The Four Sons: Foreign Policy Edition
As we approach the Passover season, this piece from New Republic Editor Peter Beinart is well worth a read. We often spend lots of time at our Passover Seders talking about the Four Sons--The wise, the wicked, the simple and the one who does not know how to ask. The point of the exercise, in many seders, is to develop typologies of learning, to emphasize that one size does not fit all.
Now why does a foreign policy piece in TNR remind me of the Seder? Beinart paraphrases Walter Russell Mead and brings the following typology:
"Wilsonians believe America must make the world safe for liberty. Hamiltonians believe America must make the world safe for commerce. Jeffersonians fear that both of these crusades threaten liberty at home. And Jacksonians believe in destroying America's enemies and defending America's sovereignty, no matter what the rest of the world thinks. "
In the aftermath of 9/11, nationalism (Jacksonianism here) was rampant. But, "when it turned out Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, the Jacksonian rationale for war collapsed. The Hamiltonian one--that we needed Iraq's oil because we could no longer rely on a decaying Saudi Arabia--dared not speak its name. So Bush drifted in an increasingly Wilsonian direction. By 2005, freeing the Middle East had become his central rhetorical thrust. And, ever since, Bush's foreign policy has had three characteristics: Wilsonian (the crusade for democracy), Hamiltonian (securing oil), and Jacksonian (doing "whatever it takes" to defeat the terrorists, civil liberties and international opinion be damned). "
Which brings us to the Dubai ports deal that fell apart for good this morning: "for Jacksonians, it is never worth sacrificing concrete U.S. interests to make foreigners feel better. A couple of years ago, that was the dominant sentiment in Bush foreign policy. Today, however, with Cheney's influence waning, Condoleezza Rice trying to mend fences with U.S. allies, and Bush obsessed with spreading freedom, the administration's Wilsonianism seems to be eclipsing its Jacksonianism.
"Considering that Jacksonianism has been Bush's political trump card since September 11, this is a big change. And it has created exactly the opening that Mead envisioned at the end of his book: for Jacksonians to make common cause with Jeffersonians and turn the foreign policy coalition of the '90s on its head."
The appeal to the Four Sons is obviously a cheap one. But there are some deeper questions of Passover that all this raises, for Passover is the holiday of Jewish nationalism, the day on which we focus on indoctrinating our national story to ourselves and the next generation. Foreigners are not allowed to eat of the Passover sacrifice, according to Exodus. So Passover is our most particularistic holiday.
And yet, the messages of Passover--liberation, freedom, human rights--have become the bedrock of liberalism and democracy. How then is that story a Jewish story? Does particularlism necessitate exclusivity? How do we maintain our specialness as Jews while integrating ourselves into the world? These questions are very much alive and well (Zionism is still in need of defense), and they percolate here in the background.
Now why does a foreign policy piece in TNR remind me of the Seder? Beinart paraphrases Walter Russell Mead and brings the following typology:
"Wilsonians believe America must make the world safe for liberty. Hamiltonians believe America must make the world safe for commerce. Jeffersonians fear that both of these crusades threaten liberty at home. And Jacksonians believe in destroying America's enemies and defending America's sovereignty, no matter what the rest of the world thinks. "
In the aftermath of 9/11, nationalism (Jacksonianism here) was rampant. But, "when it turned out Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, the Jacksonian rationale for war collapsed. The Hamiltonian one--that we needed Iraq's oil because we could no longer rely on a decaying Saudi Arabia--dared not speak its name. So Bush drifted in an increasingly Wilsonian direction. By 2005, freeing the Middle East had become his central rhetorical thrust. And, ever since, Bush's foreign policy has had three characteristics: Wilsonian (the crusade for democracy), Hamiltonian (securing oil), and Jacksonian (doing "whatever it takes" to defeat the terrorists, civil liberties and international opinion be damned). "
Which brings us to the Dubai ports deal that fell apart for good this morning: "for Jacksonians, it is never worth sacrificing concrete U.S. interests to make foreigners feel better. A couple of years ago, that was the dominant sentiment in Bush foreign policy. Today, however, with Cheney's influence waning, Condoleezza Rice trying to mend fences with U.S. allies, and Bush obsessed with spreading freedom, the administration's Wilsonianism seems to be eclipsing its Jacksonianism.
"Considering that Jacksonianism has been Bush's political trump card since September 11, this is a big change. And it has created exactly the opening that Mead envisioned at the end of his book: for Jacksonians to make common cause with Jeffersonians and turn the foreign policy coalition of the '90s on its head."
The appeal to the Four Sons is obviously a cheap one. But there are some deeper questions of Passover that all this raises, for Passover is the holiday of Jewish nationalism, the day on which we focus on indoctrinating our national story to ourselves and the next generation. Foreigners are not allowed to eat of the Passover sacrifice, according to Exodus. So Passover is our most particularistic holiday.
And yet, the messages of Passover--liberation, freedom, human rights--have become the bedrock of liberalism and democracy. How then is that story a Jewish story? Does particularlism necessitate exclusivity? How do we maintain our specialness as Jews while integrating ourselves into the world? These questions are very much alive and well (Zionism is still in need of defense), and they percolate here in the background.
posted by Rabbi Josh Feigelson | 9:41 AM
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