Listen You Jerks

so having just finished Fukuyama's "America at the Crossroads" and Packer's review of Beinart's "The Good Fight," I can't help but say:

WE FREAKING TOLD YOU ALL ALONG YOU STUPID JERKS.

fukuyama spends the first half of his book providing an intellectual history -- but not, in my mind, an adequate defense -- of neoconservatism. he maintains that it draws on the best feature of liberal internationalism (caring about what goes on in other parts of the world in the areas of development, human rights, and justice) with that of conservatism (the idea that america is exceptional and as such must promote it's values and way of life throughout the rest of the world). however, where fukuyama breaks with neoconservatism (now, of course, after the neocons have shown that their political and social ideology is DUMB and INEFFECTIVE) is in its lack of respect and proper use of international institutions. he also disagrees with the conservative notion that economic liberalization alone is enough to promote democracy, or a combination of privatization and military intervention.

well no shit. liberals have been crowing all along that internationalism on the part of america has to administered through effective international organizations. and the U.N. is only one small part of that effort (i agree with many of the critics of the U.N. that it needs to reform itself but do not agree with them that it has no use -- the U.N. actually does a lot of good in a lot of places as we speak). we've also been insisting that economic liberalization, while useful and important, is nothing without democratic government institutions already in place wherever the reform has to take place. we've also been saying that the military should play a very limited -- if not nonexistent -- role in such endeavors.

these points and more both fukuyama and packer argue for, and insist that both conservatives and liberals in this country don't believe in them. that's B.S. both men were deadly wrong about the iraq war, which they initially supported, and so they're trying to cover their utterly naked ideas in the cloak of liberal internationalism. sorry idiots: we REAL liberal internationalists -- there are many many more of us than liberal isolationists in this country for sure -- never for a minute thought that the iraq war was necessary or going to be a success. not for a second. in no way can the iraq war -- either the conception or the actual undertaking of it -- be located in any of the ideas that make up liberal internationalism.

go ahead and join us, sure. but don't dare pretend, now that the iraq war has been shown to be the illegal and unacceptable farce that it is, that you were one of us all along.

pig-licks.