Books in Brief
Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got It Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First by Mona Charen (Regnery, 263 pp., $27.95). Many of my liberal friends are skeptical or undecided about war in Iraq. At the same time, nearly all of them went out of their way, during the recent anti-war protests, to explain that the protesters–with signs comparing America with Nazi Germany or extolling the virtues of Iraqi democracy–struck them as stark raving loonies. However, Mona Charen reminds us that the opinions of the loonies are often not as far from the opinions of the liberals as my friends would like them to be.
In any case, many liberals, after doting on the Soviet Union, flacking for the Viet Cong, marching for a nuclear freeze, stumping for the Sandinistas, and comparing the United States unfavorably with every tin pot dictator and Stalinist on the planet, had the gall to pretend, post-1989, that they had been anti-Communists all along.
“Useful Idiots” does not claim to contain much original reporting and makes no attempt to be comprehensive. It aims, rather, to call into question the judgment of a political class. Charen explains she isn’t indiscriminately targeting all liberals–although, she observes, “Great Liberal Cold Warriors would make a very short book.” She is occasionally too dismissive of the damaging effects of irresponsible anti-communism. But her broad point is well made and important.
–Jeremy Lott
The Values Divide: American Politics and Culture in Transition by John Kenneth White (Chatham, 270 pp., $22.95). Democratic commentator Paul Begala, author of “It’s Still the Economy, Stupid,” was a sad sight as the election returns came in last November. John Kenneth White had reason to be more sanguine. His own book, “The Values Divide,” correctly predicted that candidates who best articulated voters’ values would win. Indeed, according to White, American elections have always turned on values.
In the aftermath of September 11, White points out, 64 percent of Americans believed the United States is on the right path morally. Most people credited the GOP with this upswing, and sure enough, George Bush’s Republicans took control of Congress last fall.
Earning the privilege of representing Americans’ shared values isn’t simple. White says that though we cherish tolerance, community, self-reliance, individual freedom, and fair play, we differ passionately on how these are defined. Take “community.” This idea might evoke one image for a Democrat from a “blue” enclave, while a Bush supporter confronted with it might picture something quite different. Successful politicians and parties bridge this chasm by emphasizing broad-stroke common values. After September 11 Bush skillfully rallied the electorate behind duty, patriotism, and community, and won back Congress.
But not by much. A key feature of the values divide is the way it cleaves the nation into evenly populated cultural cantons. White describes how these took shape: Libertarian and establishment Republicans yielded ground to liberal Democrats in the Northeast and movement conservatives in the South and Southwest. Dixiecrats either morphed into or were replaced by conservative Republicans.
“The Values Divide” provides a clear, persuasive description of the forces that drive American politics, and a model for forecasting national election results in the near term. Unfortunately, when White launches into longer-term pronouncements, he doesn’t present finished arguments. He fervently hopes that America’s values divide will be repaired by “Generation 9-11,” a cadre of 20-something MTVers united by national tragedy and a commitment to tolerance as an absolute value. But he doesn’t explain how they will close the divide, and his awkward try at generation-branding comes off as a lame attempt at hipness. “Values will continue to matter more than ever before,” he writes, “but it is our politics that remains unable to cope.”
And yet, our politics is coping. The political noise White disdains is the discordant racket of accommodation. Progress may be slow, painful, and ugly, but sometimes that’s what democracy looks like.
–Timothy Ireland
