I agree with you and a number of the commenters here insofar as Caesars go, Prince in many ways is lackluster. So, why is it that men on "our side" gravitate toward him?
The answer is will and competence (we are on a sliding scale here). Erik Prince is the Caesar our mom tells us we have at home. He has the guts to say that Africa does a terrible job of ruling itself, that is why the colonialism comment originally got so much traction. It was like a polite extrapolation of the 4chan thread from the aid worker in Africa. This already distinguishes him among the facelords in the discourse.
I have yet to see anyone provide a better alternative, particularly as embodied by an individual. America is spent, morally; it has continued to close off pathways for worthy men to advance in society and so we are a pathetic mess even as turbo America continues to accelerate.
This feels like such stale, warmed over Buddhism. I feel like I’ve been hearing the case for neo-colonialism for 20 years now, starting around 9/11. I recall seeing Niall Ferguson speak in Toronto at the time making the case for colonialism. Then I recall the various calls for Marshall Plans for Haiti, Egypt, Africa.
Actually there is already a lot of unofficial governance of developing countries by first world technical consultants. I have been involved in a number of such projects. It’s actually quite common that retired government employees become technical consultants. (IMF and World Bank pay is tax-free, incidentally.) I recall meeting a consultant who travels around the western hemisphere consulting on traffic safety.
As for bringing law and order to broken down countries, good luck with that. I know that sometimes Caribbean countries bring in UK police chiefs and it amounts to nothing. They are currently establishing a mission to bring law and order to Haiti and it’s a broken record. Apparently they asked Canada to help (many Francophones in military and something of a national interest given the Haitian diaspora) and we didn’t have the ability to send troops. BTW we’ve done that in the past and it amounted to nothing.
This Prince character seems to be genuinely right wing but profoundly unappealing. The next Cheney or Rumsfeld? Luckily he is probably unconfirmable for any major position given his background.
It reminds me of the Randy Newman song, "Political Science." That song, which is fifty years old, was rightly seen as terrific satire. Prince is the embodiment of the imagined idiot who sings the song. Has it ever occurred to him that American blacks might object to the attempt to enslave Africans, not to mention that 90 of the rest of the American people might not only object to it morally but understand, sanely, that our adventuring - we - will - go of the last twenty years has made the national debt the insoluble problem you wrote about recently? I don't know who is more divorced from reality, Prince and his fanboys or the Catholic Integralists.
The fact that he, or Trump, could ever be taken seriously as political figures demonstrates how infantile so many "conservatives" are. We have seen it in the massive popularity of the "Let's Go, Brandon!" slogan. We are a shockingly uneducated people, and it's worse than I thought.
It's amusing, the link between Trump and the aesthetics of "professional wrestling." I had never thought of it in that way, but I think it's a perfect comparison. I'm 71, remember when politics AND show business were profuse with men of wit and some elegance, and I've lived to see this. Disgusting.
When all around are cowering and keep low a man of 5’2” seems like a giant (Napoleon and Hitler) and that is I posit the case with Prince and Trump. If a Roosevelt or Churchill were on the scene things would appear and be very different. The problem is that people like that have been marginalised in the Liberal nondescript minority embracing non-offensiveness of today. Unfortunately the minority that we require to be in control, the steadfast courageous male hero, is not the minority that is wanted but persecuted. If civil or world war starts there will be a deafening cry and roar from the helpless masses to help pull us out of the mire but heroes will have ceased to care or exist by then. As the old Chinese curse goes “beware for what you wish as you may get it.”
I agree with you and a number of the commenters here insofar as Caesars go, Prince in many ways is lackluster. So, why is it that men on "our side" gravitate toward him?
The answer is will and competence (we are on a sliding scale here). Erik Prince is the Caesar our mom tells us we have at home. He has the guts to say that Africa does a terrible job of ruling itself, that is why the colonialism comment originally got so much traction. It was like a polite extrapolation of the 4chan thread from the aid worker in Africa. This already distinguishes him among the facelords in the discourse.
I have yet to see anyone provide a better alternative, particularly as embodied by an individual. America is spent, morally; it has continued to close off pathways for worthy men to advance in society and so we are a pathetic mess even as turbo America continues to accelerate.
I want to close by linking to Will Durant's discussion of the collapse of Persia, just after its height. First paragraph of https://erenow.org/ancient/durantcivilization/91.php
That is where we are.
This feels like such stale, warmed over Buddhism. I feel like I’ve been hearing the case for neo-colonialism for 20 years now, starting around 9/11. I recall seeing Niall Ferguson speak in Toronto at the time making the case for colonialism. Then I recall the various calls for Marshall Plans for Haiti, Egypt, Africa.
Actually there is already a lot of unofficial governance of developing countries by first world technical consultants. I have been involved in a number of such projects. It’s actually quite common that retired government employees become technical consultants. (IMF and World Bank pay is tax-free, incidentally.) I recall meeting a consultant who travels around the western hemisphere consulting on traffic safety.
As for bringing law and order to broken down countries, good luck with that. I know that sometimes Caribbean countries bring in UK police chiefs and it amounts to nothing. They are currently establishing a mission to bring law and order to Haiti and it’s a broken record. Apparently they asked Canada to help (many Francophones in military and something of a national interest given the Haitian diaspora) and we didn’t have the ability to send troops. BTW we’ve done that in the past and it amounted to nothing.
This Prince character seems to be genuinely right wing but profoundly unappealing. The next Cheney or Rumsfeld? Luckily he is probably unconfirmable for any major position given his background.
It reminds me of the Randy Newman song, "Political Science." That song, which is fifty years old, was rightly seen as terrific satire. Prince is the embodiment of the imagined idiot who sings the song. Has it ever occurred to him that American blacks might object to the attempt to enslave Africans, not to mention that 90 of the rest of the American people might not only object to it morally but understand, sanely, that our adventuring - we - will - go of the last twenty years has made the national debt the insoluble problem you wrote about recently? I don't know who is more divorced from reality, Prince and his fanboys or the Catholic Integralists.
The fact that he, or Trump, could ever be taken seriously as political figures demonstrates how infantile so many "conservatives" are. We have seen it in the massive popularity of the "Let's Go, Brandon!" slogan. We are a shockingly uneducated people, and it's worse than I thought.
It's amusing, the link between Trump and the aesthetics of "professional wrestling." I had never thought of it in that way, but I think it's a perfect comparison. I'm 71, remember when politics AND show business were profuse with men of wit and some elegance, and I've lived to see this. Disgusting.
Just what we need, our own Prigozhin.
I've never heard of this guy before your post, but that's my first thought.
When all around are cowering and keep low a man of 5’2” seems like a giant (Napoleon and Hitler) and that is I posit the case with Prince and Trump. If a Roosevelt or Churchill were on the scene things would appear and be very different. The problem is that people like that have been marginalised in the Liberal nondescript minority embracing non-offensiveness of today. Unfortunately the minority that we require to be in control, the steadfast courageous male hero, is not the minority that is wanted but persecuted. If civil or world war starts there will be a deafening cry and roar from the helpless masses to help pull us out of the mire but heroes will have ceased to care or exist by then. As the old Chinese curse goes “beware for what you wish as you may get it.”