An End to Evil
Ah, Pat Buchannan. Paleo-Conservative of the first order, odious in many respects. But his paleo-conservatism makes him isolationist by nature, thus he can write this angry review of the Richard Perle / David Frum book An End to Evil, a bit of
pornography.
Lewis Lapham also wrote a biting review in the latest issue of Harpers Magazine. As is his usual style, he took some space just to leave excerpts to stand for themselves. My favourite line:
“A free society is not an un-policed society. A free society is a self-policed society.”
I would like to see that in context to make sure that that line means what I think it means.
Anyway, I confess that I haven’t read the book. I’ve read a few reviews, and I have heard David Frum and Richard Perle do the interview circuit, most notably on “Fresh Air”, so I am aware of their defense from the critics.
Nonetheless, I take the basic theme of the book to be this:
David Frum and Richard Perle essentially recommend that we charge ahead and swing a big stick around wildly. By doing so, we will surely hit our targets and indeed hit some targets that we were not aware that we were aiming for. We will also make some targets step aside instead of standing in our way. If we get disoriented when swinging the stick around, and fumble forward with too much momentum because we misjudged the man who stepped aside at the last moment, and — say– accidentally stub our toe and fall down, we ought to get up and swing the stick around with more urgency and more pronounced determination… never mind that we’re a little dizzy at that point, and getting dizzier all the time.