Closing Days - the Legacy of the Bush Administration

They share similarities with the zeal of Trotksky. Mikhail Bakunin called Communism "German Authoritarian Socialism" so there is a very Prussian bent to much of Communist ideology.

But the actual acknowledged fathers of neoconservativism were almost all Prussians. The most notible, of course, the aforementioned and universally acknowledged father of neoconservativism, Leo Strauss. There is a whole panoply of strongly regimented authoritarian philosophies that rose out of the void of The German Empire. They are all dissimilar with the exception of strong central authoritarian tendencies - the very essence of "Prussianism". This is the same philosophical ambiguity that led to Nazism being "National Socialism" and arising from a genuine Socialist school of thought. For more on this, see Prussianism and Socialism by the aforementioned Oswald Spengler.

I think they are called Trostkyite and Wilsonian for the same reason. Nothing scares a true conservative more than a wild-eyed communist prosthelizer like Trotksy which makes him a good way to paint neocons as scary, and on the other side, Wilson is about the closest thing to a "kinder gentler" inflexible imperialistic ideologue in American history. They are the two polar opposites of what an ideological purist can be to the American psyche.

As far as Rove, I don't really think the man has any unique genuine philosophy that I've heard of. I don't think there is anything like a "Rovian" worldview. He is a election technician - a tradesman - nothing more. If I am wrong and there is some central philosophical heritage, someone please enlighten me.

 

I agree. People act like the formation of OPEC and the oil crisis leading to stagflation were all Carter's fault.

 

I doubt it. Lincoln pretty much completely disregarded all Constitutional protections for civil liberties, and he's considered the greatest President ever. Roosevelt sent the Japanese to internment camps, and he's considered a great President. History tends to celebrate those who disregard the constitution rather than the other way around.

 

I meant Rovian in the sense that he used the idea spreading democracy by force as a unifying, nationalist (jingoistic) theme to manipulate domestic political power (entirely selfish) as opposed to the Wilsonian idea of spreading democracy as the duty of fee world to promote world peace (a more selfless motive).

I don't know that's the way it went down behind closed doors for a fact, but I do believe every policy decision of the first term and a half of the Bush presidency was calculated on the terms of promoting the permanent Republican majority. The mission accomplished photo op could have been epic .. if in fact the mission had been accomplished.