From a pointer at Shakespeare's Sister:
A conversation with Machiavelli's ghost: Controversial neoconservative Ledeen talks to Raw Story.
Oy. Just, oy. Some highlights, with commentary:
Ledeen speaks out against torture and calls for accountability at all levels, including the White House, should an investigation lead in that direction.
"Punish all the guilty parties, whoever they are, and do everything possible to prevent anything of the sort happening again," Ledeen says.
Yeah! That! And...yeah! That!
terrific. Thanks, braintrust, that's super-useful.
I describe myself as a democratic revolutionary, I don't think of myself as "conservative" at all. Indeed it seems to me that most self-described leftists today are reactionaries, and have lost the right to describe themselves as people of the left.
Well, um, yes, and yes, except for the "democratic" part. And yeah, it sucks that we're reduced to being reactionaries; that would be the heart of the problem; but then, it's hard to do much other than simply react when you're constantly under attack.
Revolutionary. Terrific. "It's just like socialism, except without all those pesky notions about equality and idealism and so on! POWER to the...um, us." ("We few...we happy few...") Oh yeah, I'm in. Trickle down on me, Daddy! Please?
I have a pretty dim view of human nature.
You know, so do I. Well, no, actually, that's not true. I have a pretty dim view of certain specific humans' nature.
Vladimir Bukovsky is one of my closest friends, and he is right when he says that torture destroys both its victims and its practitioners, and that it is deadly to any civilized enterprise.
That said, one must have a sense of context.
NEXT.
Oh, and love the way he neatly sidesteps the (astutely put) question about didn't he realize the Nazis came to power essentially through carefully orchestrated fear-mongering, not simply because "the Germans wanted it." Gee, I wonder why.
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3 comments:
Devil's advocate: the right is constantly under attack as well from Hollywood, interest groups, lobbyists, bloggers, and everyone else. They just don't waste time defending themselves, because they actually have a strong leader, a philosophy capable of articulation, and an agenda they're willing to work towards. The American left doesn't have those things. That's why we only react.
We need a leader, dammit. And we need to stop reacting, because it makes us look wrong. Worse yet, it makes the right look right.
See, I disagree; they really haven't been as under attack. They just bluster and piss and moan so people will *think* they're under attack. And/or they feel under attack.
They really don't even have a strong leader. (Bush is a blank screen for projections/puppet). If they ever do get a strong, smart, charismatic leader and we still don't have our act together, we're in deep shit.
But I agree that they do have a core philosophy; it's a pretty simple one: I Me Mine (We're #1; We're God's Chosen People). Defend at all costs.
So yeah, we need to come up with better and more compelling ways of saying "actually, no, that way of living sucks; here's a better one, lifelibertypursuitahappiness, for real, though." And more compelling and stronger voices to say it.
shopnuzzle Take a piece of me
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