C-Span and Politics
Centroids: C-Span has just broadcast an interview with Victor Davis Hanson, questioned by Dave Brat, about Hanson's new book, The Case for Trump. About Hanson, it is difficult to think of a more decent man, and there aren't all that many people who are in his intellectual league. Still, there is a problem. This is similar to the problem faced by David Horowitz when, roughly a year ago, he published his own defense of Trump. I think I understand where each is coming from. It dovetails with my feelings when Trump defeated Hillary in the 2016 election. "We" got lucky. There now is one chance to stop the official Democratic Party in its tracks and roll back much of the social legislation and Democratic-Party-inspired court decisions of the past 25 or 30 years. In this, I line up just about perfectly with Evangelicals and with Dr Hanson and even, minus some things, with David Horowitz. Election day, 2016, was a huge relief. It was possible to breathe again. However, I am not in the same camp with Hanson or Horowitz concerning one crucial matter, Those gentlemen still hope for some sort of influence with the Trump administration or, at a minimum, some kind of informal alliance for mutual benefit. I have no such hope, I regard Mr Trump as two people, not one, and the "bad Trump: is such an unmitigated disaster that he should be removed from office as unfit for the presidency and as a horrible embarrassment to the United States of America. There is also the "good Trump," of course. And we should do everything possible to save his legacy, thinking about such events as the US embassy move to Jerusalem, official recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and various domestic acts like rolling back a large number of superfluous or damaging regulations on business. But his domestic policy record is decidedly mixed and I despise his reliance upon tax cuts as some sort of cure all for every economic ill the country faces. American indebtedness is now in Earth orbit and is climbing to the Moon and is totally unsustainable. Which is only one example of the fact that Trump, again and again, doesn't know what he is doing, is ridiculously uninformed, could care less that he is uninformed, and has an attitude of "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." As far as Horowitz is concerned, it seems to me that he wrote his book about Trump out of desperation as much as hopefulness. There won't be many more chances for him to become visibly important in American politics, and maybe this is his last chance. But what can be suggested here is that it really is desperation to hitch one's wagon to a star about to explode when what is needed is the exact opposite, a rising star. Yes, Horowitz deserves due recognition, I have read several of his books including his very worthwhile Left Illusions (which weighs about 15 pounds) and am impressed........ Even though he is utterly clueless about Saint-Simon or the Second Empire or Saint-Simon's influence on Mill and Carlyle and Dostoevsky and all sorts of other notable thinkers who have done what they could to change the course of history. Not because Saint-Simon was prefect; because, for all of his many flaws, he was a visionary whose rough ideas have a world of potential if you use those ideas as rough guides to start out from -and then develop in useful new ways. That is, what still lingers in Horowitz is Marxist-Leninist conceit that makes me ill, namely, the view that the only "real Socialism" was the species pioneered by Marx and his buddy Engels, and everything else is second rate and unimportant. My view is close to the exact opposite: The 1844 Manuscripts are a treasure, everything else after that made matters worse and worse. The Soviet Union was a colossal mistake and it was unfortunate that American "streets and sewers Socialism" aka civic socialism, aka Christian Socialism aka the Social Gospel, was unable to gain purchase in American politics. So that there is no mistake. Oh yeah, even Marx gave credit to Saint-Simon as being the father of Socialism. But you can almost just as well call Saint-Simon the father of finance Capitalism, he is that unclassifiable and was that creative. Which is to say that I regard him as also being the father of Radical Centrism. Or, anyway, as a father. Clinically the first Radical Centrist was Ben Franklin. I wonder how much of this Hanson would really "get." He "gets" all kinds of things that sail over my head, that's for sure, and I'm no amateur when it comes to ancient history, but his command of facts Re: the ancient Mediterranean world, is incredible. However, that world is not my priority, move the yardsticks a 500 miles + to the East, por favor, and that is my turf. You know, the Assyrians, the Persians, Urartu and the rise of Armenia, that sort of thing extremely important subject matter. But I digress. There were a good number of serious issues raised by Hanson in his interview and Mr Brat was an ideal interrogator, but, once more, the problem is defending Donald Trump and that is like defending Nero. The Apostle Paul put his fate in Nero's hands and we know what that got him. Maybe Horowitz also knows. Maybe, but I'm not so sure....... I watched Horowitz talk abut his newest book and could nor believe my ears, nor could I believe that he has such a tin ear when the subject is Christian faith. Off-hand remarks bordering on insulting the Lord's Prayer , "our father, blessed be thy whatever"is not acceptable, in case there is any doubt. The fact is that Donald Trump isn't a loose cannon, he is a loose nuclear bomb. And everyone surely knows this, I feel certain. I also feel certain that what motivated Dr. Hanson is fear, fear of the alternative which the Democratic Party threatens us all with -total disaster across the board. But there is an alternative. I also feel certain that my making the suggestion is perceived somewhat along the lines of the WWII movie in which a select group of American and British soldiers are operating behind enemy lines when they identify a traitor among them. They are in an airplane heading back to Britain. The traitor realizes that he will face the very worst of justice when the plane lands and asks if there is any alternative. The commanding officer, gesturing to the open door toward the rear of the aircraft says, "there is, if you want it." The traitor understood and immediately took up sky diving without a parachute. People may feel that they are bring asked to be traitors to the Republican Party. Well, no, but also, well, yes. For the Republican Party as it now is constituted is a mess itself and everyone also knows this. It is, in letters etched in marble on the GOP headquarters building, the Stupid Party. But, while that is better than being the Evil Party, this is, needless to say, to damn with faint praise. What does anyone expect from me? Nobody has helped me in any substantive way. Everyone thinks it is perfectly all right if I am denied any kind of substantive justice, if I am denied any kind of due process, and OK if I am lied about at will, defamed, slandered, you-name-it and, as a result need to live in not-quite-absolute poverty. As a result, my hope is to see the ruin of both major parties, the only difference being that it would be OK if a few stones were left standing for the GOP to try and rebuild later. While there are some individual Democrats whom I would like to make exceptions for, like Senator Manchin and Senator Warner, the rest of the party can go to hell as far as I am concerned. I do not care how severe the destruction gets. It would be well deserved. What I want out of this is the chance to become a leader of Independent voters. That is one of the prime purposes of my idea for the Bugle newspaper. And the opportunity to use significant resources to advance the cause of Radical Centrism. I also have a religious agenda but believe strongly in separation of church and state. And this is pretty much it. In that kind of position I would be in a position to do whatever might be possible to help out people like Victor Davis Hanson and David Horowitz. I would want to do so. But if this is all one way, my saying nice things about Hanson and Horowitz and various other smart people with decent values, but they do not say as much as one thing on my behalf, then "screw you" to everybody. I would not say screw you in a nice way, be advised. So that there is no mistake. Hanson's book is doubtless filled with worthwhile ideas. The chances that Trump will take no more than 5% to heart is probably about 95%. And Hanson surely also know this. But the choice is Hanson's -and the choice is Horowitz's. If I am at all successful then there will be a "new sheriff in town." The new sheriff would seek to trash the entire system of the old sheriff in order to create a whole new system of justice. I hope this is reasonably clear. Billy R. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <RadicalCentrism@googlegroups.com> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to radicalcentrism+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
