Fantasy Ideology

Any world view that relies on fantasy is dangerous. When the hard-right rails against gay marriage and argues that the government should control a woman's personal decisions, they are on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of broad public opinion, and the wrong side of the generational divide. Theirs is a fantasy ideology—a position that gives them the illusion of establishing the moral high ground, but accomplishes nothing. When the hard left embraces class warfare, denigrates capitalism, views 'oppression' very selectively, and  believes that big government is an effective mechanism for good, they become a destructive force that tears at the fabric of what makes the American experiment exceptional. Theirs is also a fantasy ideology.

Both the hard right and the far left view the world through a lens that distorts (to use the tag line of this blog). Nothing exemplifies the distortion more than the left-wing politics of the Obama administration.

Steve Hayes comments on this with respect to events over Obama's presidency:

For five years, the Obama administration has chosen to see the world as they wish it to be, not as it is. In this fantasy world, the attack in Fort Hood is “workplace violence.” The Christmas Day bomber is an “isolated extremist.” The attempted bombing in Times Square is a “one-off” attack. The attacks in Benghazi are a “spontaneous” reaction to a YouTube video. Al Qaeda is on the run. Bashar al-Assad is a “reformer.” The Iranian regime can be sweet-talked out of its nuclear weapons program. And Vladimir Putin is a new, post-Cold War Russian leader.

In the real world, it was a pen pal of the late jihadist Anwar al-Awlaki who opened fire on soldiers at Fort Hood. The Christmas bomber was dispatched from Yemen, where he was instructed by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The Times Square bomber was trained and financed by the Pakistani Taliban. Benghazi was a deliberate attack launched by well-known terrorist groups. Al Qaeda is amassing territory and increasing its profile. Assad is a brutal dictator, responsible for the deaths of more than 100,000 Syrians. The Iranian regime is firmly entrenched as the world’s foremost state sponsor of terror and remains determined to lead a nuclear state. And in Russia we face a Cold War throwback willing to use force to expand Russian influence.

And Vladimir Putin, it turns out, is who we thought he was. Unfortunately, so is Barack Obama.

Over the years I've written many times about the seeming inability of the Obama administration to see the world as it is, not as they wish it to be. We live in a world where hard men and women want to force their will on others. They cannot be stopped by talking or by diplomacy, they cannot be trusted to keep their word or honor their commitments, they cannot be cajoled into taking a softer stance, and they view negotiation and/or indecision as weakness. We can wish that these hard men and women would act differently, that "nice" would change their worldview, but that wish is a fantasy.