Bush's Favourite Political Philosopher: Nietzsche?!
I've been thinking about this for a long time, and I've been meaning to write this, so here goes.
During the 2000 election, Mr. Bush made the comment that his favourite political philosopher was Jesus. This is of course the obvious answer that his base wanted to hear, and really, who can fault a politician for playing to the home crowd? Who else could he mention, suspected homosexuals Plato or Aristotle? The risk of him mispronouncing Kant's name was probably too great. None of that wouldn't play in the red states, now would it? In the meantime I started to wonder about this comment. First of all, Jesus didn't have a whole lot to say about politics. His big pronouncement seems to have been that one ought to pay one's taxes (Matthew 22:21). Other than that he seemed to disdain the idea of secular rule, the kingdom with which he was concerned was, after all, not of this world (John 18:36). It seems then that Jesus didn't really have all that much to say about political philosophy.
Perhaps all of that meant that Bush just flat-out didn't have a political philosophy? But surely that couldn't be the case. So I decided to look at the Bush administration and see if I could figure this out based on its actions. You know, just so George W would be able to give a better answer if anyone asked him this question again. Well based on the last four years, I think I've found the guy for the Bush administration:
Friedrich W. Nietzsche
Look at the middle initial, isn't that just so perfect! Now this may seem a little counterintuitive at first. I mean, Nietzsche was the guy who went on about how God was dead and all that right? But the more you look, the more it makes sense, stay with me here... If you spend any time reading Nietzsche you quickly figure out that one thing he's not big on is "slave morality" and the idea of the weak binding up the strong. Nietzsche thinks that the strong should basically stop listening to the weak, I mean they're weak, right? Instead it's all about the will to power and all that. Well looky here, what a great fit with the Bush administration! Look at them, fearless in the face of the herd mentality of the UN! Those Bush administration ubermensch types are ready to overthrow treaties, obviously another devious way for the weak to undermine the strong! They don't even need proper armour for their military vehicles, because the US army is, after all, the army of the supermen!
Now some of the more perceptive critics are, at this juncture, probably ready to point out that Nietzsche also had a flair for Dionysian themes. Well, America isn't too big on that, still being the nation founded by the puritans and all that. The substitute is an orgy of blood and of violence. I mean really, look at the entirely unjustifiable war in Iraq, how else can that be categorised? No non-conventional weapons found and a daily bloodbath. This is not the march of truth and light that was promised now is it? All this has forced me to conclude that Nietzsche is the best contender we have when it comes to finding Mr. Bush's real favourite political philosopher.
During the 2000 election, Mr. Bush made the comment that his favourite political philosopher was Jesus. This is of course the obvious answer that his base wanted to hear, and really, who can fault a politician for playing to the home crowd? Who else could he mention, suspected homosexuals Plato or Aristotle? The risk of him mispronouncing Kant's name was probably too great. None of that wouldn't play in the red states, now would it? In the meantime I started to wonder about this comment. First of all, Jesus didn't have a whole lot to say about politics. His big pronouncement seems to have been that one ought to pay one's taxes (Matthew 22:21). Other than that he seemed to disdain the idea of secular rule, the kingdom with which he was concerned was, after all, not of this world (John 18:36). It seems then that Jesus didn't really have all that much to say about political philosophy.
Perhaps all of that meant that Bush just flat-out didn't have a political philosophy? But surely that couldn't be the case. So I decided to look at the Bush administration and see if I could figure this out based on its actions. You know, just so George W would be able to give a better answer if anyone asked him this question again. Well based on the last four years, I think I've found the guy for the Bush administration:
Friedrich W. Nietzsche
Look at the middle initial, isn't that just so perfect! Now this may seem a little counterintuitive at first. I mean, Nietzsche was the guy who went on about how God was dead and all that right? But the more you look, the more it makes sense, stay with me here... If you spend any time reading Nietzsche you quickly figure out that one thing he's not big on is "slave morality" and the idea of the weak binding up the strong. Nietzsche thinks that the strong should basically stop listening to the weak, I mean they're weak, right? Instead it's all about the will to power and all that. Well looky here, what a great fit with the Bush administration! Look at them, fearless in the face of the herd mentality of the UN! Those Bush administration ubermensch types are ready to overthrow treaties, obviously another devious way for the weak to undermine the strong! They don't even need proper armour for their military vehicles, because the US army is, after all, the army of the supermen!
Now some of the more perceptive critics are, at this juncture, probably ready to point out that Nietzsche also had a flair for Dionysian themes. Well, America isn't too big on that, still being the nation founded by the puritans and all that. The substitute is an orgy of blood and of violence. I mean really, look at the entirely unjustifiable war in Iraq, how else can that be categorised? No non-conventional weapons found and a daily bloodbath. This is not the march of truth and light that was promised now is it? All this has forced me to conclude that Nietzsche is the best contender we have when it comes to finding Mr. Bush's real favourite political philosopher.
posted by Dan at 2:48 PM
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