How Bush is Like Stalin and Mao

by Mary

Juan Cole has a post talking about how the lies and falsehoods used by Bush and the radical Republicans are seriously jeopardizing our ability to find an good solution to the worsening problems in Iraq.

If nearly half the country cannot even see that things are going badly wrong in Iraq, one despairs that anyone will work up the political will to try to fix the problems before it is too late.

The complete and total desire to block out reality and to accept fantasy is, in my opinion, the greatest danger that the Bush administration poses for the world. And it is this characteristic that reminds me of the obstancy of the great totalitarian leaders as they blindly followed their "gut" and as they made some awful decisions based their faulty beliefs.

Both Stalin and Mao were disciples of Lyshenko and both used Lyshenkoism to dictate their agricultural policies which resulted in two of the great famines in the 20th century. They had no doubt they were right and they fiercely punished people who would question their decisions. No matter that the "science" of Lyshenkoism was totally bogus. And they never bothered to check to see if their beliefs were grounded in reality. Nevertheless, they were both strong and bold leaders. Bold, strong and wrong.

For Bush, you don't have to believe scientific data if it disagrees with your dogma. Of course, there is no such thing as global warming and Americans would rather have an energy policy that is dirty, wasteful and obsolete. And you can believe that the Iraqis are happy to have the Americans running the show, and like rewarding Bush's friends with a little profit.

It is frightening that George W. Bush has the same incapability of seeing reality and as with Stalin and Mao is more interested in being right than getting it right. And it is doubly frightening that so many people would rather follow someone who is so divorced from reality.