In the current First Things, R. Reno wisely recalls the Christian Realism of Reinhold Niebuhr. Writing in the time of Hitler and Stalin, he was looking directly into the face of the Deep Evil we now see resurging in China, Russia, Iran and Islamic terrorism. Niebuhr, with a clear-sighted Barthian sense of sin, provided the theology underlying the prudential, forceful diplomacy of Churchill, FDR, de Gaulle and later JFK, Nixon-Kissinger and Regan. Such realism is a sober, rational, appropriate response to Evil in all its intensity, depth and destruction.
In the 75 years since the War, we have been indulged, softened and corrupted by unprecedented peace and prosperity. The deterrence policy of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) worked perfectly. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 left the Pax Americana firmly in place and Western liberal institutions (temporarily) unrivaled for global dominance.
Secure, comfortable, and overly confident, we have surrendered ourselves to a variety of "un-realisms." Comforting, delusional, deeply in denial...they compete with and contradict each other but share an inner form or structure: Pelagian trust in a simple, ideological fix to violence and injustice, flowing from a sentimentality in flight from the reality of sin and deep evil. Five such un-realisms prevail: Neo-Conservatism (attributed especially to W. Bush and the Iraq invasion), the Vietnam Derangement Syndrome (epitomized by Biden's abandonment of Afghanistan), nationalistic isolationism (crudely enacted by Trump), rationalistic/optimistic liberalism (of Obama), and anemic, sentimental semi-pacifism (of Pope Francis and a herd of happy Christian liberals).
1. Neo-conservatism, which surged with the end of the Cold War, is the most obvious and widely disparaged, on both the Right and the Left, of the ideologies of arrogance. It is blamed for our futile, wasteful wars in the Middle East. Its weakness, we all see now, was the "end-of-history" over-confidence in Western liberalism. On the other hand, it was more realistic than the other four ideologies in its accurate assessment that the withdrawal of American power would leave a vacuum that would be filled by far worse actors.
2. Biden's catastrophic and simply idiotic withdrawal from Afghanistan is the opposite of the neo-conservative impulse: the dread of American military engagement. It is a prolonged, adverse reaction to Vietnam. It motivated Clinton's refusal to intervene in the genocide in Rwanda. If the neo-conservatives inflate America into a messiah, these liberals exaggerate its demonic character. It a convoluted, visceral conviction that withdrawal of American forces from combat will leave peace in its wake.
3. Closely aligned with this is the optimistic rationalism confidently articulated by Obama. He was immediately and unthinkingly given the Nobel peace pride, especially for reaching out to Muslims. The liberal assumption, of course, was that the turmoil in the Middle East was largely due to the Cheny-Bush greed for oil, money and power. Surely, the modest, calm, reasonable, conciliatory Obama would swiftly bring peace to the area. We know things got far worse: Libya, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq! Those were horrific years. Obama did not, of course, cause this. That is the point: there are fierce, diabolic forces at work in that area which America did not cause, cannot control and will not cure. His peaceful, reasonable, conciliatory approach was useless. They should revoke the prize which was demeaned by its bestowal.
4. Distinctive is Trumpian nationalism and isolationism. His crude "America First" demeanor shares the aggressiveness of the Neo-cons as well as a realism about the use of power. He shares the post-Vietnam aversion to over-extension overseas. His demand that Europe pay its fair share of NATO expenses was entirely just. But his offensive, arrogant manner unnecessarily frustrated the alliances we need to be effective on the global scene. By temperament and training a Catholic internationalist, I was repulsed by his ethnophobia and narrow ethnic politics. But it is also unrealistic: we were unable to avoid engagement in two world wars in the last century. The globe is far more interconnected now. American self-interest, rightly understood, depends upon a stable, peaceful world order. The retreat to the isolationism of Charles Lindberg is itself a sentimentality and a delusion.
5. Lastly, we find in the Christian Liberal mainstream, exemplified in our current pope, the presumption that understanding, compassion, forgiveness, and love are in themselves adequate to overcome evil so that we can do away with lethal force: the absolute rejection of capital punishment, defunding of the police, "war is not working" doctrine, allegations of "mass incarceration." This is a naivete, a softness, a sentimentality. It is a sterilized, allergic flight from the just and rational use of force, including deadly force. It is unrealistic and irresponsible.
So what will a prudent Christian realism look like? I suggest the following:
1. Acknowledgment of the power of sin and evil in its depth, intensity, expansiveness and oftentimes it penultimate triumph...this side of the Parousia.
2. Willingness to use lethal force in a reasoned, sober way to restrain the spread of evil.
3. Accurate assessment of our own capabilities, limits and boundaries.
4. Acceptance that weakness in the face of expansive evil can be worse than resistance. (Churchill.)
5. Determination to work with others in less-than-perfect alliances to restrain evil and advance our values and way of life. (NATO, the cooperation of Israel and the Sunni states against Iran, and a coalition in Asia to inhibit an imperialistic Communism in China.)
6. A wholesome patriotism balanced by a modest but assertive internationlism.
As Catholics, of course, we can relax and sigh with relief. We are on earth only for a little while. This life is a test, a preparation for Eternal Life. Jesus is Risen. We are destined for heaven. Our agonistic engagement with the Kingdoms of Deep Evil is important, but is NOT the most important thing!
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