World Famous Comics: America the Virtuous: The Crisis of Democracy and the Quest for Empire
America the Virtuous: The Crisis of Democracy and the Quest for Empire
By: Claes Ryn Publisher: Transaction Publishers Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Transaction Publishers Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 221 Publication Date: October 06, 2003
Product Description: This work describes the drive for empire as part of a larger ideological whole, one both expressing and aggravating a crisis of democracy. This ideology is about far more than America's role in the world - it encompasses an elaborate view of human nature and society. The ideology sets forth its own notion of virtue. It sees in America not only a historically evolved and culturally distinctive society, but a regime based on universal principles that belong to all mankind. The text argues that America is shedding an older sense of the need for restraints on power, as checks provided by the US Constitution are greatly weakened. Influential policymakers and intellectuals want American leaders to have virtually unrestricted power in the world. It explains the ideological underpinnings of this quest for empire and subjects to in-depth analysis and criticism.
Neocon Jacobins At War With The World In Dubya's Red State "Republic of Virtue," latter-day Jacobins (posing as his elite neocon advisors) are destroying America in the name of saving it.
Robespierre and Saint-Just would be envious.
Outdated Nothing in this book is new. If you know anything about Pat Buchanan, Samuel Francis, or any of the other conservatives who opposed immigration and World War II intervention, you will be familiar with the arguments set forth in this book. Ryn attempts to give these ancient political arguments with a relativistic and postmodernist tint so as to make it appealing to modern-day liberals, who love anyone that offers a criticism of neoconservatives, as well as old school conservatives that have nostalgia for the 1780s. Indeed, though Ryn would deny this, much of this book is nostalgia. The world and foreign policy has changed so much (due to high tech weapons and globalization) that preaching isolationism and relativism is not only silly, but irresponsible. The problem with this mindset, of course, is that it's impossible to detect totalitarianism with it. For a better argument that can swiftly discredit Ryn read anything by Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, or more importantly, Winston Churchill. If this criticism of Ryn's book does not convince you, I assure you that this book has many grammatical errors to keep any intelligent reader from touching this outlandish and outdated book.
the best short book on the geneology of neoconservatism it's hard to gain a sense of scope, in a short book, of the depth of the malicious current which now afflicts american politics in the fascist redux of neoconservatism. ryn does admirably, tracing the mindset of radical/revolutionary polarized idealism such as we see today in neoconservatism to the rousseauian jacobins.
ryn concentrates revealingly on the revolution within the form that has taken place in america, including the onset of political euphemism and the perversion of abstract words like "freedom", "capitalism" and "democracy" such that they mean now nearly the opposite of what they once meant. using the same words with wildly different meaning is the mechanism by which the united states pretends to adhere to the old lockean/puritan values of its founders while betraying them on every front. it is a central point in understanding the political development of america in the 20th and 21st centuries as it moves to totalitarianism.
it's extremely difficult for any short book to cover western militant idealism as it has evolved from plato through the renaissance and counter-enlightenment to modern decadence and fascism, and ryn to her credit tries to concentrate her field of view in a very complex topic. that necessarily means oversights, of course, and many aspects of idealism's intellectual development are left untreated -- most notably, the heavy influence of trotsky, himself something of a new jacobin and the advocate of perpetual revolution.
but the book remains a compelling foundation for her thesis and potentially represents brutally enlightening reading for many americans who think fascism "ended" in 1945 and could never happen here. the unfortunate truth appears to be that is has been happening here for decades, and is moving to an endgame.
Does anyone here know anything about the real Jacobin? These reviews are so weird here. Does anyone question Ryn's use of the word Jacobin ? Does anyone here know what a Jacobin is ? The Jacobins describe a group of clubs in France that originally supported a constitutional monarchy, then, when Louis XVI proved unwillingly to submit to a constitution, these clubs supported a democratic republic. The group then split into two opposing halves, the Girondists and the Mountain. The former where moderates, the latter, the winners, the radical republicans from which the Terror eventually came. After the Terror, the Jacobins were disbanded, but allowed to reform after a while. But then Napoleon came along, the Jacobins opposed him and again, the clubs were disbanded. But it has to be remembered that the Jacobins were the original group agitating for the three cardinals of French enlightment: fraternity, liberty, equality. I don't see these American neocons agitating for those causes, but for the opposite causes, albeit they mask their fascistic tendencies under the cloak of American values. And it is good to remember that the Jacobin started out agitating for a legaslative body, the National Assembly, that would work with the king, and only when the king and his supporters kept thwarting the Assembly's efforts did the regime turn bloody. And it is good to remember that if America were not separated from England by the ocean, the American Revolution could have been as equally bloody. The English themselves went through such a bloody revolution with the overthrow of the Stuarts and the establishment of the Commonwealth, which included beheading the king. And it is also good to remember that the founders of America were as inspired by Enlightment thought as the French were and weren't only protesting over the loss of age old Engligh gentleman's rights. If I were Ryn, I would have used the term neo-fascist to describe what Shrub and his associates are doing, both in American and abroad, not neo-Jacobin. His understanding of the intricacies of the French revolution seems shallow.
This you have to read ! This book is getting attention, but everybody should read it! It might even arrest the slide of America into decadence and totalitarianism. This is the best I've seen on the crisis of American society. I could not stop reading. The book gets to the bottom of it all. It's no coincidence that American society and the constitution are falling apart while our government is busy improving other countries. Having read this book I feel that I understand the heart of the problem. I wish many more people did,then we might have a chance to avert national suicide. Don't lose any time,read this book!
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