Free For All - The Free Liberal Blog: More on Power Addiction

August 2008

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"abaney" comments on my previous blog, Recurring Mistake of "Perpetual War." A few clarficiations seem in order.

The alcoholic/power addict concept is a metaphorical analogy. Practicing alcoholics are often "in denial," not believing they have a problem. Ditto for politicians. They don't consciously believe their motive is powermongering, but that's the EFFECT of their behavior. Public choice economists explain this phenomenon well, although they use different terminology.

This blog -- and my position -- is transpartisan. We praise Rs when we agree, and Ds, too. Similarly, we criticize both with equanimity when we disagree. What is reasonably clear by the facts is that the Rs lost the Congress, and the Iraq War seemed to be reason #1. Looking at the same fact set that abaney does, I simply do not buy that Sadaam was a threat on the order of Hitler. I DO accept that he was a threat on some level. Similarly, I DO accept that al Qaeda IS a threat, too. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and many members of Congress received the American people's collective opinion earlier this month about the war, which seems more in line with my view: That it's a mistake, a pretty BIG mistake.

I am not suggesting, as abaney implies, that the US should not react to the times. Of course we should. I support the Afghan campaign, more or less. I support counterterrorism measures. I support increased intelligence on the Al Qaeda Network. I did not support the Iraq War, Vietnam, or Korea, however. IMO, they were all counter-productive overreactions.

-Robert Capozzi

Comments

Thank you for the response. I don't believe you to be a left wing radical, I just didn't buy into the argument that our leaders have become incapacitated with power ambitions. I truly don't believe that my government led us to war for any reason other than a perceived threat. I also believe, that if our government is not able to make "mistakes", we could suffer a catastrophic consequence. No one has claimed that the war in Iraq is a success, but it's also not over. Time will be the judge of what's a mistake and what's not. Regardless of who is in power, it is essential that we protect those in need of protection, and thwart those who wish to disrupt peace. I believe we all agree on that. If you are ever in need of a conservative viewpoint amongst your bloggers...let me know!

Posted by: abaney18 | November 22, 2006 10:49 AM