Two great dead people
When I was an undergraduate in college I used to carry around a photo of Jeane Kirkpatrick in my wallet. No, I am not joking. And yes, I am a dweeb. I was never a big wallet photo person, but for a period of time in the mid-80s I carried around pictures of exactly four people: Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater, William F. Buckley Jr. and Jeane Kirkpatrick.
So how did JK make the cut? I think it was her unapologetic defense of American interests, combined with her unapologetic opposition to tyranny. Back during the 1980s, when the term still actually carried some meaning, Ms. Kirkpatrick was often referred to as a neoconservative. The rationale for doing so was that she was an unabashed fan of Humphreyism and the New Deal, but nonetheless believed we had to aggressively confront the Soviet menace.
It's fascinating that none of the obits I've read of the former ambassador have included the term "neocon," but it's probably because the popular media has perverted the definition to describe anyone who supported the war in Iraq. John Bolton was one of the few people in recent history who understood that the American ambassador to the United Nation's job is to represent the American policy at the U.N. rather than vice versa. It sucks that we have to say goodbye to two of them in the same week.
While on the topic of great dead people, I should also say a word or two about Milton Friedman, whose death came too close to my Thanksgiving vacation for me to draft a proper obit. I'm not entirely sure why Friedman didn't make the cut for a wallet photo, but he was hands down my favorite economist. Yes, I know it's terribly geeky to even have a favorite economist, but Milton was special. I read his "Capitalism and Freedom" when I was a college freshman. That one book did more to shape my political views than any other single influence. It was only later that I learned that our current president, one Ronald Wilson Reagan, was also a fan of Friedman's. That was the beginning of it all for me.
And the coolest thing about Uncle Miltie? He was still writing Op-Eds for the Wall Street Journal right up until the day he died. I'll leave you now with a link to a terrific video from the Milton Friedman Choir.
Comments
I heard about Kirkpatrick's death today.
Hard to believe - 80 y/o.
I was not as much a supporter as you, but I did acknowledge and appreciate her "strong defense of American interests, but being closer ideologically to Goldwater than Scoop Jackson (she often claimed to be "a Scoop Jackson Democrat"), I'd naturally be a bit more tepid than yourself, though I do acknowledge her as a shining light.
Now Milton Friedman, not enough can be said about that guy!
I still have all ten hours of the video series Free to Choose on VHS, I'm in the process of copying it onto DVD.
Even though it's a quarter century old, it's still relevant today.
Posted by: JMK | December 8, 2006 11:17 PM
Friedman was my favorite as well.
Anyone interested in watching Free to Choose can see the series online here:
http://www.ideachannel.tv/
Posted by: CRB | December 9, 2006 09:11 PM
"So how did JK make the cut? I think it was her unapologetic defense of American interests, combined with her unapologetic opposition to tyranny.
Oh really? JK exhibited an "unapologetic opposition to tyranny"? Is that true? Have you ever heard that, as UN ambassador, and together with then Secretary of the state Haig, she was a strong supporter of the terrible dictatorship in El Salvador? Well, she was and supported that regime then. And I dont think an answer that it was in our "strategic interests" is appropriate. One way or another she was NOT an "unapologetic opponent" of tyranny (as was not Reagan). She also played a key role in the illegal support of the Reagan administration to the contras in Nicaragua.
I am tired of this praise of Reagan and his associates. Reagan was not a good president. He was just lucky and the Soviet Union collapsed under his watch. The growth of extreme conservatism under him is, in part responsible for the turn to the right that has been disastrous for the country.
Posted by: Blue Wind | December 10, 2006 09:28 AM
FIRST, That's a GREAT link to ideachannel-tv CRB! That's an incredible series that they've immortalized.
"I am tired of this praise of Reagan and his associates. Reagan was not a good president. He was just lucky and the Soviet Union collapsed under his watch." (BW)
(BW)
That's cause you're a kid BW...and, as a kid, you think with your heart and not your head.
Before the USSR collapsed, Keynesianism ("government spending is good for the economy") collapsed here at home (at least ideologically).
Reagan ushered in the current era of Supply Side economics that is responsible for the last quarter century's incredible prosperity.
Carter was the LAST in a long line of Keynesians, that started with FDR.
Reagan rightfully ended that failed legacy.
The collapse of the USSR was due, in large measure, to the U.S. winning the Cold War by contesting the Soviets all over the globe - in Nicaragua, in El Salvador and in the Mideast and eventually bankrupting that regime.
You're no doubt too young to remember, but there were actually a number of Left-wing, anti-American "Americans" back then who actually openly supported the Soviet-backed Communist government in El Salvador, as well as the Soviet-backed Contras in Nicaragua, much like the same sort (scum) who support Hugo Chaves today.
These anti-American crusaders called our covert actions in El Salvador and our support for the Nicaraguan Contras "illegal."
Kilpatrick knew what the vast majority of Americans have always KNOWN, that "America's best interests are never illegal."
There are people who are pro-American interests and want an American-styled globalization of the world economy and culture and those who are, well, anti-American.
It's OK to be anti-American (it's a free country, so long as you don't cross over the line to treason or sedition), it's "allowed," but it's just such a consistently wrong worldview.
Posted by: jmk | December 10, 2006 11:19 AM
"You're no doubt too young to remember"
Hey,
Let me assure you that I know the history from that period well.
"who actually openly supported the Soviet-backed Communist government in El Salvador, as well as the Soviet-backed Contras in Nicaragua
Wrong and wrong. The goverment in El Salvador under Duarte was not communist. It was right-wing then. There was a civil war going on then. Read the history.
Also, of course the contras were not Soviet-backed. The Santinistas were, but I assume you made a typo. No matter what, supporting the contras was an illegal act. Dont tell me you are not aware of the Iran-contra affair. All I am saying is that you can not have it both ways. You are either for democracy all the way or you are not. JK was was NOT an "unapologetic opponent" of tyranny.
And in my opinion, Jimmy Carter was a much better president than Reagan. Sorry.
Posted by: Blue Wind | December 10, 2006 11:39 AM
A little dyslexic name reversal on my part, but yes, we rightfully backed the Contras in Nicaragua against the Sandinistas and supported El Salvador's so-called "Right-wing" government against Soviet-backed rebels.
"Let me assure you that I know the history from that period well...And in my opinion, Jimmy Carter was a much better president than Reagan. Sorry." (BW)
"We are all Supply Siders now."
Posted by: JMK | December 10, 2006 03:56 PM
> Reagan was not a good president.
We will find no common ground on this one, I'm afraid. ;-)
>You are either for democracy all the way or you are not. JK was was NOT an "unapologetic opponent" of tyranny.
She was a practictioner of the "realism" school of thought that's so much in vogue among the left these days. ;-)
And CRB, JMK is right, that's a *terrific* link! Thanks. :-)
Posted by: BNJ | December 10, 2006 06:21 PM
I'm still reeling from the revelation that Barry had a picture of her in his wallet. And here I thought I was an odd duck for hanging a Nancy Reagan poster in my dorm room.
Posted by: fred | December 11, 2006 08:40 AM
Jeane was a hottie in her day, what can I say?
('Course she'll never match the burning crush I had for Tricia Nixon when I was six.)
Posted by: BNJ | December 11, 2006 08:42 AM
"She was a practictioner of the "realism" school of thought "
Does realism mean supporting horrible dictators? How does that reconcile with being an "unapologetic opponent" of tyranny. At the very least she was an "apologetic opponent" of tyranny. You can not pretend to want democracy all over the world and at the same time support the worst regimes on earth.
Posted by: Blue Wind | December 11, 2006 09:21 AM
What I'm saying is that JK's "support" for Duarte was akin to Allied support of Stalin during WWII. I doubt you'd object if I used the same rhetoric to describe FDR or Churchill.
As much as I admire your idealistic, absolutist, all-or-nothing support of democracy, you're beginning to sound like a neocon. ;-)
Posted by: BNJ | December 11, 2006 09:26 AM
"you're beginning to sound like a neocon.
LOL. Dont do that to me :)
Posted by: Blue Wind | December 11, 2006 09:36 AM
One little zit on her record, though, is that she apparently sought to convince Reagan NOT to back the UK during the Falklands war, urging at best a neutral US stance.
Posted by: fred | December 11, 2006 10:35 AM
And still no one mentions that Friedman ent to Rutgers. Unless I missed that part.
Posted by: OTTami | December 13, 2006 03:52 PM