"Has there ever been a more dramatic moment than this one?" he asks. George Bush has unleashed a "political tsunami" of democratic yearnings that will produce "wave after wave of elections" throughout the Middle East. He sees the "tidal wave" sweeping all the way to "the planet's darkest corners... shaking the foundations" of even the North Korean dictatorship. "[T]his is a revolutionary moment," he writes, and "we are unexpectedly blessed with a revolutionary president."
He cries, "How I hate the word stability!" and asks, "Is it not the antithesis of everything we stand for?"
We are the embodiment of revolutionary change, at home and abroad. Most of the time, those who deplore a lack of stability are in reality apologizing for dictators, and selling out great masses of people who wish to be free. And even as those un-American apologists invoke stability, we, as the incarnation of democratic capitalism, are unleashing creative destruction in all directions, sending once-great corporations to history's garbage heap, voting once-glorious leaders into early retirement, and inspiring people everywhere to seek their own happiness by asserting their right to be free.
He calls upon America to fulfill its "historic mission" -- bringing about "a revolutionary transformation of the Middle East" and concludes, "The time is now. Faster, please."
Well Mr. Ledeen, speaking as an historian I can assure you that there have been many, many moments as dramatic as this one. As I write I have on in the background David Lean's stunning rendition of Dr. Zhivago. The young, foolish Bolsheviki in the film sound a lot like you. Have you ever read Tom Paine [the British and French as well as the American writings]? Surely those Athenians who listened to Alcabiades must have felt something like what you express.
You are right to see Bush as a revolutionary figure, and quite perceptive to note that he is less an agent of change than a liberator who enables change. Yes, of course, Bush was right and the "experts" and conventional wisdom were wrong about so many things, and few in the press have recognized the sheer brilliance of our military operations so far in Iraq. But I would caution you that the critics' misgivings and warnings are not completely without merit.
Revolutionary times are perilous ones, not just for the tyrants who are overthrown but also for the common people upon whom the tottering edifices fall; and military actions, even the most brilliant, are hugely destructive enterprises. Few peoples have experienced revolutions as benign or as beneficial in their consequences as have Americans. Time and again soaring rhetoric and revolutionary ardor have brought ruin upon nations and peoples. Much can still go wrong, and probably will go wrong, if history is to be believed. Yes, Mr. Ledeen, this is an era of hope, but that hope must be tempered with a degree of caution. Remember, Usama bin Laden's vision of a restored caliphate is no less revolutionary than your own. He too hates stability.
No comments:
Post a Comment