Crazed Converts: Bush and Giuliani

Half a century after a book inspired President Eisenhower to warn about political fanatics, Americans have one in the White House and another who would get there by exploiting the hatred and fears described by Eric Hoffer back then.

The life paths of George W. Bush and now Rudy Giuliani fit Hoffer's description of how "The True Believer" converts personal failure to political success: "Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. Thus people haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance."

The disastrous consequences of Bush's midlife crisis are now clear, but the effects of Giuliani's conversion are just coming to light. On September 11, 2001, a lackadaisical lame-duck mayor with no political prospects and two failed marriages was transformed into a money-making preacher and then the zealous leader of a crusade against Islamofascism.

In today's New York Times, Paul Krugman cites the Republican front runner's dedication to spreading what Franklin Roosevelt called “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror” inspired by those described by Frank Rich as "the mad neocon bombers shaping his apocalyptic policy toward Iran" after giving Bush an outlet for his new-found religious zeal in attacking Iraq.

For a time, Giuliani seemed merely cynical in courting Republican extremists who find his social values distasteful, but more and more, the alarming truth seems to be that he may really believe what he is saying about a holy war.

As he surrounds himself with more and more Podhoretzes and Kristols, the future Republican nominee may want to ponder the words of Hoffer, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan: "The rule seems to be that those who find no difficulty in deceiving themselves are easily deceived by others. They are easily persuaded and led."

The rest of us will have to take comfort in another Hoffer observation: “It is cheering to see that the rats are still around--the ship is not sinking.”

Eisenhower to Petraeus

Fifty five years ago, an American general who had won his war and was running for President, had some advice that Gen. David Petraeus and his Commander-in-Chief should take to heart today. “Fanaticism,” Eisenhower said, quoting the philosopher George Santayana, “consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.”

After election, Eisenhower gave his Cabinet members copies of “The True Believer” by Eric Hoffer, then a best-seller.

“We have perhaps a natural fear of ends,” Hoffer wrote. “We would rather be always on the way than arrive. Given the means, we hang on to them and often forget the ends.”

Before Hoffer died, Ronald Reagan gave him the Medal of Freedom. Today’s Republicans and those who serve them may want to take another look at what their party icons of the past century admired so much.