Romney: "Republicans believe in good and evil".

[Хahar 🤔]

Not sure which board this should be in. Feel free to move it, Eric.

When discussing the current American interventionism in his RNC speech, Mitt Romney concluded with the line "Republicans believe in good and evil." That made something very clear to me which I hadn't understood before: the source of the neocon ideals. They all rest on a romanticized belief in absolute good and evil, in black and white, when in reality there is no such thing, only various shades of gray in between.

[Torie]

When Mitt was spewing all of his junk. I was laughing and wincing at the same time. I have trouble believing that Mitt himself believes such cant. Yes, there is true evil, but the suggestion that Republicans are particularly sensitive to it vis a vis those who are not, is well, at one ludicrous and hubristic.

Frankly, I loathed his speech from beginning to end.

[Dan the Roman]

When Mitt was spewing all of his junk. I was laughing and wincing at the same time. I have trouble believing that Mitt himself believes such cant. Yes, there is true evil, but the suggestion that Republicans are particularly sensitive to it vis a vis those who are not, is well, at one ludicrous and hubristic.

Frankly, I loathed his speech from beginning to end.

Putting Romney and moral absolutes in the same sentence is almost comical. Though I know many people who believe that he is evil.

[Хahar 🤔]

When Mitt was spewing all of his junk. I was laughing and wincing at the same time. I have trouble believing that Mitt himself believes such cant. Yes, there is true evil, but the suggestion that Republicans are particularly sensitive to it vis a vis those who are not, is well, at one ludicrous and hubristic.

Frankly, I loathed his speech from beginning to end.

He may not believe it, but I think that a lot of the administration people do (hence the decision to invade).

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Though I know many people who believe that he is evil.

I do, for one.

[angus]

This I agree with. 

I'm not good at putting things succinctly, but I'd have to say that it may very well be that one-liner I have been groping for, internally, for some time.  As nationalistic as I am, I never felt quite at home at the Republican Caucus--and I did try.  (Not that I ever felt entirely at home among Democrats when I was a registered Democrat, either, but that's another story.)  I always suspected that my lack of Zoroastrian preconditioning was the most significant factor in the aforementioned alienation, although I never really explained it to myself as such.

Excellent line, by the way.  Well said.

[Daniel Adams]

In some cases, black and white are just the way things are. Nazi Germany, the USSR, and current Islamofascism are all evil, there really is no other way to describe them.

[War on Want]

In some cases, black and white are just the way things are. Nazi Germany, the USSR, and current Islamofascism are all evil, there really is no other way to describe them.

lol Islamofascism. Oh ya Al-Qaeda is totally fascist. You can tell by their belief in a united pan arab state. No wait...

I do agree with you though except with the USSR. I mean really if you think Gorbachev was evil you have something up your ass and need to get it out.

[angus]

In some cases, black and white are just the way things are. Nazi Germany, the USSR, and current Islamofascism are all evil, there really is no other way to describe them.

While hindsight is 20/20, you can generally offer explanations for the political climates at the time.  If it were 1933 and you were a German not knowing that your glorious Fuhrer would go insane and attempt to take over the world, you might just get a serious hard-on for his message of economic prosperity and national pride, and you might just be more than a little pissed off at the French and English for the profound humiliation that your fathers suffered at Versailles.  And if it were 1918 and you hadn't a crystal ball that you could look into and watch "Doctor Zhivago," you might just be a little envious and frustrated at the Romanovs and Rasputin and the indignities that your poor white trash serf family had suffered for centuries.  Maybe enough to be talked into offing the Royal Family and its minions and redistributing its considerable possessions. 

I'm not excusing any of it.  Stalin's campaign of terror.  Hitler's Final Solution.  It's really not excusable.  But I suppose I'm just trying to rationalize.  And rational is the antithesis of passion, don't you think?  But I recognize that rationalization is something that modern Republicans simply don't do.   "We don't do nuance."  And that's cool.  Folks have different ideas, sometimes.  And different values.  And that's cool.  That we recognize that folks have different values is one of those special values that makes America so great.  (There's that nationalistic streak coming out, you see?) 

There's evil in the world, but we create it.  We sustain it.  Evil needn't have any supernatural creator or sustainer.  We make it.  And we can stop it. 

Anyway, I think Romney's sentence was spot on.  It's not an insult against Democrats.  It's not an insult against Republicans.  It's simply a succinct statement of a practical way of thinking.  But it's not the only way of thinking.  And, perhaps, inherent in his statement is an admission that he recognizes that it's not the only way of thinking about things.  After all, if it were, he needn't have mentioned it.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

In some cases, black and white are just the way things are. Nazi Germany, the USSR, and current Islamofascism are all evil, there really is no other way to describe them.

Agreed, although there are always some exceptions.  Gorbachev, for example.

[Daniel Adams]

In some cases, black and white are just the way things are. Nazi Germany, the USSR, and current Islamofascism are all evil, there really is no other way to describe them.

lol Islamofascism. Oh ya Al-Qaeda is totally fascist. You can tell by their belief in a united pan arab state. No wait...

Islamofascists do have a certain nostalgia for the old "Arab Empire" of the Middle Ages. They share with the old European fascists an obsession with a lost "golden age", irrational hatred of alien groups (in this case, Jews), and rhetoric about the degeneracy of society and the arts.

I do agree with you though except with the USSR. I mean really if you think Gorbachev was evil you have something up your ass and need to get it out.

Gorbachev only led the USSR for its last years of existence. Before him, the Soviet government was indeed evil. And even Gorbachev is not as good as he is often portrayed in the West.

[Third Party]

Well, I think that most people believe in "good" and "evil" in some sense. Just not all in the "Biblical" use of the terms, obviously. For example, I think that Neocons with multiple wives, like Mitt Romney, are evil.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I didn't like that part of the speech.  Sure, I think that terrorists are "evil," but that categorization becomes applied to any government that opposes us and makes a complex situation seem very simple.

[Person Man]

Evil is bad.

[Lincoln Republican]

Well, I think that most people believe in "good" and "evil" in some sense. Just not all in the "Biblical" use of the terms, obviously. For example, I think that Neocons with multiple wives, like Mitt Romney, are evil.

You are somewhat of a bigot, almost entirely ignorant, and a complete idiot.

[Third Party]

Well, I think that most people believe in "good" and "evil" in some sense. Just not all in the "Biblical" use of the terms, obviously. For example, I think that Neocons with multiple wives, like Mitt Romney, are evil.

You are somewhat of a bigot, almost entirely ignorant, and a complete idiot.

LOL, and I didn't even mention the plastic hair or magic underwear. Romneyites are very sensitive.

[Lincoln Republican]

Well, I think that most people believe in "good" and "evil" in some sense. Just not all in the "Biblical" use of the terms, obviously. For example, I think that Neocons with multiple wives, like Mitt Romney, are evil.

You are somewhat of a bigot, almost entirely ignorant, and a complete idiot.

LOL, and I didn't even mention the plastic hair or magic underwear. Romneyites are very sensitive.

You are even a bigger twit than I previously thought.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I guess I'm not a Republican then.

[angus]

     I guess I'm not a Republican then.

You shouldn't interpret his statement as a condition for membership.  And I don't think he's claiming that this is the chief defining mark of a Republican.  Remember, the defining characteristic of the GOP is and always has been, since its first national convention in Pittsburgh in 1856, nationalism.  Wrapping oneself up in the flag.  With a hefty dose of deference to the Creator thrown in for good measure.

    Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
    He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
    He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
    His truth is marching on.

Republicans have always wrapped themselves up in the flag, or, more recently, pinned the flags on their lapels as tiny symbols of their nationalism.  Remember when there was a rash of articles in travel magazines about five years ago written by Americans overseas about how to pass for Canadian when you're travelling in South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa?  How did those strike you?  Be honest.  There were generally two types reactions.  Those who'd immediately write in and say, "oh, give me more information about that.  I hate being constantly question about my country's foreign policy."  And those who'd say, "you twit, you're an embarassment to me and to every gringo out there.  why don't you pack your sh**t and move to Canada, or Brussels, or, better yet, Pyongyang, if you hate your country so much."  I have to say that my own regard is more closely described by the latter of the two reactions.  I actually spent most of the fall semester of 2003 working in Amsterdam, so I may have been more sensitive to such stories than the average yankee, but I'm sure you remember them.  In fact, the story of that businessman who lived in Paris during the time just preceeding the US invasion of Iraq, who smoked profusely, and who therefore fit in very well in Parisian restaurants and coffeeshops.  Till someone asked for a light, that is.  "Pardonnez-moi, Monsieur, avez-vous une allumeur?"  "But of course, madamme, here you go."  And he'd break out his Zippo encrusted with an American flag on one side and a bald eagle on the other, strike it and hold it up so that the fire-beggar would be sure to see his proud american Zippo.  Usually they'd take the light and say "merci beaucoup," I gather, but occassionally some would be so offended that they'd refuse the light.  No kidding.  This was an interesting story.  The story never said what US political party that businessman in Paris belonged to.  They didn't have to. 

Still, there's something else besides nationalism.  And that something else has always been there as well.  Ever since Pittsburgh 1856.  And I never quite knew a good, one-line soundbite way to spell it out.  Romney provided that.  I think it was an apt description.

I think Reagan understood this.  I think Lincoln did.  I think they all did.  I think if you don't understand this you'll never be nominated by the party.  You may still be able to support republicans if you don't understand that.  You may go through life as a lifelong republican without ever quite being able to put your finger on it.  But to win that party's nomination you have to be able to exploit that sentiment.  The well-known republicans that the republicans always hold up as examples did this the best.  I think Romney is positioning himself for next time, and I think he's doing a pretty good job.  Of course he has to get past some built-in bigotry to get himself nominated, and that'll be no mean feat, but wrapping himself up in God and The Flag is a good start.  I think that his pointing out the abject Zoroastrian influence in the underlying value system of the party is testament to his keen understanding of body politic.