It's All About Us: The Dangers of Liberal Egocentrism

Mort Kondracke Fox News

Sadly, as we observed on tonight's edition of Fox News (May 16, 2008), even that most likable and unusually rational liberal regular, Mort Kondracke, apparently suffers from that dangerously contagious congenital leftist affliction: liberal egocentrism.

In discussing Obama's now-disastrous remark about sitting down and talking with our enemies, such as our friendly Mr. Ahmadinejad or Hezbollah's charming Nasrallah, Kondracke revealed all the classic symptoms of this serious judgmental disorder. He spoke enthusiastically of Obama's opportunity to cash in on President Bush's obvious failures in foreign policy initiatives. In particular, he focused his criticism on Bush's fateful refusal to communicate with the likes of Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Ill. Then -- and herein lies the core of the sickness -- he confidently attributed our lack of success in 'reining in' these tyrants to this lack of chat.

Why is this particular illness so dangerous to our national health? What's wrong with this idea?

Surprisingly perhaps, I'm not going to discuss the obvious fallacies involved in this historically discredited idea. Even though they themselves cite the Kennedy/Kruschev meeting as an example of this successful diplomacy. I won't bring up the fact that this was in reality a diplomatic disaster -- for us. At a time when our two competing military forces were almost at parity -- or, indeed, perhaps even more heavily weighted on the side of the Soviets -- all that this much-touted sitdown accomplished was to make us appear weaker in our enemy's eyes.

And, let us not forget for one moment, that they definitely were our enemy, an enemy determined to "bury" us. In what way did this pow-wow deter Kruschev? Did it deter him in his European aggressions? Or in his subsequent near-calamitous Caribbean adventures?

Likewise, I'll not bring up that shameful but somewhat shopworn specter of Chamberlain visiting Herr Hitler, hat in hand. I'll also avoid mentioning that awkward little historical fact that, as Hirohito's bombers were in the air on their way to Pearl Harbor, we were engaging the Japanese Diplomats in diplomatic niceties at our State Department. No, I'm not going to even go there. Despite the fact that these inglorious episodes -- and many others like them -- irrefutably prove the uselessness -- no, the utter insanity -- of negotiating with fanatical tyrants; this is not what this essay is about; this is a discussion of that eminently deadly and spreading leftist disease called Liberal Egocentrism.

OK, so just what is Liberal Egocentrism?

In a nutshell, it is simply a self-centered, myopic view of this world we live in. It is the unstated belief that all of the many complicated gears and levers of this world are powered by the enormous generator of our own omnipotent egos. We are the Prime Mover in this political universe. What happens or what doesn't happen is a direct result of our actions or our inactions. Although these fundamental principles are not written down in any document or manifesto, nonetheless, they are the primary governing principles of our liberal politicians.

Our friends and our enemies do not act according to their own agendas; but, in the skewered view of our Liberal Egocentics, they merely react to our agenda. According to this unspoken principle, we are the single most important factor in the global equation. An Ahmadinejad, or a Kim Jong Ill, or even an Osama bin Laden do not have a well-thought-out plan of their own, they are just waiting to see what we will do.

Having accepted the fact that we are the Prime Mover, then it necessarily follows that if things aren't moving in the direction we would like, then we must be doing something wrong. Ahmadinejad is acting the way he is because Bush didn't talk to him. Same with Castro, and Chavez and Kim Jong Ill and Putin and Nasrallah -- If we had just sat down with them for a few hours and talked...

My friends, every single one of these vicious brutes wants the same thing: power. Power and more power. Most are driven by their own monumental egos, some are also driven by horrific apocalyptic visions, straight out of Revelations. But each and every one of these bloody tyrants have their very own personal agenda, over which we hold little or no influence. To not understand this basic fact, to utterly ignore this undeniable truth, as our Liberal Egocentrics are presently doing, is putting our very lives in jeopardy -- in terrible jeopardy.

The Liberal Egocentrics have an untreatable deafness. They cannot hear contrary voices speak. Liberal Egocentrics are immune to the effects of logic and are blind to the light of reason. They refuse to understand that our friends -- and especially our enemies -- have ambitions and desires that have nothing whatsoever to do with them. That all of their empty rhetoric and their grandiose posturing have little or no effect on these actors. Our friend's and our enemy's intricate gears and levers are functioning quite well without the benefit of the power of their omnipotent egos.

In summation, to save ourselves, to save this wonderful but vulnerable nation, we must first defeat these delusional ideologues, these dangerous Liberal Egocentrics. We must pop their balloons and deflate their egos. We must learn how to listen to our enemies once again, we must learn to take them at their word. When they promise to destroy us, we cannot misunderstand or purposely manipulate their words. They are not promising to destroy us unless we sit down with them and talk. Our Liberal Egocentrics are hearing these comforting words, but our enemies are not speaking them.

Once again, we must fight the battles that are there, not the battles that we wish were there.

God help us to regain our strength and purpose. God help us to see this world clearly, and not through the distorted vision of our pacifist desires. - rg