American messianic nationalism & the fall of Cheney

From the Mercury News, Nov 27, 2005
As Cheney stands up, his polling goes down

BY MARK SILVA AND STEPHEN J. HEDGES, Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney, known for his deft exercise of power in the shadows...His stern, unbending activism, once seen as an advantage, now is being questioned, even by some who were early proponents of the Iraq invasion.

Larry Wilkerson, once chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, said the vice president, along with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, heads a cabal "of extreme nationalistic ... and messianic" voices within the Bush administration.

<snip>

Among Republicans, 80 percent in a Nov. 11-13 Gallup survey said they approved of Bush's job performance, while 68 percent approved of Cheney's. And a majority of all 1,006 voters surveyed rated Cheney's advice to the president as "bad."

<snip>

Officials at the State and Defense Departments have also groused about Cheney's opposition to a move to ban torture in the handling of detainees. Career diplomats have expressed worries about the implications of Cheney's position for the U.S. image abroad.

<snip>

...Cheney's supporters say he is merely seeking a balance that allows the United States to fight terrorists effectively.

<snip>

...Wilkerson said Cheney and Rumsfeld encouraged Bush to wield unbridled power in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"The vice president, the secretary of defense and others ... made this tremendous pitch for new world: `Mr. President, in this new world you are all-powerful. There is no power of the Congress that can stop you. You are commander in chief of the armed forces. You have the perfect right in this new world, where we are seeking security against this new and unprecedented threat, to make any rules or regulations you want.'"

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/13268733.htm

"...American messianic nationalism...is an ideology rooted in the belief that the United States of America is uniquely an elect nation chosen by God to impose its way of life on the rest of the world by coercive economic means, and even by military force, if it deems necessary. Nations who pursue other ways of economic development than "free market capitalism" can be regarded as enemies, not only of the United States, but of God. This is particularly the case if they seek to mobilize a counter-bloc of nations against the global hegemony of the United States."
Rosemary Radford Ruether, the Carpenter Professor of Feminist Theology at Pacific School of Religion

http://www.witherspoonsociety.org/2004/ruether_call.htm

"Among Republicans, 80 percent in a Nov. 11-13 Gallup survey said they approved of Bush's job performance"

Then fuck the repukes, they are all evil (at least 80% anyway). They are willful traitors.

following the herd over a cliff. I come from a family of Republicans and have been registered and voted Democrat since my first election in 1980. I cannot get my family to see what is right in front of them.

Could be...

That is truly scary for me.

Kool Aid will help you get on board.... willful traitors YES.

http://www.witherspoonsociety.org/2004/ruether_call.htm

The ideology that the United States is an elect nation divinely chosen to be a model and mentor to other countries has long been entertained by dominant American culture. During the Cold War the struggle against communism was typically couched as a "war against evil." The conflict between two strategies of economic development, capitalism and communism, was defined as if it were a war against demonic powers in which capitalist countries were the agents of divine goodness.

This language has returned with new force under the administration of George W. Bush in its "war against terrorism." The language of holy war, "crusade" and the apocalyptic conflict between good and evil, God and Satan, are freely used in its war rhetoric, directed first against the Taliban in Afghanistan and then against Saddam Hussein in Iraq. These wars were depicted as if they were episodes in an apocalyptic drama of good against evil, angels of light against the forces of darkness, God's chosen people against God's enemies. This language of apocalyptic warfare assumes an U.S. mission to the rest of the nations of the world. America in general, and President Bush in particular, are depicted as messianic agents chosen by God to combat evil and to establish good; namely American hegemonic power and its economic, cultural and political "way of life" over the rest of the world.

This messianic nationalism was expressed in its most blatant form by General William Boykin, an American military leader charged with the hunt against Osama bin Laden. In a speech to his fellow believers Boykin declared that the United States is an object of hatred by other nations because we are uniquely a "Christian nation." He went on to claim that "our spiritual enemy can only be conquered when we confront them in the name of God" (i.e. their spiritual identity is that of Satan). He said that Muslims worship an idol and not the true God. Moreover God has put George W. Bush in office at this time to carry out a world redemptive mission: "We are an army of God raised up for such a time as this."

In other words, George W. Bush is God's elect messiah put in the White House at this time of final crisis in the conflict between God and Satan to lead God's forces of good against the forces of evil. To defeat U.S. America's enemies and put in place the American "free market" system equals defeating evil and establishing the Reign of God over the earth. Although the Pentagon distanced itself from Boykin's language, they did nothing to counteract it. This language creeps continually into official White House declarations of their identity and role. Neo-conservatives, such as Richard Perle, adopt such language, as in his recent book on "How to win the war against terrorism" which he entitled The End of Evil.


To defeat U.S. America's enemies and put in place the American "free market" system equals defeating evil and establishing the Reign of God over the earth.


So this is what "spreading Democracy" means.

a re-selling of plain old fashioned 'Manifest Destiny' but that's my opinion.
IMHO the biggest unwitting pushers of this Messianic Nationalism (MN) are the evangelicals.
I doubt that too many of these people are reading essays on MN. We should demand the nations churches explain their posture toward this nations use of MN to excuse the kind of
corporate international terrorism that led to 911 in the first place.

...plus believe the 2nd Coming will happen in DC - ok, maybe Philly.

I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF!!!
:rofl:

for the priveledge like they do for the olympics? Personally I think Boise is
Messiahrific! Wait 'til he sees what we've done to the downtown area.

The fall of Cheney. (repeats it a few times out loud).

Cheney is finished.....he knows it, too.

The hopes and dreams of the PNAC were short-lived. They hoped to take over the world. They only made it to the first bus stop, Iraq. They had SO many plans for the rest of us.

They couldn't even get the first order of business taken care of. How does it feel, Dick? Paul? Don? George? Jeb and all the others?

oh my, I'm doing it again

:rofl: