Following After the City of God: An Interview with Dr. Edward McLean
On March 19, I made the short walk from Martindale Hall to Dr. Edward McLean’s quaint house on Grant Avenue. Though I had not realized the significance of that date when I arranged the interview, it was at the forefront of my mind after I had seen the New York Times and Indianapolis Star that morning. March 19, 2008, was the fifth anniversary of the American invasion of Iraq. As a traditional conservative, I have been disenchanted with the path that present-day conservatism has taken and quite disappointed in results of the recent Republican presidential primaries. While modern conservatives are very aggressive in their foreign policy and seem enthused in continuing immoral and failed policies, a previous generation of conservatives would have virulently opposed the war and its apparently indefinite continuation. Fortunately, that traditional conservatism is not dead. It is still alive in a few corners (including, surprisingly, Crawfordsville). When I went to interview Dr. McLean for this article, I was taken aback by how fresh, relevant, and invigorating that seemingly discarded philosophy sounds in today’s world.
Dr. McLean is devoted to political theory over politics. To him, it is the philosophy that really matters. He does not place great stock in Washington, or as he calls it, the “Byzantium on the Potomac.” Politics is about doing the best we can with the materials we have – namely ourselves. Dr. McLean’s political philosophy is rooted in traditional Christian theology. When asked which thinkers influenced him the most, he quickly blurted out the name of the French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain, who once said: “I adore only God.” This attitude is readily seen through other influences that Dr. McLean credits: St. Thomas Aquinas, Pope Leo XIII, and Pope John Paul II. For the retired professor, religion is of the ultimate importance. He says that profit should not be the end all of life. There is more out there than money. God is there at the end of our lives, and He certainly does not care whether one is rich or poor. Material things never satisfy a person. Even the rich must always have more money. However, God can satisfy our thirst and longing, and so He should be the center of our lives. Dr. McLean is a devout Roman Catholic. Born a Lutheran, Dr. McLean migrated to the Episcopal Church for several years but found its social and theological liberalism disheartening. After more study, he felt called into the Roman Catholic Church, where he has remained ever since. He is a fixture at the Masses in the Pioneer Chapel every Sunday afternoon. His Catholicism has deeply impacted his political philosophy. Dr. McLean says that “politics is a transient thing…This is a secular world, and you must accept it. The Christian should be hopeful, but not optimistic.” Man is fallen and therefore prone to err, and so we should not dream of creating a better world here on earth, as liberals and now some prominent conservatives have suggested that we try to do. However, this does not mean that Christianity should not interact with the world. Indeed, Pope Leo XIII, listed as one of Dr. McLean’s influences, said that Catholicism must engage the world, not fully retreat from it. This particular aspect of his Catholic theology greatly impacts Dr. McLean’s traditional conservatism.
Being a traditional conservative, it is unsurprising that Dr. McLean has presently radical interpretations of American history. First and foremost, he makes the point that America is not a democracy and never has been. “It’s a republic.” He believes that “democracy is a very dangerous form of government.” The judgment of the people can sometimes be quite faulty, so it would be foolish to allow majority rule at all times and in all circumstances. The Founding Fathers were therefore wise to create a Constitution which was fairly undemocratic. Dr. McLean also emphasizes the tradition of states’ rights that stretches back to the very beginning of our nation. It was the cause of the Civil War, and it was a just cause. The South was correct in their attempt to liberate themselves. Slavery, according to Dr. McLean, is inexcusable and morally evil. However, the South was constitutionally and otherwise justified in their war for independence.
According to Dr. McLean, America has always been an “aggressive power.” This can be shown through the Spanish-American War – a war he declares “unnecessary.” The war was fought on false pretenses and was entirely one-sided, since Spain was such a weak force. That war was soon followed by World War I, another war that Dr. McLean believes was unjustified. America had a high number of casualties given the fact that she was only at war for only the last several months – approximately 118,000 killed and 205,000 wounded. Woodrow Wilson, the president who ran for reelection in 1916 on the promise to keep the United States out of war, broke his promise, and hundreds of thousands of Americans paid the price. Another costly American intervention was the Vietnam War, which Dr. McLean now describes as a mistake. He believes that the Americans lost that war because they were not allowed to win it. The soldiers could not cross over into North Vietnam and fight and yet they were “thrown into the meat grinder” and somehow expected to miraculously win the war and protect South Vietnam. Also, how did America expect to control the large population of Southeast Asia? There was no plan on how to deal with the local population, and so the war plunged into a disaster. Unfortunately, according to Dr. McLean, the American military did not heed the advice of deceased General Douglas MacArthur to never launch a land war in Asia. Dr. McLean sees a parallel between Vietnam and Iraq in that fashion. America had no plan on how to control the large local population in Iraq, and the Middle East was such a large and populous battleground that victory would be complicated.
As could probably be expected, Dr. McLean is opposed to the War in Iraq. He describes Saddam Hussein as being a “beast,” but that does not justify the war. There are many dictatorships throughout the world. One could look at China and its recent brutal crackdown on the Tibetans demonstrating for their independence. President Bush clearly is not going to seriously intervene in those affairs. It is simply infeasible and wrong for America to remove all evil régimes. It reflects poor judgment that American troops are currently in Iraq. In my interview with him, Dr. McLean chose not to discuss President Bush, flippantly saying that “he’s not worth our time.” However, he did have choice words for the President’s advisors, labeling them “sycophants.” Dr. McLean is also convinced that the disastrous war will have many long term consequences, namely that America will have little to no constructive influence in Middle Eastern affairs. Though President Bush will be out of office in less than a year, his policies will have unintended, negative consequences for many years to come.
Dr. McLean’s opposition to the War in Iraq and other unwise Bush policies will also prevent him from supporting the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. McCain is a fierce advocate of the war, and has said that he would have no objections to an American military presence in Iraq for “maybe 100” years. Dr. McLean believes that this is unacceptable, and therefore he cannot in good conscience vote for Sen. McCain. Dr. McLean also is upset by what he sees as McCain’s “captivation” by Israel’s foreign policy. The retired professor said that “America is so tightly connected with Israel that you have to wonder who is in charge of our foreign policy.” McCain will certainly do nothing about that. Indeed, in his recent trip to Israel, McCain refused to meet with Palestinian officials, citing atrocities committed by that side. However, he still met with the Israelis in spite of the countless brutal acts they have committed against Palestinian civilians. Aside from the issues of Iraq and Israel, Dr. McLean believes that the Arizona senator’s infamous temper and sundry other deviances from conservative orthodoxy disqualify him from being a recipient of his vote in November. However, that does not mean that Dr. McLean will rally around either of McCain’s Democratic opponents. He believes that the very thought of another Clinton presidency is “horrendous,” and that a President Obama would go down in history as one of the worst disasters to ever afflict the nation. Therefore, Dr. McLean finds the upcoming presidential election a distasteful affair in which he will most likely not vote for either party’s candidate.
In the light of a McCain candidacy and eight years of President Bush’s “compassionate conservatism,” many pundits have raised questions concerning the vitality and strength of the conservative movement. According to Dr. McLean, conservatism today is now a “small intellectual movement.” Traditional conservatism is most definitely declining. He points to the recent presidential campaign of Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), whom Dr. McLean supported. Ron Paul supports a non-interventionist foreign policy and a fairly strict interpretation of the Constitution, and his views closely align with those of paleoconservatism and libertarianism. However, Paul performed relatively dismally in the polling booth. Dr. McLean sees that lack of electoral success as exemplifying the woes of conservatism today. Indeed, it seems quite unlikely that there will be a revitalization of the conservatism that Dr. McLean holds dear. However, there are faint glimmers of hope. He sees student involvement in traditional conservative groups like the Intercollegiate Studies Institute as a sign that there might be an increased interest in the conservative philosophy. Also, the traditional conservatism of Congressman Paul seemed to excite many young people. Hopefully, that too can serve as a catalyst for a conservative revival. However, that all remains doubtful.
Dr. McLean will soon be entering into his eighth decade. Much has changed in those years. Wars have been fought. New taxes have been levied. Innovative social programs have been implemented and failed miserably. Many presidential candidates have promised substantive, positive change, and one by one they have all been unsuccessful. However, certain principles have remained true throughout the change. America’s deviance from these values has cost her dearly in recent years. Conservatives have abandoned the great truths espoused by Russell Kirk, Richard Weaver, Robert Taft, and so many other great thinkers whose names are on the spines of dusty, unread tomes in libraries. The conservative ideas that guided Dr. McLean throughout his life have been cast aside. This may anger some people. It certainly distresses and sickens me. However, we must remember, in the words of Dr. McLean, that “politics is a transient thing.” To some people, politics is their essence. Ideological warfare is their life’s blood, and power is their ultimate goal. We must remember how wrong that is. There is a city much more important than the “Byzantium on the Potomac.” St. Augustine of Hippo calls that city the “City of God.” May we take Dr. McLean’s advice and place our eyes on it above all other things.
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