A compelling thought on why so many Americans support Bush despite his many failures. -- A dedication (fixation) to the neo-conservatism ideology.

It's the ideology, stupid

Charles Richardson
November 2, 2004
The Macon Telegraph

Excerpts:

It has taken an entire election season for me to figure out why some voters will support President George W. Bush when they go to the polls today.

Almost daily another example of administration ineptness is revealed, yet the race is tighter than two pieces of welded steel. At least half of the voting population, if you believe pollsters, wants to return Bush to the Oval Office for a second term. Has the American public gone nuts? And if not, why are they so accepting -- and forgiving -- of the obvious blunders this administration has made?

I've come to the simple conclusion: It's not about Bush. This election -- more than any other I've witnessed -- is about ideology.

Ideology, according to the dictionary, is a "collection of ideas."

Political ideology, defined by the dictionary is, "a set of ideas and principles that explain how the society should work, and offer the blueprint for a certain social order."

Communism, fascism, capitalism, nationalism, Nazism, conservatism, liberalism and socialism are all political ideologies.

Bush represents the type of social order some people believe in. It's almost religious in nature.

When Bush described himself in 2000, as a "compassionate conservative," he was describing an ideology that was only loosely defined. But neo-conservatism is well defined, and its principles and beliefs have guided this administration into war.

Neo-conservatism has also defined domestic policies from the Patriot Act, which neocons point to as a tool to protect our liberty -- to the over-the-top spending (not including the war) which has exploded the fiscal conservatism myth held by many Republicans.

In order to advance the neocon ideology, those who believe in it must keep Bush in power. If he goes away, so do all the other neocons in high government positions, and the agenda dies.

It is this ideological belief which explains, at least to me, why, with all of the mistakes and missteps of this administration, people can continue to support Bush. At its root, this election is about a clash of cultures from within and without, based on fear, religion and race.

In our war on terror, we are fighting another ideology, one based on extreme Islam. We are willing to pull out all of the stops, including doing things that are opposite our ideals, to protect ourselves.

Unfortunately, with ideology as the driving force, it became possible to ignore all warning signs -- and history. Ideology led us to pre-emptively attack another country and divert our resources from the real terrorism target.

Ideology fueled our arrogance and sidestepped our common sense.

So what happens when the most powerful nation on Earth loses its ideals to a pre-emptive, neo-conservative ideology? Danger . . . .

Perle and David Frum, a former special assistant to President Bush, outlined in their book, "An End to Evil," what may be the next step in the neocon agenda. They recommend regime change in Syria, blockading North Korea and introducing national identity cards.

What makes all of this so putrid is that we are doing this in the name of an ideology which is also our supreme ideal: Freedom.