well, but I would suggest that "Source" and others like him or her learn a few things about Middle Eastern history and the goals and objectives of Islam. Thomas Jefferson and Winston Churchill had a few choice words about "Mohammedans." That Koran that Keith Ellison placed his hand upon and swore to uphold the Constitution with was purchased and read so Jefferson could understand the mindset behind the Barbary Pirates. Too bad so many modern-day Americans are too lazy to embark on the simple task of reading the Koran. If you did, Source, you'd understand why Muslims attack non-Muslims - across the planet. Tell me, Source, did the Muslims kill 200 children in Beslan, Chechyna because of Israel? Are they chopping off Buddhists heads in Southern Thailand because of Israel? Are they terrorizing Christians across the Middle East and Northern Africa because of Israel?

Posted by citizendeb on July 22, 2009 at 11:01 PM | Report this comment

Source of Truth,

Just like how the Keynesian model collapsed. You will never hear from the media, even if it is backed by some of the most prominent economists from the Chicago-style school like Milton Freidman, that the very source of the prolonged 30's depression was Keynes economics. You would have a hard time looking on the left, but they are there, finding the quotes from the Fed admitting that they created and only prolonged the depression with their faulty policies.

Posted by Offatwork on July 22, 2009 at 11:28 PM | Report this comment

Dear Jack, Stop being a Bush hater because its popular. You are much smarter than that.

Posted by freedomfromtyranny on August 1, 2009 at 11:21 AM | Report this comment

Jack Hunter
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The "Southern Avenger" Jack Hunter is a conservative commentator (WTMA 1250 AM talk radio) and columnist (Charleston City Paper) living in Charleston, South Carolina.