Eurocrats v the neocons

Bruce Thornton in Dump the World Bank takes the position that Paul Wolfowitz was ousted by the Eurocrats because they didn’t like his politics.

[..] But his true offense in the eyes of the Eurocrats and World-Bank clerks was “neoconism,” a new thought crime now added to the conga-line of conservative sins.

The larger issue this whole sorry episode raises, though, is why the United States spends billions of taxpayer dollars on yet another international organization whose true purpose is to thwart American interests. Once again, our clinging to debased Enlightenment assumptions prevents us from seeing the best way to protect and advance the interests of the American people.

Like the U.N., the existence of the World Bank reflects the worship of what French political philosopher Chantal Delsol calls “techno-politics.” This Enlightenment delusion believes that human misery and conflict can be alleviated by rational techniques wielded by elite experts. After all, according to techno-politicians, global problems have their origins in material deprivation or psychological dysfunction created by the material environment. Just let the experts go to work on correcting all those flaws, and solutions will be found to the perennial evils of human existence.

The implications of this belief are troubling. Most obviously, techno-politics is anti-democratic. Rather than trusting the people to know their interests and how to advance them, techno-politics attempts to cut citizens out of the political process so the experts can do their work without the oafish masses getting in the way. Of course, for two centuries we’ve seen the bloody results of this delusion, most obviously in the communist regimes whose “technicians of the soul,” the elite enlightened by Marxist “science,” created mountains of corpses in the pursuit of utopia. As the Roman poet Juvenal asked, “Who will guard the guardians?” CONTINUE

May 22, 2007 | 5 Comments »
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5 Comments / 5 Comments

  1. True, but human nature is characterized by qualities both relatively good and relatively bad.

    Perhaps one might say there is a flaw in another’s human nature when that other exhibits an overabundance of relatively good or bad qualities which results in their natures being out of balance, as compared to the wonderfully evenly balanced human natures you and I have managed to achieve.

    OOPS, I just pulled a muscle patting myself on the back!!!

  2. “I see no evidence of flaws, but just human nature moved by self-interest, greed, opportunism……….. resentment, jealously and contrarianism.”

    For someone who sees no flaws you lay out quite an extensive list.

  3. There is not much value in Thornton’s psychoanalysis of the collective mind of the the World Bank, in spite of it being presented in an intelligent and an interesting way.

    Thornton however does finally arrive at some simple truths as regards international agencies that do not take a psychiatrist to figure out when he says:

    “these institutions have usually functioned as instruments used by states to pursue their own political and economic interests even as they loudly pay lip service to grand ideals of human rights and peace and prosperity……..flawed human nature has determined the behavior of these institutions, not lofty idealism. As such, these organizations are used by states to thwart the interests of the more powerful, meaning the United States––and the insult added to the injury is that we pay for the privilege.

    If we Americans believe that it is in our interests to provide economic aid to other countries, then we can do so without getting ourselves entangled in bloated, wasteful bureaucracies that most of the time work against our national interests without any accountability to the American people who foot the bill. The President should be thinking not about Wolfowitz’s replacement, but rather about getting the United States out of the World Bank.”

    The very same has before been said of what has become of the United Nations itself and that it too should be disbanded. All past plans devised and proclaimed as a new beginning of reform so that the U.N. can rise to the noble ideals it aspires to, never manages to pass through the threshold of great promise.

    As for Thornton’s accusation that

    flawed human nature has determined the behavior of these institutions

    I see no evidence of flaws, but just human nature moved by self-interest, greed, opportunism and all too often, when it comes to the stance of a great many nations vis a vis America, the politics of resentment, jealously and contrarianism.

  4. This writer resonates with me. When I rant about collectivism and ideofascism this is what I am talking about; elitists who believe they are so smart and powerful, that they not only know what is best for everybody else, but they are determined to force their “solutions” on us regardless of what rights they must strip away or who they have to destroy.

    I along with many others have warned that these people are every bit as dangerous to the world as the terrorists are. We can kill the terrorists like roaches but these are the people who won’t allow us to. They undermine world stability by their “superior intellect” and put up the obstacles that have been an obstruction to getting rid of terrorism and creating stability.

    Terrorism may kill countless numbers before all is said and done because of these people not understanding the terrorists and over estimating their own abilities to run the world. Even so, what the terrorists do succeed in doing may pale in comparison to what these people do to the world if they ever gain a complete monopoly of power. They are capable of creating total global chaos and another world war. I am certain of that.

  5. Bruce Thornton in Dump the World Bank takes the position that Paul Wolfowitz was ousted by the Eurocrats because they didn’t like his politics

    I’m very sure that was the real reason.

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