Neither Evil nor Geniuses

Brian Doherty soothes our fears about the Bush administration–or does he?

Fears and anxieties about American empire don’t need to be rooted in any perceived fever swamp, where only openly sinister and nakedly pecuniary motives push American foreign policy. Undoubtedly politicians and their friends in the corporate world try to make the best out of circumstances as they evolve, but still, I imagine that the boys behind Bush could have put their heads together and come up with some other way for his administration to line Halliburton’s silken pockets without the huge risks, both geopolitically and in domestic politics, of waging war in Iraq. It is easy enough to believe that the administration’s foreign policy actions are driven by a very sincere belief that the world would be a safer, freer, more orderly place under the suzerainty of the United States government, and that this goal is worth pursuing at almost any cost.

But just because the goals of the imperialists aren’t nakedly evil doesn’t mean their path is wisest for the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of the United States’ citizens—you know, those old-fashioned goals for which governments are instituted among men. Immanentizing the Eschaton is not in the current U.S. Constitution, though the Bush men (calling them conservatives or men of the right seems inappropriate) might contemplate adding it by amendment after they are through roadblocking gay marriage.

Solid commentary, well worth your time. Read the whole thing.

By the way, I haven’t been through Iraq’s interim constitution with a magnifying glass yet, but I don’t think it bans gay marriage. What gives?