As the reaction to the framework deal on Iran's nuclear capability poured in from the various corners of the globe, I noted the reaction from the hardliners. It was a resounding no. Then it occurred to me that perhaps the hardliners from Iran, Israel and our own country should leave. Perhaps a desert island where they can all spy on and fight each other would be more suitable.
I've spoken previously of the similarity between our conservatives here in the US and the conservatives in Iran. Both groups are religious zealots who support a theocracy. Both are intolerant of dissent and want an authoritarian government. And they all want war.
I posed a question on Quora recently regarding the conservative reaction to the Iran agreement. The top answer say it all.
Let's see:
-The Prime Minister of Israel is upset because the United States of America is not doing what he ordered the United States of America to do regarding Iran.
-A U.S. Senator who once falsely claimed to have been named "Intelligence Officer of the Year" (in 2002) and who also falsely claimed to have served during Operation Desert Storm (which I did serve in) thinks the negotiations with Iran are like "Nazi appeasement".
-The Speaker of the House of Representatives, whose military service consisted of 8 weeks of Navy basic and a medical discharge for a bad back, wants to follow the orders of Israel's Prime Minister and move toward an eventual war between the United States and Iran as a means to protect Israel.
Sorry, my cynicism is coming to the fore.
I served in the U.S. military for 27 years, and I hate war. I have killed for my country and I have taken two bullets in the service of my country and I also suffer from PTSD. If necessary, I would fight again or support younger Americans fighting in my stead - but not to serve the foreign policy efforts of any country other than the United States (be it Israeli foreign policy or Liechtenstein's foreign policy).
All too many Republican legislators are financially supported by individuals and corporations who make their living constructing and supplying war materials and who need wars to sell their products.
These legislators see war as a means to help those individuals and corporations who helped them get elected, as a means to reduce unemployment by giving presently unemployed people jobs as soldiers or as workers making war materials and in many case they see war as a game played by others, like an American football fan who loves to watch the games but knows in their heart that if they put on a helmet and shoulder pads and actually played, they would get physically damaged - I call it "Vicarious Patriotism".
It's not just the legislators. Their base suffers from the same delusions...
2 comments:
Because conservatives thrive on manufactured conflict, and depend on strife to make themselves appear needed, this patterns recurs everywhere:
Right-wing Israelis need right-wing Hamas to continue to attack them in order to justify their continued takeover of Palestine.
Right-wing Hamas needs right-wing Israelis to continue taking over land on the West Bank and attacking Gaza to keep their tenuous grip on power.
Right-wing Putin needs right-wing Americans as a threat against them, and right-wing Americans want to arm Ukraine to the teeth as a backdoor to a war with Russia. (Though the narrative gets a little confused because of all those American conservatives got a man-crush on Putin when they saw him with his shirt off.)
Even during the Cold War, conservative Americans needed conservative Russian communists to justify building more nukes, and their Russian counterparts needed conservative Americans to justify building their nukes.
And yes, you read that right: conservative communists. The Soviet Union and Communist China were among the most conservative, illiberal societies in human history. All that talk about progressive ideas was just a bunch of propaganda they spread in foreign countries to rile up the conservative enemies. Back in the USSR (catchy name for a song, right?) Russia was just as socially stilted as the American South, filled with racist hatred (mostly for the Asian Republics and Georgia).
The cardinal aspect of conservative thought is the strongman (the Decider, in Bush-speak), and the idea of devolving all power onto one man is essential to conservatives, and it's one reason they're so riled by Obama -- the president is supposed to be all powerful, and he's our enemy. Oh, no!
The master/serf mentality still permeates Russia, just like the master/slave mentality permeates the American south. China is the same, only it's emperors and peasants.
Even the most "progressive" aspect of the Soviet Union, the apparent equality of women, was a big lie. Women had to do all the work because their men were all dying in revolutions and wars, and from alcoholism.
Because, at its heart, conservativism is opposed to freedom. Conservatives are all about maintaining the status quo, keeping things the same, removing choice, keeping people in their little boxes.
That's the reason why liberal and liberty sound so similar...
And left-wingers need their strife and their Others to keep their base riled up. Such as the constant bugabear about freedom-hating conservativism on the march, the eeevil Koch brothers and their dastardly doings, etc, etc, etc. Pot meet fucking kettle.
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