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Entry: William Hawkins, Loser Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/william_hawkins_loser#5928 Post contents: What is really interesting is that Mr. Hawkins says virtually NOTHING about the arguments Sale and Raimondo made. It is the typical Horowitzian mode of attack via guilt by association and borderline psychotic theories (sometimes implied, sometimes overt) about a monolothic Marxist fifth column that hasn’t existed in this country in a meaningful way for years. That said, I think his nonsensical rant is a great example of why the term “conservative” is virtually meaningless. Where I come from conservatism is at its very root about a respect for tradition, decentralized government, localism, prudence as a guiding principle, et. While Kirkpatrick Sale is certainly a leftist, he also meets all of the above criteria..given the rantings of Hawkins there is little evidence that the same can be said for him. The allegedly “left-libertarian” Raimondo also stacks up pretty favorably to Hawkins. One of the most telling parts of Hawkins screed is the implication that Sale is engaging in conspiracy mongering by pointing to the development of the Pentagon system and military state economic planning as a major negative turning point in the “development” of the American Republic. That this is a leftist talking point now may be true. But it was the very man Hawkins cites as the General responsible for freeing Western Europe, Dwight Eisenhower, who is most often quoted by leftists when making this argument! Furthermore it is hard to see how an argument against the mass centralization of the economy in a quasi-socialist, unaccountable, beuracratic, federal empire building, machine is a position conservatives should regard as the height of treason…unless of course the term means little to nothing at this point. I am sure there are people affiliated with this site and the Rockford Institute who will still feel some kinship toward Hawkins and there is no shame in that. Loyaliy is a virtue. But after reading that piece, written in the typical Frontpage propaganda factory style, I have to question how serious an intellectual he could possibly be. P.S. Also, Sale recently wrote a very favorable and admiring review Mark Leier’s biography of the Anarchist Mikhail Bakunin for The American Conservative magazine. As anyone who has studied the history of the Left at all knows, Bakunin was Marxs primary rival for years and the two men had widely divergent views on economics, governance, pragmatic political arrangments, revolution, et. While I do not know Sale personally, and cannot speak for him, I find it quite unlikely that an admirer of Bakunin, fully aware of the failings of Marx from a LEFT perspective, would in fact qualify himself as a Marxist. Moreso, I fail to see how a decentralist, primitivist of Sales ilk could be reasonably seen as inspired in any meaningful way by the work of Marx. Sent at: 2008 07 24