War and Democracy Paperback – December 1, 2012

by Paul Edward Gottfried (Author)

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War and Democracy presents a selection of essays and reviews by Paul Gottfried written from 1975 to the present. They cover a variety of topics, both historical and contemporary, ranging from Oswald Spengler and the Frankfurt School to the destruction of classical liberalism, the dumbing down of higher education and the increasing dominance of administration in democratic governments. Most crucially, Gottfried sees Western governments as engaged in a messianic fantasy of bringing democracy to the world, an imperialist endeavor that has only brought disaster to all nations concerned, while liberties at home are being gradually curtailed. A recurring theme is the transformation of the modern West, and how the meanings behind the ideas and concepts which helped to build our civilization have been altered to create a new type of society that bears a connection with that of our forefathers in name only. He points out that the history we are taught and the "Right" that we know today have become signifiers for a very different reality that is in many ways opposed to what they stood for previously. Gottfried remains tenacious in his defense of the original meaning and purpose behind the conservative movement, which favors organic social growth as opposed to imposition through force and an expanding bureaucracy. "The notion that all countries must be brought - willingly or kicking and screaming - into the democratic fold is an invitation to belligerence. The notion that only democracies such as ours can be peaceful is what Edmund Burke called an 'armed doctrine.' ... It is simply ridiculous to treat the pursuit of peace based on world democratic conversion as a peaceful enterprise. This is a barely disguised adaptation of the Communist goal of bringing about world harmony through worldwide socialist revolution." Paul Gottfried (b. 1941) has been one of America's leading intellectual historians and paleoconservative thinkers for over 40 years, and is the author of many books, including the landmark Conservatism in America (2007). A critic of the neoconservative movement, he has warned against the growing lack of distinctions between the Democratic and Republican parties and the rise of the managerial state. He has been acquainted with many of the leading American political figures of recent decades, including Richard Nixon and Patrick Buchanan. He is Professor Emeritus of Humanities at Elizabethtown College and a Guggenheim recipient.

Print length

170 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Arktos Media Ltd
Publication date

December 1, 2012
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.39 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

1907166807
ISBN-13

978-1907166808
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Paul Edward Gottfried
19
Paperback
$35.00
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Arktos Media Ltd (December 1, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 170 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1907166807
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1907166808
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.39 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,160,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,556 in Democracy (Books)
- #3,813 in Political Conservatism & Liberalism
- #5,665 in Political Philosophy (Books)

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Joey Hirsch

Original Paleo

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 27, 2013

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Let me preface this review by saying that I disagree with Gottfried on a host of issues too numerous to list here. But Gottfried is a deep, serious thinker whose unmasking of the neocons (along with their eery alliance with such "liberals" as Obama and Hillary Clinton) is so razor-sharp that more mainstream intellectuals have had no choice but to ignore Gottfried and banish him to the political wilderness. I certainly don't think his list of enemies, ranging from Bill Kristol to the Fox News pundits, would have the temerity to publicly debate the man.

The work is scholarly, without being dry, and it is utterly readable. Gottfried shows bravery in dealing with race, feminism, Israel, immigration, and a host of other subjects. All of this is interleaved with personal reminiscences about his experience in college, as well as a poignant tribute to his father, an FDR-worshiping New Dealer whom Gottfried can't help but still admire, despite his own paleoconservative/libertarian leanings.

Paul Gottfried's command of history (especially German history) is breathtaking, and his ability to challenge the status of revered icons, from Lincoln to MLK, will probably keep most libraries from acquiring this one. But for anyone who is interested in reading the works of an intellectual who refuses to be confined to a pat agenda or a think tank, I highly recommend this book.

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Bnmjf

Are you ready for some real conservatism?

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 5, 2013

"It was only when I noticed how easily the neoconservatives took over that movement and imposed on it what were essentially leftist revolutionary ideas that it became apparent how little there was to co-opt" (page 10).

To be honest I stopped reading so-called conservative books many years ago, for I could find nothing there of the spirit of winning and aggressive mentality, but merely grumbling about defeats and endless retreat. A retreat that usually ends up in the camp of their would-be enemies, but today normally also includes complete prostration before those that directly oppose them. The knowledge of Carl Schmitt and his enemy/friend distinction is completely unknown today in the would-be 'conservative' camp: The Concept of the Political: Expanded Edition . Just look at this quote from the supposed conservative candidate for the presidential election of last year in the US of A: "[O]ur "conservative" presidential candidate John McCain apologizing last spring in Memphis for having not supported the King public holiday soon enough. McCain characterized this failure as "the single biggest mistake in my political life"" (page 123). Let this statement sink in a bit before you read further. The White CONSERVATIVE (officially, at least) presidential candidate in the most powerful nation on Earth, considers not having made a Black communist that made huge social upheavals from the would-be opposite political camp due to his actions and ideas, a figure worthy of a national holiday, his biggest POLITICAL mistake! If this isn't a sign of the enormously leftward turn that mainstream politics has taken since 1945 and 1965, I don't know what is: it is really mind-blowing if you think about it. Is there, then, any conservatives out there worthy of the name? For years I had given up on this movement and moved on to fresher and more forward-looking milieus, as described in Against Democracy and Equality: The European New Right & New Culture, New Right: Anti-Liberalism in Postmodern Europe . There, I found a home, but, considering that professor Gottfried has written the foreword in the first book linked to, I reckoned he was an interesting enough guy to warrant a purchase of the book. As it turned out, I was correct. The book is a very interesting collection of reviews, articles, polemics, memoirs and other writings that professor Gottfried, this 70 year plus North-American paleoconservative Jew, has written from 1975 and up to our own days.

Although the book is necessarily corrected somewhat (I'm sure Gottfried would agree, to be honest) by must-read The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements , the book is a fist to the face of the neoconservatives and a scathing review of the moral and political bankruptcy of his co-ethnics that today have taken the lead of the 'conservative movement'. Professor Gottfried shows the reader that there is indeed very much in common between the idealist Left and the idealist Right, which might explain why the liberal media and various other suspects are so ever-vigilant about blotting out the idealist Right from the annals of history. Gottfried goes from subject to subject skilfully, often with a tender touch, as in the moving memoirs of his father in the chapter 'A Man in Full', which, despite his difficult sides, seems to have been quite the man, and left his inheritance in quite capable hands through his son: professor Gottfried. Gottfried is quite the brave man, he even dares to mention the elephant in the room, as for example with the firing of Joe Sobran back in the day: "Joe retorted that if his targets were as weak and vulnerable as they claimed, then he would not have had to fear for his job and his future" (page 151). Very true and also quite hilarious, if it weren't so scary and sad. Ah well, kudos to the author for his front attack upon the golden calves of our age!

All in all, the book is both refreshing, enjoyable to all political camps (I hope and suspect), learned and not to mention very brave. His cultural learning is obviously very deep, and I read the book in one sitting, basically, apart from getting myself the occasional gin & tonic whilst the pages flew by. Five stars for this slim yet valuable tome, and congratulations to professor Gottfried for his first book published via Arktos: more to come, I hope! I will certainly have to get hold of his other books, for this volume left me with a hunger for more of that good old conservatism.

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death metal and black metal

Explains neoconservatism and globalism

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 8, 2013

You may find yourself wondering, "Self, why is it that we're always fighting to bring Democracy to some distant land that seems to not want it?"

Or even you might find yourself asking, "Why is there a huge push to standardize every nation on earth into the same shopping mall and fast food culture?"

The answer is simpler than you think: the conservatism on which we rely to guide our foreign policy has become corrupted with the ideals of the French Revolution, and as a result instead of working toward conservative principles, it works to establish fundamentally liberal ideas using conservative methods.

As Paul Gottfried points out in "War and Democracy," the fall of the Soviet Union (R.I.P.) caused the West to compress its two ideologies. Conservatism absorbed Marxism and soon societies existed which were both consumerist and socialist. Together, these two attributes became the hallmark of the modern liberal democracy as explained by Francis Fukuyama in "The End of History and the Last Man." This was the ultimate evolution of human government.

Gottfried illustrates how this is a complete illusion by pointing out the many problems of democracy and its unending wars. He does so by approaching the topic from the edges, revealing the motivations behind different aspects of our foreign and domestic policy. Most of all, he attacks the fundamentally liberal nature of the changes that have taken over our society.

Composed of multiple essays, the book is a quick read that covers a vast and broad scope. If you want a quick introduction to conservative politics, and why you should be wary of globalism and its endless quest to standardize the world on liberal democracy, "War and Democracy" is a great resource.

10 people found this helpful

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