Still reading George Lakoff's
Moral Politics, which I think should be required reading for any contemporary liberal/progressive. So far, the book concentrates mostly on explaining why liberals an conservatives disagree so fundamentaly on domestic policy--welfare, abortion, the death penalty, the environment, etc. But the more I read, the more I find connections to our current foreign policy crisis: the fight against terrorism. (
Chris Bowers should be proud of me for not repeating the conservative frame on terrorism.) If I'm applying Lakoff's concepts correctly to this issue, the Republican party in its current form is incapable of dealing effectively with terrorism and will remain so unless there is a major change within the party.
This is so because the current Republican party is throroughly dominated by conservatives. As Lakoff says, conservatives apply a Strict Father morality to their politics. (
click here to get up to speed quickly on Lakoff's work.) An important part of this
conservative worldview is the
moral order:
Strict Father Morality demonstrates a natural Moral Order: Those who are moral should be in power. The Moral Order legitimizes traditional power relations as being natural, determining a hierarchy of Moral Authority: God above Man; Man above Nature; Adults above Children; Western Culture above Non-western Culture; America above other nations. (There are other traditional aspects of the Moral Order that are less accepted than they used to be: Straights above Gays; Christians above non-Christians; Men above Women; White above Non-whites.)
Clearly, there are some aspects of this moral order that have already become obstacles to a more effective fight against terrorism. Let's take "America above other nations" first. Imagine how grating it sounds to the collective ears of the world every time a president or some other politician proclaims over and over again how "America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth" or "America is the greatest nation in the history of mankind." America eclipses all other nations in the world in many ways: economically, militarily, culturally (in terms of popular culture), and others. Everyone all over the world already knows this. Do they need to hear it over and over again? It's overkill. I suspect many people in other countries are tired of hearing Americans crow about how their country is the greatest in the world.
Furthermore, as a fact it is impossible to demonstrate because of simple metrics. How do you measure such a thing? Japan has a much lower rate of violent crime. Canada is more tolerant of minorities. Ireland is more "globalized" (according to Foreign Policy magazine). Almost any country in Europe has a more sophisticated high culture. There are many measures that would yield different answers to the "greatest country in the world" question.
Let me be clear: This is not to say that America isn't it a great country. It clearly is, and Americans have much to be proud of. But the "America above other nations" part of the conservative moral order is highly detrimental to America's image around the world, and should definitely be toned down. Sadly, it has become deeply embedded in American political discourse to the point where it doesn't belong to conservatives alone.
This would not be such a problem if it weren't for the fact that, when conservatives are in power, they take this concept as a license to act aggresively on the world stage. This is what's happened in Iraq, with disastrous consequences.
The Moral Order concept is not conducive to cooperation among nations. If you're morally superior to all other nations and cultures, why should you seek to cooperate with them? They should just obey your authority because you are morally superior to them. This is the basis for the arrogance conservatives display on the world stage, and it's having a devastating effect on the fight against terrorism. Nations around the world are less willing to cooperate with a nation they think feels morally superior to them.
The very DNA of which the party is composed right now is tainted with these moral notions that are disastrous for the conduct of foreign policy. This is why the Republicans must be defeated in this election and not be allowed anywhere near foreign policy until their party becomes more moderate.
-- Originally posted on Another Liberal Blog