The intellect and ideology

As far as ideological leanings go, it is best to be in the center and to examine both the right and the left very carefully and cautiously. My two favorite intellectuals are Patrick Buchanan and the late Christopher Hitchens. The former is right wing while the latter was a man of the left.

Buchanan supports the old fashioned non interventionism regarding foreign wars. Buchanan opposed the Gulf War, the bombing of Serbia, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, intervention in Syria, and opposed expanding NATO to the Russian border which antagonized the Russians. I have also admired his devotion to his Catholic faith and his conservatism on social issues.

Christopher Hitchens was an old fashioned liberal. His atheism and some of his left leaning positions on social issues were contrary to my views. Regardless, Hitchens was a superb journalist and writer, and even when he was wrong he was worth reading. He was right on many things such as his support for the freedom of Cyprus, his support for the impeachment of Bill Clinton, and his denunciation of Henry Kissinger as a war criminal.

It is important to have a thorough appreciation of and understanding for both sides of the political spectrum. I started out as a conservative but I generally wandered away from partisan politics and preferred to distance myself from politics. Much of that had to do with the Bush administration’s war on Iraq as well as the right’s traditional pro Turkish foreign policy. As a Greek American, I am unequivocally opposed to Turkey with its legacy of genocide and territorial conquest.

Now I identify once again with conservatism. The Democratic Party and its extremism has made it impossible to remain politically non aligned. The extremism of the left and its embrace of neo pagan ideology (transgender ideology, infanticide) and now the hideous hatred directed at Police and the utterly insane idea of defunding and/or abolishing the Police!

I did not vote between 2000 and 2012. In 2000, I voted for Patrick Buchanan who was running on the Reform Party ticket. I detested Bush and Gore. In hindsight, I think it might have been better had Gore won. At least then we would have been spared the Iraqi invasion and the subsequent interventions in Libya and Syria which were sequels to the Iraqi invasion.

When I resumed voting, I voted for Ron Paul in the Republican Primary in 2012. His non interventionist foreign policy views appealed to me. In November however I voted for Barack Obama. I believed Obama was preferable to Mitt Romney who had called Russia America’s greatest enemy and who had said he would bomb Iran.

Unfortunately, Obama intervened in Syria and exacerbated tensions with Russia under the influence of neoconservatives such as Victoria Nuland. In 2016, I was for Trump on the basis of his public statements criticizing the wars in Iraq and Syria, and a desire for reconciliation with Russia.

I have been all over the map when it comes to voting. I believe that the intellect is more important than ideology. Historical knowledge and understanding is very important. Donald Trump understands this and has for the most part guided the United States away from war. He needs to back off Iran, I will say that. His view four years ago that ISIS was a menace and that Russia is a potential ally was a very farsighted and enlightened foreign policy stance.

Donald Trump has a good deal of historical knowledge and understanding of history and world affairs. He also understands and appreciates freedom of religion. Many will scoff at this post should they read it, but the fact is that the Trump administration is an administration that relies on the intellect.

Contrast this with the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party is an ideological Party. That is it. Intellectual discourse and knowledge have been purged. The Democrats believe that it is an act of bigotry to suggest that men should not use the ladies room. If one were to state that it is a fact that there are in fact only two genders one will be denounced as a bigot and “transphobe” in the Democratic Party.

The rank and file of the Democratic Party is demanding the defunding of the Police. In fairness, most Democrats have rejected this. Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden has rejected this demand. The question is, how long until the Democrats succumb to their angry constituency and adopt this insane position?

The Democrats succumbed to the pressure of Planned Parenthood and other pro abortion groups to support abortion right up until the ninth month of pregnancy. They purged their ranks of any critics of gay marriage and transgender ideology. Having proven that they have no moral backbone, it is a certainty that the hysterical demand to defund the Police will make its way to the platform of the Democratic Party at some point.

The number one reason for my contempt for the Democratic Party is because of that ideological movements utter rejection of knowledge. That Party has sacrificed the intellect for ideology. Take for example its mad anti Russian (I know I am sounding like a broken record regarding Russia on this post and several others on this blog but be patient) agenda.

Russia is a great power with a glorious history and has made clear that it will defend its sovereignty and its interests abroad (as in Syria). Russia has been invaded countless times throughout history going back to the Teutonic Knights in 1242. Since then, the Russians have been invaded by Sweden, Lithuania. Poland, Napolean, the German Kaiser, and Hitler.

The Democrats in their devotion to their own ideology and hunger for power do not seem to comprehend the danger that is manifest in their blaming the Russians for the outcome of the 2016 elections. Paul Begala, a former Clinton official openly said in 2016 that the United States should bomb Russia!

Yes, a prominent Democrat suggested bombing a country that is a nuclear power! The country that lost twenty million people in the Second World War and still crushed Hitler! After the fall of the Third Reich, the world regretted not taking Hitler seriously when his memoir “Mein Kamp” was published in 1925 eight years before his seizure of power.

If history has taught us anything it is to take seriously what politicians say. The Democratic Party has not only blamed Russia for the outcome of the 2016 elections, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice has blamed the Russians for the riots in the United States. We should be very fearful of what could happen should the Democrats win November’s Presidential election.

With regard to the insane demand by the American left that Police should be defunded. It is very clear that these ideologues do not know what the hell a failed state is. Remember Somalia and Afghanistan! A country becomes a failed state when there is no more authority.

Perhaps my comparison with Somalia and Afghanistan is extreme and unlikely. Maybe, but do we really want to find out what will happen if the Police are either defunded or abolished? The intellect is dead in the Democratic Party.

This is too bad because liberals have been right on some issues in the past. For example, liberals were right to condemn the torture and abuses that took place at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Someone in the Bush administration having read a book called “The Arab Mind” thought it would be useful to sexually humiliate Iraqi prisoners. Anyone with human decency who has seen photographs or videos of the abuses at Abu Ghraib was sickened. Liberal Democrats were right to condemn the Bush administration for that sickening affair.

Liberals were also correct to criticize the Reagan administration for funding the death squads in El Salvador during the 1980’s. The Salvadoran death squads murdered civilians and were responsible for the murders of several Catholic nuns and Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980. Liberals have had their moments.

Unfortunately, they became completely unhinged by political correctness and institutions of higher learning have become left wing versions of madrassas. The Democratic Party has now been take over by extremists. Left wing ideology at the expense of everything. Reason and the intellect have no home in the Democratic Party.