Monday, February 21, 2005
Lincoln Would Be Proud
I'm always mystified about why so many Americans think Europeans are wiser than us. All of the ideologies that cause so much trouble in modern times originated in Europe in the past few centuries. This includes Marxism, communism, Leninism, fascism, and Nazism. All of these ideologies have one thing in common: socialist economic policy. Maybe that's why American leftists want the United States to take Europe's advice.
For all their sophistication over Americans, it's always the Europeans who turn to the cowboys for protection. It was Americans who fought and died to save Europe from the two World Wars. It was America who risked everything to protect Europe during the Cold War. Economically, it was America's Marshall Plan that bailed out Europe, especially France and Germany. Europe can only afford its elaborate welfare states because America relieves them of much of the burden of defending themselves. Of course if current demographic and economic trends continue, France and Germany will find their welfare states too burdensome.
Paul Johnson gets at the root of the problem:
France and Germany have remained on the sidelines, greeting America's costly efforts to bring democracy to the Arab world with a mixture of vicious criticism, sneers and obstructive tactics. But then, neither nation has much of a democratic record.
The Germans have had democracy imposed on them twice by the victorious Allies, each time after a world war Germany started. German democracy is a superficial growth, and if the Socialists there continue to mismanage the economy and impoverish the people, who can say whether freedom in Germany will survive?
The French have had 12 written constitutions since 1789. None has given ordinary French people the feeling that they are really in charge of their affairs. If they have a real grievance they take to the streets and block the roads and ports, knowing from bitter experience that force is more likely to get results than arguments or votes . . .
As for European intellectuals, who command so much power in the media, universities and opinion-forming circles, they have done everything they possibly could to abuse America's initiative in Iraq and to prevent the installation of freedom. Some make it clear that they would much prefer Iraq to be run by men like Saddam than by American-backed democrats. Of course, intellectuals pay lip service to free elections but in practice have a profound (if secret) hatred of democracy. They cannot believe that their votes should count for no more than the votes of "uneducated" people who run small businesses, work on farms and in factories and have never read Proust.
The intellectuals wanted the Iraqi elections to be defeated by terror. But now that the elections have actually taken place, they want the new government to fail. They want democracy to fail in Afghanistan as well so that they can smile smugly and say, "We told you so." For if democracy were to triumph everywhere, what role would there be for the intellectual critic? As Shakespeare put it, "Othello's occupation's gone."
Denis Boyles has some blunt advice for Europe. President Bush is likely to be more diplomatic; France and Germany probably don't have the sense to follow it. On this Presidents Day, Paul Johnson gives us reason to be grateful to President Bush:
I think Abraham Lincoln would be proud of what George W. Bush and the U.S. forces have done. After the freeing of the slaves, what more logical and benevolent step could there be than to free millions of Arabs from the slavery of terror? So I say, God Bless America. And I'm confident that countless millions throughout the world say so, too, even if they do not dare--yet--to say so aloud.
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I'm always mystified about why so many Americans think Europeans are wiser than us. All of the ideologies that cause so much trouble in modern times originated in Europe in the past few centuries. This includes Marxism, communism, Leninism, fascism, and Nazism. All of these ideologies have one thing in common: socialist economic policy. Maybe that's why American leftists want the United States to take Europe's advice.
For all their sophistication over Americans, it's always the Europeans who turn to the cowboys for protection. It was Americans who fought and died to save Europe from the two World Wars. It was America who risked everything to protect Europe during the Cold War. Economically, it was America's Marshall Plan that bailed out Europe, especially France and Germany. Europe can only afford its elaborate welfare states because America relieves them of much of the burden of defending themselves. Of course if current demographic and economic trends continue, France and Germany will find their welfare states too burdensome.
Paul Johnson gets at the root of the problem:
France and Germany have remained on the sidelines, greeting America's costly efforts to bring democracy to the Arab world with a mixture of vicious criticism, sneers and obstructive tactics. But then, neither nation has much of a democratic record.
The Germans have had democracy imposed on them twice by the victorious Allies, each time after a world war Germany started. German democracy is a superficial growth, and if the Socialists there continue to mismanage the economy and impoverish the people, who can say whether freedom in Germany will survive?
The French have had 12 written constitutions since 1789. None has given ordinary French people the feeling that they are really in charge of their affairs. If they have a real grievance they take to the streets and block the roads and ports, knowing from bitter experience that force is more likely to get results than arguments or votes . . .
As for European intellectuals, who command so much power in the media, universities and opinion-forming circles, they have done everything they possibly could to abuse America's initiative in Iraq and to prevent the installation of freedom. Some make it clear that they would much prefer Iraq to be run by men like Saddam than by American-backed democrats. Of course, intellectuals pay lip service to free elections but in practice have a profound (if secret) hatred of democracy. They cannot believe that their votes should count for no more than the votes of "uneducated" people who run small businesses, work on farms and in factories and have never read Proust.
The intellectuals wanted the Iraqi elections to be defeated by terror. But now that the elections have actually taken place, they want the new government to fail. They want democracy to fail in Afghanistan as well so that they can smile smugly and say, "We told you so." For if democracy were to triumph everywhere, what role would there be for the intellectual critic? As Shakespeare put it, "Othello's occupation's gone."
Denis Boyles has some blunt advice for Europe. President Bush is likely to be more diplomatic; France and Germany probably don't have the sense to follow it. On this Presidents Day, Paul Johnson gives us reason to be grateful to President Bush:
I think Abraham Lincoln would be proud of what George W. Bush and the U.S. forces have done. After the freeing of the slaves, what more logical and benevolent step could there be than to free millions of Arabs from the slavery of terror? So I say, God Bless America. And I'm confident that countless millions throughout the world say so, too, even if they do not dare--yet--to say so aloud.
