Scared Silly

Self analysis is extremely difficult. My great interest in life has been some combination of public policy and politics. Born in the depths of The Great Depression in a working class Irish family in a very ethnic enclave in Brockton, Massachusetts, I look back and understand how Franklin Roosevelt came to be my first non-familial hero. The president could do no wrong as far as those living under our roof were concerned, and the adoration of Roosevelt by my family and neighbors was the prime motivating force in my career choices and it still impels me, however faintly.

After a lifetime of serving in the public sector at virtually every level of government in legislative and executive positions and even having faced voters quite a few times, I must say that with all his warts, FDR still holds up for me as one of our greatest presidents and politicians. Despite this regard, over the years since he passed I have moved along political spectrum, mostly away from the liberalism that was the religion of our household. Those whose knowledge of the Depression and W.W. II is derived from books – now the vast majority of Americans – have the almost impossible task of understanding the angst of those two periods and the leadership and comfort delivered by Roosevelt to a frightened people and how hard it was to leave the affiliation.

Being a person impelled to action rather than thought, my drift in political philosophy over the half a century of adulthood was gradual and never straight line. During the Johnson administration, it became obvious to me that the economy could not – despite the president’s assertion – support both guns and butter. LBJ’s aggressive spending on both the Vietnam War and his massive Great Society program did not ring true and despite my warm personal feelings for the president, I began my drift toward conservatism.

Over that same time frame, I very gradually came to believe that the Vietnam War was a fiasco and reluctantly became openly opposed to it. Again, the vast majority adults cannot remember the social conflict of that time. The bitter feelings of people on both sides of that issue will not disappear until all of us who were active are dead, still decades in the future for many.

Despite the personal failings of Richard Nixon, I became more conservative under his administration and finally was able to vote for a Republican when Gerry Ford ran against Jimmy Carter. I perceived that Reagan was to my right in politics, but I voted for him twice. In Bush the elder, I found what I thought to be a moderate comfort zone and was sorry when he lost to Clinton whom I mistook for a throwback to FDR and LBJ. In retrospect, Clinton’s centrism was very much in the Ford/Bush 41 arena.

I welcomed the opportunity to vote for George W. Bush, and I was satisfied with the bland direction of his leadership during the initial months of his presidency, especially with his bold defiance in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. But as we moved to prepare to invade Iraq, I was horrified. The rationale for the attack and the dealings with the U.N. during the weeks leading up to the war caused me to completely break with Bush and the Republicans.

Obviously, those who have followed this blog for any length of time understand my arguments, so I will not bore them with a lengthy restatement. Newcomers may scan the archives posted on the left as they see fit.

We are now in the midst of rapidly heating conflicts with Iran and North Korea over the development of nuclear weapons. Pyongyang has an arsenal of some size already, and we are extremely concerned with the words of defiance emanating from Tehran. I haven’t blogged much about this situation because I don’t have much of a fix on the situation and I’m scared silly.

Since breaking with the Republicans, I’ve found myself bouncing around the political spectrum like a billiard ball and can’t believe some of the people I’ve been in agreement with from time to time. I never considered myself an arch conservative, yet I often find common cause with Pat Buchanan, and, while I supported and voted for John Kerry, I was uncomfortable with his stand on Iraq until the past couple of weeks.

In today’s Boston Globe, Peter Canellos describes how the right wing of the Republican Party is providing far more of the braking action on Bush’s stridency toward Iraq than are the Democrats, and I agree with them. Yet for all my life I have proclaimed my disgust with those I perceive to be isolationists. It’s an interesting article and here is a link.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/04/25/bushs_right_flank_balks_at_iran_saber_rattling/

At the end of the day, I’m left with the queasy feeling that Bush has no philosophy and that he’s a messianic character who believes he’s doing God’s work. I worry about people who are so sure that what they’re doing is good, mostly because I don’t share their confidence. Yeah, self analysis is difficult, but George Bush’ll drive you to it.

Anxious in Annandale,

Blog on!

Wild Bill