Sheer Idolatry

“Leftists…. disparage military adventures, which they claim are launched in the interests of big business and funded against the interests of the welfare state (which brings to mind Jeffrey Hart’s wonderful observation that the great thing about defense spending is at least it keeps money out of the hands of the poor).” This from the computer of H.W. Crocker III — and, oh, how he must love being “the Third,” speaking of keeping money out of the hands of the poor.

Crocker the Third writes this in his article “The Case for an American Empire” — in which magazine? Would it be The Weekly Standard or First Things, would it be Commentary or Crisis? It could have appeared in any of those neoconservative publications, but it just so happens to be Crisis (Oct.).

Crocker the Third’s intent is to slash and burn Pat Buchanan and the paleoconservatives in general.

Crocker the Third insists that to be a “Catholic” is to be an “imperialist.” Crocker says that Catholics “cherish the fact that French imperialism brought the Faith to Indochina, and Spanish imperialism brought the Faith to the Philippines….” We won’t take issue with that, but then he quickly forgets the Faith (as we shall see) by making the case for American imperialism.

Crocker, the neocon, presumes to submit himself to paleoconservative interrogation. So the paleocon asks (in Crocker’s words):

What about what Pat Buchanan said: “A society that accepts the killing of a third of its babies as women’s ’emancipation,’ that considers homosexual marriage to be social progress, that hands out contraceptives to 13-year-old girls at junior high school ought to be seeking out a confessional — better yet, an exorcist — rather than striding into a pulpit like Elmer Gantry to lecture mankind on the superiority of ‘American values.'”

Crocker answers that America “is now the most religious nation in the Western world.” Good golly, that’s not saying much. If America is so religious, she would never allow abortion, open homosexuality, and contraceptives for 13-year-old girls. As for the last item, all Crocker can say is, “These days, all American teenagers are clinically obese and incapable of sexual intercourse anyway — so it’s a moot point.” Sorry, Colonel Crocker, but flippancy doesn’t cut it.