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The liberal “if” that can never be disproved
On January 19, the day before GW Bush left office, Scott of Powerline issued a stunning refutation of the Bush Democracy Doctrine, which of course he had supported for the previous seven years. But John of Powerline doesn’t seem to agree. On January 31, he was still singing La Busharacha:
The elections [in Iraq] represent a great success for the Iraqi people and one more sign that President Bush’s—or rather, the country’s—effort in Iraq will go down in history as a success. If Iraq’s democracy succeeds and inspires similar progress in other Arab countries, it could be a success of epic proportions. [Italics added.]IF Iraq’s democracy succeeds (and by the way, Freedom House still classifies Iraq as Not Free), and IF that success inspires similar democratization in other Muslim countries, then it COULD be a success of stunning proportions! That’s like: IF the next five-year plan succeeds, and IF the five-year plan after that succeeds, THEN Communism COULD be a success of stunning proportions! Or: IF racial preferences succeed in making blacks’ abilities the same as those of whites, THEN racial preferences COULD be a success of stunning proportions! Or: IF 70 million Third-World immigrants and their children assimilate into America without changing it in significant and undesirable ways, THEN mass Third-World immigration COULD be a success of stunning proportions! Or: IF the inherently impossible happens, THEN the liberal reconstruction of humanity COULD be a success of stunning proportions! What these “If … then” statements, both John’s original and my parodies, have in common is the doublethink by which they treat a highly unlikely future event as though it were already an established fact to be celebrated. The speaker thus has it both ways: he gets to tout the coming New Age in terms that suggest it is virtually a fait accompli (“We’re almost there! Break out the champaign!”), and he gets to cover himself by saying, “Of course, I’m not saying that this is assured, so don’t blame me if this doesn’t pan out.” This was the endemically dishonest way the Bushbots spoke about “victory” in Iraq and the spreading of democracy all through the Bush years, and John of Powerline is doing it still.
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