Ecclesiastes-Based Real Estate Advice
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| The Private Intellectual Ecclesiastes-Based Real Estate Advice |
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Friday, January 21, 2005 What Michael Gerson Hath Wrought I, for one, could not be more pleased and relieved that Michael Gerson is moving into a policy position and out of the job of head speechwriter for the President (this move--telling in itself--apparently counts as a promotion). He is a gifted speechwriter, and his swan song hits all the right notes. Ultimately, his speeches throw much more heat than light; when he tries to sound Lincolnian, he just ends up sounding stilted and maudlin (e.g. the opener: "On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution, and recall the deep commitments that unite our country"). But there is no one better suited for our time or for his job: transforming the grubby and bloody realities of the world into a striking and universally accessible morality tale. No one says nothing better than Michael Gerson. But that's not quite right. This isn't merely emptiness, like a mediocre Clinton speech. Much has been made of Bush's soaring invocations of freedom and American's calling to spread it until "this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world." But what freedom means is never clear. Roosevelt's 'Four Freedoms'--that was idealism with meaning. This speech just makes freedom into another nationalistic totem, with some nice spiritual sprinklings (when I saw the line about "the captives set free," I started to wonder if the famously pious Gerson ever reads anything in the Bible but Isaiah and the Gospel of John). It should be and has been argued that Bush is not remotely the democratic revolutionary he claims to be. Almost all of our strategic allies in the war on terrorism are among the most unfree countries in the world; their human rights records never seem to merit public comment. Even at home, I wonder what definition of 'freedom' doesn't include the right to peacefully protest against the president, what definition of constitutional government allows the executive to use legislatively appropriated funds for something very different than their purpose, what definition of democracy includes using government funds and propaganda to promote a political agenda, or what definition of liberty allows the head of state to set aside duly enacted laws against torture when it suits him to do so. But hypocrisy aside, the true danger of the speech is its elevation of freedom and its spread to an ideological status from which it can rationalize any and every extension of American power around the globe. Outside of our own borders, no one will be fooled by this speech. The dissidents being imprisoned at this very moment by our good friends Islam Karimov and Hosni Mubarak will not long wistfully for the reach of benevolent American power. This was strictly for domestic consumption. What is says is, "we are the nation of freedom. Those who oppose us oppose freedom." Whatever we end up doing we will do for the sake of freedom--and then, how could we have such an aggressive freedom-promotion policy without making a few mistakes? To object overmuch to prisoner abuse, secret detentions, the killing of civilians and so forth is to have too little regard for the great and eternal goal of freedom. The trick to pulling this off is to leave 'freedom' as a term without substance. 'Freedom from want'--that's socialism, and 'freedom from war' is even worse. So we won't commit ourselves to any actual content to freedom. We will occasionally say nice things about freedom of religion, by which we almost exclusively mean freedom for Christian missionaries, who will ride into the world on the backs or under the threat of our soldiers. We will also say nice things about economic freedom, by which we mean privatizing state industries and opening up national economies to foreign capital. These are not hypothetical examples. This is Iraq, and it is perhaps soon to be Iran or Syria. This mindless notion of freedom will be more destructive to our national soul than a hundred Henry Kissingers could be. It will legitimate unspeakable crimes. The world won't be fooled by the freedom happy talk. The question is whether we will. posted by Benjamin Dueholm | 11:47 AM
Comments:
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