An Apology for Idealism

Posted by Lex, on November 3, 2007

It has become fashionable within foreign policy circles and the elite media to declare an end to the era of what has been labeled “neo-con” idealism in favor of the kind of realist policies so long favored by the traditional gray men in their traditional gray suits – those same whey-faced vendors of realpolitik who accepted the depredations of tyrants within their own borders, so long as they could plausibly skull-crack their way to outward-facing stability. But having encountered the lethal exhalations of these inhuman tyrannies, and equipped as we are with an all volunteer military force in an era where threats both exist and emerge, it’s useful to reflect for a moment before we cast aside our foundational national narratives aside in favor of returning to the hard calculus of unrepentant national interest.