In his long introductory remarks, which take almost half of his essay, Mr. Brooks can't resist a reprise of his oft repeated arguments on the inherent 'evil' of government i.e. The New Deal/Great Society and their 'entitlements' as destructive visitation, indeed, europeanisation of the American nation. The same old party line endlessly repeated, to the point of caricature, is nihilistic self-parody. Mr. Hegel is the end point of this diatribe, awash in hysterical exasperation and premature I told you so's. But first we must take the bitter medicine of American Decline, with a decorative walk on by the dour political romantic,Oswald Spengler. Add to this the 'fact', as asserted by Mr. Brooks, of President Obama's budget being equivalent to Rep. Ryan's 'policy entrepreneurship'.
Mr. Brooks does not address the failure of the 'Free Market' in 2008, and it's continuing failure up to this moment! We live in the reality of failed Capital! Forgive me, I have my own hobbyhorse to ride. The policy dimension that Mr. Brooks presents, for our exploration, in the person of Mr. Hegel, is that he represents a steep cut in American military spending, and his Republican credentials will assist in that europeanisation of a remade America: we are fated to a benighted social democracy and Mr. Hegel is the Trojan horse of a mendacious president. I've condensed the argument. The ascent of Mr. Hegel is the harbinger of the decline of the imperial project and the rise of an unenlightened social democracy, as Mr. Brooks argues it. Another denouement in the American Political Melodrama has occurred. We anxiously await the next act.
Almost Marx