{"id":21581,"date":"2025-05-27T09:01:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T13:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=21581"},"modified":"2025-05-27T09:01:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T13:01:20","slug":"the-deadly-perils-of-predatory-idealism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/27\/the-deadly-perils-of-predatory-idealism\/","title":{"rendered":"The Deadly Perils of Predatory Idealism"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Image by D\u017eoko Stach from Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

The Deadly Perils of Predatory Idealism<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n
by James Bovard<\/div>\n
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How would people react if, on the third time their broken-down car was towed to the same repair shop for the same problem, the swaggering mechanic told them: \u201cSure \u2014 the engine doesn\u2019t work today but \u2014 follow me on this \u2014 next year, you will drive from coast to coast, and get 90 miles to the gallon!\u201d<\/div>\n
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Yet if a politician promises to fix the world, people applaud and follow him regardless of previous crashes.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Woodrow Wilson revolutionized the political exploitation of idealism. In his 1917 speech to Congress calling for war against Germany, Wilson proclaimed that \u201cthe world must be made safe for democracy.\u201d He described the U.S. government as \u201cone of the champions of the rights of mankind\u201d and stated the goal of the war was to \u201cbring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Wilson endlessly invoked the ideal of liberty as he seized nearly absolute power over Americans<\/strong>, including the power to conscript millions of Americans to fight wherever he chose (including Siberia) and to commandeer entire industries.<\/div>\n
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While Wilson is today hailed as a visionary, in his own time, he became loathed as a demagogue. The more people embraced the ideals he proclaimed, the easier it became to defraud them. Americans\u2019 idealism was fanned by ruthless censorship of any criticism of the government\u2019s war effort.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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The 1919 Paris peace talks shredded Wilson\u2019s pretensions and made a mockery of the cause for which he sent more than a hundred thousand Americans to their death. One of Wilson\u2019s top aides, Henry White, later commented: \u201cWe had such high hopes of this adventure; we believed God called us and now we are doing hell\u2019s dirtiest work.\u201d Historian Thomas Fleming, the author of The Illusion of Victory<\/em>, noted, \u201cThe British and French exploited the war to forcibly expand their empires and place millions more people under their thumbs.\u201d Fleming concluded that one lesson of World War I is that \u201cidealism is not synonymous with sainthood or virtue. It only sounds that way.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The 1920 presidential election was a referendum on Wilson-style idealism. As H. L. Mencken wrote on the eve of the vote, Americans were tired \u201cof a steady diet of white protestations and black acts; they are weary of hearing highfalutin and meaningless words; they sicken of an idealism that is oblique, confusing, dishonest, and ferocious.\u201d<\/strong> Mencken explained why a typical voter would support Warren Harding: \u201cTired to death of intellectual charlatanry, he turns despairingly to honesty imbecility.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Herbert Hoover\u2019s subjugation idealism<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Herbert Hoover, who campaigned as the Mastermind of the Age when he was elected president in 1928, invoked idealism to perpetuate subjugating foreigners to U.S. rule. When Congress enacted a bill to provide for the independence of the Philippine Islands, Hoover vetoed it in early 1933 because \u201cWe have a responsibility to the world … to develop and perfect freedom for these people.\u201d Hoover rejected Congress\u2019s bill because \u201cit does not fulfill the idealism with which this task in human liberation was undertaken.\u201d As long as the United States had not given Filipinos \u201cperfect freedom,\u201d it was entitled to keep them under its thumb. Hoover\u2019s assertion that idealism spurred the U.S. policy is difficult to reconcile with the killings of scores of thousands of Filipinos who resisted the U.S. takeover of their islands in the early 1900s. Hoover\u2019s veto ensured that the United States remained mired in the Philippines until the Bataan death march and beyond.<\/div>\n
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FDR\u2019s practical idealism<\/strong><\/div>\n
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President Franklin Roosevelt was hailed as an idealist because he urged people to have faith in government to solve the nation\u2019s problems. FDR assured the Young Democratic Clubs of America in 1940 that \u201cyou need practical idealism to make the present machinery function better.\u201d \u201cPractical idealism\u201d signified FDR\u2019s boundless faith in his own economic manipulations, such as setting the price of gold on a whim, reversing policies at the flip of a coin, and whipsawing anyone who counted on his promises. During World War II, FDR idealized American allies, touting the Soviet Union as one of the \u201cfreedom-loving nations.\u201d Roosevelt\u2019s glorification of the Soviets helped beget the infamous Yalta agreement that effectively consigned 100 million plus Germans, Czechs, Poles, and Hungarians to serfdom under Stalin. By deluding Americans, FDR\u2019s idealism set the stage for a backlash that propelled the Cold War.<\/div>\n
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JFK\u2019s service idealism<\/strong><\/div>\n
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John F. Kennedy exploited idealistic appeals to capture the presidency in 1960. JFK talked as if the U.S. government could practically solve all problems, from ending tyranny (intervening everywhere against Communism) to ending worldwide poverty (with Peace Corps volunteers magically lifting foreign nations simply by their mere presence). Kennedy\u2019s glorification of public service was simply an updating of the 1920s cult of service. But since he appealed for people to join the government instead of the Kiwanis, he was considered a visionary.<\/div>\n
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LBJ\u2019s Vietnam idealism<\/strong><\/div>\n
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In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed, \u201cFor 188 years, the strongest fiber of America has been that thread of idealism which weaves through all our effort and all our aspiration.\u201d Three years later, amidst rising antiwar protests, LBJ warned, \u201cIdealism without commitment is like a bright light burning in a vacuum. Commitment without idealism can easily become frenzied and destructive.\u201d At a 1968 presidential prayer breakfast, Johnson combined God and idealism to try to redeem his biggest muddle: \u201cBelief in a divine providence is … a compelling challenge to men to attain the ideals of liberty, justice, peace, and compassion. It is often \u2014 as it is today in Vietnam \u2014 a call for very great sacrifice.\u201d Johnson\u2019s comment came the day after the start of the Viet Cong\u2019s Tet Offensive, which stunned Americans who had swallowed LBJ\u2019s boasting about how the enemy was nearly vanquished.<\/div>\n
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Nixon\u2019s corrupt idealism<\/strong><\/div>\n
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The backlash from LBJ\u2019s \u201ccredibility gap\u201d helped elect Richard Nixon, a politician renowned for dirty pool since his first red-baiting congressional victory in 1946. After his defeat in the 1960 presidential race, Nixon rebuilt his political fortunes as a born-again idealist. Bromides permeated his first presidential term: \u201cIdealism without pragmatism is impotent…. The key to effective leadership is pragmatic idealism.\u201d Alternatively, \u201cIdealism without realism is impotent. Realism without idealism is immoral.\u201d Nixon declared in 1971 at the University of Nebraska: \u201cI believe one of America\u2019s most priceless assets is the idealism which motivates the young people of America.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Nixon\u2019s invocations on idealism did not dissuade him from lying and lawbreaking across the board. Nor did gushing over youthful idealism deter him from perpetuating the Vietnam War and sending 20,000 potential American idealists to their deaths.<\/div>\n
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Reagan\u2019s hypocritical idealism<\/strong><\/div>\n
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In 1981, President Ronald Reagan told the Conservative Political Action Committee: \u201cThere is, in America, a greatness and a tremendous heritage of idealism which is a reservoir of strength and goodness. It is ours if we will but tap it.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Reagan was deified by conservatives for preaching that \u201cgovernment is the problem, not the solution.\u201d The Reagan presidency illustrates how idealizing a politician allows him to do as he pleases. The trust and support Reagan garnered enabled him to dictate a national drinking age (18), rev up the drug war, create new handouts for business and farmers, and bankroll guerrilla conflicts and repression abroad. But because Reagan constantly praised liberty, his power grabs were asterisks instead of outrages.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Clinton\u2019s bombing idealism<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Bill Clinton captured the presidency in 1992 in part thanks to idealistic-sounding\u00a0 appeals for reviving faith in government. In his first term, his idealism was personified by AmeriCorps \u2014 the paid \u201cvolunteer\u201d program that provided cheering squads when Clinton arrived at airport tarmacs around the nation. Throughout his second term, Clinton continually assured audiences: \u201cI\u2019m more idealistic today than I was the day that I took the Oath of Office\u201d \u2014 as if his idealism was proof of his virtue. Clinton portrayed the\u00a0 U.S. bombing of Serbia in 1999 as American idealism at its best: \u201cBecause we believe every human being has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness … we are proud to stand with our Allies in defense of these ideals in Kosovo.\u201d But the U.S. bombing merely reversed the roles, permitting the Kosovo Liberation Army to terrorize Serb civilians as the Serb Army had previously abused ethnic Albanians.<\/div>\n
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Bush\u2019s military idealism<\/strong><\/div>\n
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President George W. Bush portrayed his invasion of Iraq as American idealism at its best. In his May 1, 2003, \u201cMission Accomplished\u201d speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, Bush hailed \u201cthe character of our military through history\u201d for showing \u201cthe decency and idealism that turned enemies into allies.\u201d Speaking three weeks later at a Republican fundraiser, he bragged, \u201cThe world has seen the strength and the idealism of the United States military.\u201d Washington Post <\/em>columnist David Ignatius declared in late 2003 that \u201cthis may be the most idealistic war fought in modern times.\u201d Bush\u2019s ideals did nothing to resurrect the American soldiers or Iraqi civilians killed after his perpetual brazen false claims paved the way to the U.S. attack on Iraq.<\/div>\n
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Obama\u2019s assassination idealism<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Barack Obama probably did more damage to idealism than any president since Woodrow Wilson. In his first inaugural address, Obama declared that America\u2019s \u201cideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience sake.\u201d But one of Obama\u2019s most shocking legacies was his claim of a prerogative to kill U.S. citizens labeled as terrorist suspects without trial, without notice, and without any chance for the marked individuals to legally object. Obama\u2019s lawyers even refused to disclose the standards used for designating Americans for death. Drone strikes increased tenfold under Obama, and he personally chose who would be killed at weekly \u201cTerror Tuesday\u201d White House meetings that featured PowerPoint parades of potential targets.<\/div>\n
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In 2011, Obama draped his decision to bomb Libya by invoking \u201cdemocratic values,\u201d and the \u201cideals\u201d that he asserted were, he said, \u201cthe true measure of American leadership.\u201d Obama was so convinced of the righteousness of targeting dictator Muammar Qadaffi that his appointees signaled that federal law (such as the War Powers Act) could not constrain his salvation mission.\u00a0 At that point, the terrorist groups fighting Qaddafi were already slaughtering civilians.\u00a0 In the chaos that subsequently engulfed Libya, ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed during an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. When their corpses arrived back in the U.S., Obama hailed the victims for embodying \u201cthe courage, the hope, and yes, the idealism, that fundamental American belief that we can leave this world a little better than before.\u201d Obama\u2019s soothing rhetoric failed to deter the proliferation of slave markets where black migrants were openly sold in Libya.<\/div>\n
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Idealism and tyranny<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Nowadays, idealism is often positive thinking about growing servitude<\/strong>. Idealism encourages citizens to view politics as a faith-based activity, transforming politicians from hucksters to saviors. The issue is not what government did in the past \u2014 the issue is how we must do better in the future. Politicians\u2019 pious piffle is supposed to radically reduce the risk of subsequent perfidy.<\/div>\n
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Idealistic appeals permit politicians to stack the deck in listeners\u2019 minds. To believe an idealistic speech is to \u201cdo good\u201d \u2014 akin to displaying a \u201cSupport our Troops\u201d decal on one\u2019s automobile. Idealism is the most dangerous species of political lie.<\/strong> The idealistic draping confers an obligation to believe, or at least to defer. The moral bonus a politician receives for invoking ideals usually exceeds any demerits for lying. Thus, lying about ideals is a guaranteed win for politicians.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Self-government cannot survive people idealizing their rulers. Telling citizens to glorify contemporary politicians is like urging battered wives to idealize their husbands. Why should we expect political idealism to be more honest than politics? It is time to cease being idealistic about idealism.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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James Bovard is a policy advisor to The Future of Freedom Foundation and is the author of the ebook <\/em>Freedom Frauds: Hard Lessons in American Liberty<\/a>, published by FFF, his new book,<\/em> Last Rights: The Death of American Liberty, and nine other books.<\/em><\/div>\n
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——————————-<\/div>\n
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NEXT MONTH:
\n\u201cThe Good Intentions License for Tyranny\u201d<\/em>
\n<\/em>by James Bovard<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Deadly Perils of Predatory Idealism by James Bovard How would people react if, on the third time their broken-down car was towed to the same repair shop for the same problem, the swaggering mechanic told them: \u201cSure \u2014 the engine doesn\u2019t work today but \u2014 follow me on this \u2014 next year, you will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[887,426,504,137,2769,505,488,401,473,245,4580,927,4581,288,1044],"class_list":["post-21581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-barack-obama","tag-bill-clinton","tag-franklin-roosevelt","tag-george-w-bush","tag-herbert-hoover","tag-idealism","tag-john-f-kennedy","tag-libya","tag-lyndon-johnson","tag-nixon","tag-practical-idealism","tag-richard-nixon","tag-ronald-regan","tag-vietnam-war","tag-wilson"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Deadly Perils of Predatory Idealism - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is the death count of American idealism since the reign of Woodrow Wilson?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/27\/the-deadly-perils-of-predatory-idealism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Deadly Perils of Predatory Idealism - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is the death count of American idealism since the reign of Woodrow Wilson?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/27\/the-deadly-perils-of-predatory-idealism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-27T13:01:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/insulation-5007566_1280.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jimbovard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/27\\\/the-deadly-perils-of-predatory-idealism\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/27\\\/the-deadly-perils-of-predatory-idealism\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"The Deadly Perils of Predatory Idealism\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-27T13:01:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/27\\\/the-deadly-perils-of-predatory-idealism\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2046,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/27\\\/the-deadly-perils-of-predatory-idealism\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/insulation-5007566_1280.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"barack obama\",\"Bill Clinton\",\"Franklin Roosevelt\",\"George W. 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The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. 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The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \"the roving inspector general of the modern state\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \"one-man truth squad.\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. 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