David Frum Blames America First
Anyone questioning the wisdom of neoconservative foreign policy is likely to be told that he is "blaming America first," as if American foreign policy were synonymous with the nation. So it is only fair to point out that neocons, too, "blame America" when it doesn't follow their policies. Reviewing a book about the 1920 presidential campaign, David Frum writes that "Americans made very bad choices in those years, terrible choices, choices that would precipitate a global depression and then another and even more horrible war." In Frum's view, America's adherence to our traditonal protectionist system led to the Great Depression and World War II. Of course, those making similar pronouncements about contemporary American foreign policy are liable to be branded as "unpatriotic" by Frum.
Frum wishes instead that TR was still alive in 1920, because he would have won the GOP nomination and "Roosevelt was a free trader by instinct." Apparently, Frum is unaware that TR declared, "Thank God I am not a free trader. Pernicious indulgence in the doctrine of free trade seems inevitably to produce fatty degeneration of the moral fibre." An apt quote when thinking of the neocons, actually.
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Tom: Great post.
If anyone repudiates one of three great tenets of the Globalist Trinity (nation building, free trade, immigration), it's 1938 all over again; and since someone, by the very nature of things, is always criticizing one of these dogmas, it is always 1938.
Warren Harding is one of the most underrated presidents of American history. Assuming the presidency after the debacle of World War One, he inherited a country in recession that was still imbibed with the effects of the Wilson war economy and the mindset of the Palmer raids. Harding brought normalcy back to the country, the economy rebounded, Wilsonian big government was whittled back to a decent size, and the war-time hysteria was wound down. Harding did acquiesce to the foolishness of Prohibition, probably in the knowledge that Americans were being hypocritical in their disapproval of alcoholic beverages. No one is perfect.
The big-mouth Teddy Roosevelt is the favorite president of John McCain and a favorite of the neo-conservatives due to his blustering ways (until he had to go hat in hand to JP Morgan to stave off the Panic of 1907). Give me Warren Harding any day, warts and all.
As mentioned Teddy Roosevelt was NOT a free trader. From the 1912 progressive platform:
"We believe in a protective tariff which shall equalize conditions of competition between the United States and foreign countries, both for the farmer and the manufacturer, and which shall maintain for labor an adequate standard of living."
"The Democratic party is committed to the destruction of the protective system through a tariff for revenue only?a policy which would inevitably produce widespread industrial and commercial disaster."
"We demand the immediate repeal of the Canadian Reciprocity Act."
The whole idea that the tariff was responsible for the depression is absurd. Trade outside of North America was only a small part of our GNP in the 1930s and remained so until the 1960s. The whole "Smoot Hawley caused the Great Depression" started in the 1980s when the Free trade fanatics started to pump out their propaganda.
Frum also peddles the neo-con/internationalist canard that the USA was responsible for Hitler and WW II. Sorry, France and Britain could have stopped Hitler at any time before 1936 and refused to do so. They seriously misjudged their own strength and thought as late as Sept 1939 they could defeat Hitler without either the USSR or the USA. We can't be blamed for their stupidity and arrogance.
Tom,
I love your articles and the target rich environment in which you fly. Every time Frum opens his mouth or drips his black ink, there is Tom Piatak pointing to his silliness, duplicity arrogance and decadence. Some centuries from now when archeologists are digging through the plastic rubble of our times, some old desk drawer full of Piatak's commentary will tell more about our current politics than ten thousand old re-runs of the current crop of neo-con talking heads. Thanks Tom.
I think Calvin Coolidge was pretty good, and certainly not a big mouth. Among modern presidents I say Eisenhower looks better and better as time goes by.He was the only man in the country who kept his head when the Russians put a tin can in orbit in 1957. When he left the White House in 1961, it seemed that common sense left with him. He bequeathed his successor a country that was prosperous, financially sound, and at peace with the world.
Isn't Frum
a) Originally Canadian
b) An Israeli firster maybe even a joint US/Israeli citizen like Michael Chertoff.
"....I say Eisenhower looks better and better as time goes by.He was the only man in the country who kept his head when the Russians put a tin can in orbit in 1957."
Although I think Eisenhower has a number of fundamental flaws, this is a good point. The space program used to be a sacred cow of mine in my younger and more easily-dazzled days, which is why I find Mr/Ms. Harrington's observation striking.
Kennedy got elected partly by stoking hysteria about the supposed Russian juggernaut, and certainly did his part to ensure Americans remained infatuated with hi-tech glamour up to this day.
Keeping in tune with Eisenhower's skepticism & reserve regarding the "conquest of space" would have done a whole lot more good for the country -- and even space science itself -- than Kennedy's opportunistic "idealism".
A great thesis from Mr. Piatak's article -- not a point I had previously considered. The solution to the paradox is that Frum believes he and his various soulmates throughout history actually represent "America", while the American people themselves do not.
Let's hear it for unfrumriotic conservatives!
There is much else to criticize Eisenhower for. He never really tried to cut the very high income tax rates he inherited which was not only bad policy in itself but led to the recession of 57-58 which, in turn, led to the Democratic rout of the Republicans in the 1958 elections, a calamitous turn of events which doomed America to the squalid leftist governments of the 60s and 70s that did the country so much harm. Eisenhower's interstate highway system, some of which made sense, was perverted into a solvent of localism and community from almost the beginning. His Supreme Court picks were horrible, giving us two of the most destructive men in American judicial history- Earl Warren and William Brennan. Eisenhower's sending the 101st Airborne with fixed bayonnets against the people of Little Rock was an overstretch and distasteful, no matter how foolish Orval Faubus may have been in his handling of the Little Rock school situation.
"Frum wishes instead that TR was still alive in 1920, because he would have won the GOP nomination and “Roosevelt was a free trader by instinct.”
Perhaps Frum is quite aware what TR really said. Keep in mind Frum is the author of the Axis of Evil lie that brought us to war, which is the ultimate goal of all neocons - more war more money; more control.
"In Frum’s view, America’s adherence to our traditonal protectionist system led to the Great Depression and World War II."
Oh man. I have never understood why this false claim of 'protectionism = prosperity' is universally agreed to be true in 'paleocon' circles. I have seen some paleos write, basically, that if we were to return to a hyper protectionist system from what is (falsely) claimed to be free trade America would be saved.
Another poster (#1) writes that: " If anyone repudiates one of three great tenets of the Globalist Trinity (nation building, free trade, immigration), it’s 1938 all over again;.."
I think he is correct. Frum and his neocon buddies do claim the Reaganite mantle of 'free trade'. Yet, they dont seem to understand that 'free trade' does not mean 'voluntary' import quotas (used during the 80s during the reign of the so called Free-Trader Reagan). In fact, they dont seem to understand what free trade is, period.
NOTE before I am attacked: In some ways, tariffs can be preferable to an income tax and other various forms of taxation, however I personally am totally opposed to the corrupt notion of 'protecting' industry from competition.
"Eisenhower’s interstate highway system, some of which made sense, was perverted into a solvent of localism and community from almost the beginning."
The interstate highway system is what first pops into my mind as well, in terms of the long-term negatives of Eisenhower's administration. How people can keep a straight face while defending fast food franchises on the basis of "laissez-faire" is beyond me.
Obviously the other bad Ike decisions you mentioned are not exactly minutiae either.
That TR was a freetrader is a ludicrous falsehood, as has been pointed out. That Teddy's foreign poilicy is some kind of great example is equally ludicrous. It was TR, in his grandstanding interference in the Russo-Japanese War, who enabled Japan to go on its campaign of conquest in Asia. And he was rabid for the U.S. to get into the insane mayhem of WW I. Of course, like everybody else of the time, he was no enthusiast for non-European immigration. But Frum's style of lying is all too common and long precedes the Neocons---teaching that Lincoln was a racial egalitarian or that Jefferson was an ACLU type.
Tom Piatak: He reads National Review so that you don't have to!
In a way TR was responsible for the Japanese-American war of 1941-1945. First by establishing an American colony in the Philippines and secondly, as Dr. Wilson states, supporting the Japanese rise to power from 1905 onwards and thirdly, by agreeing to the Japanese take over of the Marianas and Carolinas in 1914.
TR later realized what a mistake it had been to take responsibility for the Philippines - but it was too late. As WW I, TR thought war was good a thing. Some of his writing can make any peace loving man's hair stand on end. He wanted to go to war after the Lusitania in 1915. A great man, but I think the country was better off with Coolidge and Harding. Whether he would have better than Wilson can be debated.
"...I personally am totally opposed to the corrupt notion of 'protecting' industry from competition."
I personally don't believe in economic absolutes - neither absolute protectionism nor absolute free trade. Ideally, the focus should be on what is the best for our particular community. Instead the focus is on what serves the bottom line for multinational corporations.
Economics was made for man, not man for economics. Efficiency and profit are two false gods I refuse to worship.
I want to add that various forms of protecting industry certainly can diminish quality of products and efficiency. But then, man doesn't live by bread alone.
"We wish to control big business so as to secure among other things good wages for the wage-workers and reasonable prices for the consumers. Wherever in any business the prosperity of the businessman is obtained by lowering the wages of his workmen and charging an excessive price to the consumers we wish to interfere and stop such practices. We will not submit to that kind of prosperity any more than we will submit to prosperity obtained by swindling investors or getting unfair advantages over business rival"
Looks like Frum would have called T.R. a socialist.
"I personally don’t believe in economic absolutes - neither absolute protectionism nor absolute free trade."
Very good point, Mr. Collins
Most trade policy realists aren't asking for Free Trade to be completely abandoned. They simply wish our trade policy was more pragmatic, like other developed countries.
For instance, what is the good of having "Free Trade Zones" when goods originating from countries outside that zone have little or no duties imposed on them?
Wouldn't it make more sense to limit imports to industies not in the vital national interest, and to countries which it is in our interest to help develop economically (Mexico, but not China, for example)?
Yes, Frum was born in Canada. There is no better argument for a complete moratorium on immigration to the US.
If you compare Eisenhower to some ideal conservative President who does not exist , then he will fall short by a long way. However, if you compare him to the actual presidents of his own era, say from Truman to Carter, then I think he looks reasonable.
Once again Tom exposes neocon rewriting of history, although I think that Frummie may be too easy a target. After his "unpatriotic conservatives" piece who can really take him seriously? The real service this essay of Tom's gives us is a reminder that the so-called "big government" conservatives, or "national greatness" conservatives, are all progressive frauds. Thanks again, Tom.
@20John Willson
Does nobody find it interesting that a former Trotskyite communist is now interested in free trade?
Frum on BBC's Question Time leading up to the war in Iraq stated that France and Russia supplied Saddam with chemical and biological weapons not the US although a congressional investigation in the early 90’s confirmed that the US did give him chemical and biological weapons to fight Iran.
Russia or the USSR only supplied him with conventional weapons.
But the main point of Frum and these other Neocons is whose interests are they perusing the US or another foreign body and why are they willing to shed US blood and money to do it?
It is risky to put forward a single cause for the Second World War. Interesting questions associated with that War are , Did the U. S. have to get involved? and How did we get involved?
FDR wanted to help the British, but many Americans including Charles Lindberg thought we should stay out of it. Roosevelt also didn't like the way Japan was throwing its weight around in Asia. And it appears that FDR wanted to use Japan as a way to put Americans into a belligerent frame of mind and he cut off supplies of iron and other material we were shipping to Japan and set up our forces at Pearl Harbor.
FDR also surreptitiously approved the American Volunteer Group and sent them to defend China before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
But the Japanese knew it was happening.
In hindsight we can also say that at the close of WWI we made humiliating demands on Germany and then didn't enforce them when Hitler came to power and ignored the limits set on how much of a military Germany would be allowed.
So there is a lot of blame to go around.
Actually our "nation building" --- or I should say "democracy-building" worked rather well at the end of WWII. McArthur designed a pretty good constitution for Japan and under our guidance West Germany developed a working democracy. If we had just walked away after the War, that would have produced a catastrophe. So the "Marshall Plan" deserves credit for helping to bring Europe back to a functioning civilization.
Maybe Bush II has better intentions than he has been given credit for. I know--- "The road to hell is paved. . . ." Certainly he and his advisors have misunderstood the motives and tenets of Islam and consequently misnamed this war we are in.
My how these Canadians wish us to fight their battles for them...Oh wait a minute we're talking about David Frum, not Stephen Harper. Perhaps we should put him in a special catagory along with Richard Perle, Conrad Black, Brian Mulroney, Barbara Amiel and Mark Steyn as the "Citizens of Neocon World." That will entitle them to their own passports.
Theodore Rosoevelt couldn't win the GOP nomination in 1912 or 1916, so why anyone thinks we could have won it in 1920 even if he was still fit and fiddle is beyond me. His was a nationalist opposition to the Treaty of Versaillies and the League of Nations, not patriotic one. The candidate whom GOP voters in 1920 turned to were not Roosevelt clones like Leonard Wood or Hiram Johnson, it was to a simple, homespun man from Marion, Ohio, Warren Harding. He was nominated and elected because who he has and what he stood for represented the mood of the voters and represented the mood of the times.
I'm sorry that Mr. Frum feels as though the American voter let him and friends down back in 1920 but as per usual, it wasn't them who's sons died on the battlefield in useless war or will still stationed in Russia at that wars end or who helped spread the Spanish flu epidemic of 1919. Americans had their fill of parades and glorious war and progressive golden ages that led to inflation, rationing and prison for those who dissented. They wanted normalcy and they got it.
Little known fact: George Washington was a free-trader. His ambassador to the UN was a big WTO supporter.
Out of curiosity, does Frum have a position on the War on Serbs? His country also fought for the Bosnian and Kosovan Jihads.
Jefferson could not have been an ACLU type (since the organization would not exist for another 100 or so years after his death) but he sure did like those French Jacobins! Compared to them, the ACLU is a benign fraternal organization.