Comments on: Out Of Fashion

By: Pococurante

Pococurante — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:00:06 +0000

I do – apologies. I breezed your post and gave it inappropriate short shrift.

By: AL

AL — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:33:20 +0000

“One of the many important observations John Lukacs has made about nationalism is its role in the presidential politics of the United States, and he has speculated that the reason why Republicans tend to prevail in these contests in the postwar era is that they represent the more nationalist of the two major parties. ”

I have to wonder about Lukacs’s idea that nationalism and socialism have replaced conservatism and liberalism as governing ideologies.

Go back to Disraeli. What was his conservatism? Wasn’t it largely nationalist? It differed to be sure from Reagan’s or Bush’s conservatism, but so far as I can see, you’d have to go back beyond the 1830s or 1840s to find a conservatism that didn’t have a strong nationalist component. Perhaps the nationalist element has become populist and devoured the traditionalist or legitimist side of conservatism, but it’s not something novel or alien.

By: Grumpy Old Man

Grumpy Old Man — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:15:28 +0000

It seems to me the foreign policy differences between Obama and McCain have much more to do with which groups of voters they appeal to, and thus what symbols and buzz-words they invoke than to any issues of substance. Hence the flag-pin follies.

If one of them quesitioned the continued utility of NATO, or basing US forces in South Korea, for instance, I’d be impressed. I’m not hearing anything of the sort, and Obama’s advistors seem to come from the Clinton wing of the national security establishment. La plus Ã§a change . . .

Whether Obama can nod to nationalist symbolism enough to calm the anxieties of swing voters is a different question. Whether McCain can emulate GOP derision of Kerry’s “global test” enough to discredit Obama is yet another.

If Obama is elected, expect the nuances and margins of policy to change, not the essence,

By: On "World-Citizenship" « Upturned Earth || John Schwenkler

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:38:35 +0000

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By: Daniel Larison Daniel Larison — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:08:01 +0000 I assume you do understand that by “opponent” I am referring to McCain. Indeed, it’s not clear to me how anyone could read that sentence and not understand which candidate I’m referring to when I say he is running an “abysmal, aimless campaign.” Who is using nationalist-Americanist rhetoric? McCain is. That should make it very plain what I mean. By: Pococurante Pococurante — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:01:46 +0000 “(…) his otherwise abysmal, aimless campaign.” This is the campaign filling stadiums all over the US and recently overseas right?