OK it's official, George is a totalitarian..with his own personality cult.

[MissMarple]

Now I know that Lew Rockwell is a Libertarian(I probably should have put libertarian in all caps), but he does have several cogent points to make. One little gem: "Conservatism seeks power, adores power, exalts power, and has only one agenda: more power."

The title is "Shills, Paid and Unpaid" and is about the "journalists" who have sold out for money or career advancement to George's cult of personality. And the ones who take the money aren't the worst of the lot.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/shills.html


"The sickening personality cult that has formed around Bush is only one aspect of this, but it is an inevitable one. No matter what form of government, whether monarchical, democratic, or communist, the belief that the person at the top is more godlike than the rest of us is everywhere a feature of what Mises called statolatory, the view that the state is an "eternal and superhuman institution beyond the reach of earthly frailties."

...

The obvious examples of Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Mussolini stand out, but to a much lesser extent even the local mayor of your town benefits from the glow of power. People exaggerate the personal merits of people with power, romanticizing their personal histories and fantasizing about their "vision" of the future. This has been true from the ancient world to our own, and probably stems from some madness in the soul of man. (The really smart political leaders feign to repudiate these cults, as Caesar pretended to refuse the crown.)

Intellectually, the tendency toward power worship was torn asunder by the great liberal revolution that began in the middle ages and culminated in 1776, with the generation that proclaimed that political rulers were worthy of distrust, in need of being restrained, and ultimately dispensable. This attitude toward politics came about not because the liberals hated the people with power, but because they saw power itself as destructive of the order that liberty itself creates. They came to realize that the good society is not created by great leaders but by the coordinated actions of all individuals in society in their private and commercial lives. It was this revelation that pulled back the curtain and showed the whole world what power has always conspired to hide: the people at the top are pretentious fools, and a source of disorder.

The problem with Gallagher and Williams is not that they were paid to say what they believed. It is what they believe, namely that the person of George W. Bush will restore the family and that the person of George W. Bush will make sure that no child is left behind. These are the views of totalitarians, not advocates of a free society. If you are going to sell your soul to the state, and try to fob off state control and war as the essence of freedom, it makes sense to at least have something to show for it. The overwhelming number of Bush worshipers get nothing in exchange for their sacrifice of heart, mind, body, and soul."

[whistle]

1. George Bush's own personality IS a cult!

[beam me up scottie]

2. Excellent post.

He nailed it.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. Let's not be fooled by the 'personality cult' however.

The entire machinery will be running in '08, when * won't be running. All the claims that * personally won over his myriad foes with his homey, down to earth personality will be exposed then, when whatever shlub they nominate next pulls off equally surprising wins.

I think the 'personality cult' is just one more bit of misdirection foisted on us by the Rovian operatives.

[Just Me]

4. Fascinating perspective. Thanks for sharing.

I've recognized the same kind of romance with "power". I can even remember as a youngster romanticizing about those who had "power",...like they were gods. Maybe, there are those who never grow out of that perception. :shrug:

[Nay]

5. Good opinion piece. I see utterly confounding examples of this cult

of personality at work. Several Bush voters actually worship the little asshole. When you ask them what is so good about him, they can only parrot phrases like "I just love his family!" or "He's a godly man!" or "He's so moral!" without being able to point to ONE THING that he has done that is family-oriented, godly, or moral. It is simply amazing to watch, and I have to think that there are deep psychological things going on underneath, like the whole "stern father image" stuff, that simply grabs people and turns them into drooling automatons.

And I think that only on my kindest days. Usually, when they say:

"I just love his family!" -- they mean they love the idea of kings and dynasties.

"He's a godly man!" -- they mean they hope someone smites those heathen bastard liberals.

"He's so moral!" -- they mean he didn't get a blow job like Clinton.

"He's a leader!" -- they mean they'd love to be badass bullies and push people around, just like he is doing.

In other words, Bush voters can be one or a combination of several types: bullies, abused spouse types, slave mentality types (I include fundies here), or royalists. I just never thought there would be quite so many Americans who were servile and damaged enough to add up to much.

Addressing what NCevilDUer's post above: The dangerous thing about the Bush personality cult IS that it is manufactured by Rove, and is not inherent in Bush himself. Theoretically, that means it can be manufactured for their next nominee as well. The cult has nothing to do with Bush per se -- the cult worships whichever Repub is put before it. It has to be working that way - can you imagine a nonentity like Bush in Hitler's place? Lenin's place? Speaking and rallying millions of people like those dicators did? If he had it to do all on his own, he couldn't rally a dog to a fireplug. There is a different dynamic going on here, and it always seemed to me to hinge on the effect of mass media/mighty Wurlitzer type stuff. Whatever needs to be tossed down the memory hole, gets tossed and disappeared by the buckets of media lies. Look at how poorly Bush did in the debates. We all laughed in delight, because he looked exactly like what he was -- a fucking idiot. But crank that Wurlitzer, and the 3 debates are covered over in people's minds by the blizzard of hagiographic fawning that followed. It's scary.

[MissMarple]

6. I love your interpretation of those stock phrases.

And your thoughts on Rove I agree with. George's "charm" is in more personal venues, on television he appears pompous and smug even when he is nervous and muffs his lines.

[beam me up scottie]

7. Ditto!

Reminds me of the Steve Bell cartoon:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1404796,00.html

[Enquiringkitty]

8. And don't you think that just because he can't run again that he has

plans to get out of running the country. He and his cohorts will continue after 2008.

Again I ask....Where are the John Wilkes Booths when the country needs them?