Why?
February 24, 2009
I wish I knew what happened to Alan Keyes.
It wasn’t that long ago when Keyes was considered the most articulate and forceful advocate of socially conservative principles on the right. At times, Keyes seemed to be the only honest conservative in the 1996 and 2000 Republican primaries; his commitment to limited government and social traditionalism was remarkable and unquestionable.
Keyes was a universally admired figure in the conservative movement. I remember a 1996 Rolling Stone article about that year’s Republican primary; the author noted that Keyes was considered a rock star by the GOP base, and that many on the right wanted him to become the country’s first African-American President instead of Colin Powell.
Keyes was no hypocritical moralist. He lived his beliefs; he was a loving husband and caring father, a man who felt strongly that the country’s moral strength was every bit as important as the country’s fiscal and military strength. Keyes was great on television, great in his op-eds and books, great in his courage and wisdom.
Or so it seemed.
Somewhere along the line, something happened to Keyes. It’s unclear when the transition from intellectual to ideologue took place; clearly, it occurred sometime in the 2000s, but it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when he lost control. However, it’s clear that Keyes’ intellectual discipline has now declined.
How else does one explain his intemperate remarks at a pro-life rally in Nebraska last Friday? Keyes labeled President Obama a “radical Communist” who plans to “destroy this country”, further stating that “…we are either going to stop him or the United States of America is going to cease to exist.”
Keyes continued: “I’m not sure he’s even [legally] President of the United States, neither are many of our military people now who are now going to court to ask the question, ‘Do we have to obey a man who is not qualified under the constitution?’ We are in the midst of the greatest crisis this nation has ever seen, and if we don’t stop laughing about it and deal with it, we’re going to find ourselves in the midst of chaos, confusion and civil war.”
Is Keyes struggling with mental illness? Does he seriously believe that Obama is not legally qualified to be President? If Obama were not legally qualified, surely the Clinton campaign would have discovered this salient fact, no?
Despite my philosophical disagreement with Obama’s big-government vision, I must ask: How could anyone in his or her right mind declare the President “…somebody who is kind of an alleged usurper, who is alleged to be someone who is occupying that office without constitutional warrant to do so?” Why has Keyes adopted this demented belief that Obama is somehow not legally qualified to be President?
Keyes has made controversial statements before, but even those statements could be defended as being in accord with his firm moral views. It may not have been polite to characterize former Vice President Cheney’s daughter Mary as someone who enjoyed “selfish hedonism”, but there are plenty of social conservatives who share Keyes’ view of the younger Cheney. (One hopes they also feel the same way about a certain conservative talk-radio star who adopted a child as a single parent, but that’s another story for another day.)
However, there’s something borderline immoral about Keyes’ recent remarks. They are counterproductive to conservatism and demonstrate reckless disregard for the truth. It appears that Keyes cannot come to grips with the fact that a majority of voters supported Obama instead of him in the 2004 Illinois US Senate race—and supported Obama instead of John McCain in the Presidential election four years later.
Keyes has always come across as a man shocked by the extent to which America has departed from its moral foundations. Perhaps the shock has become too much psychologically, causing Keyes to lash out in this repellent fashion. It’s one thing not to like certain sociopolitical changes. It’s quite another thing to demonize such changes in this way.
Remember “Any Major Dude (Will Tell You)”, the Steely Dan song from the 1970s about someone whose “super-fine mind has come undone?” Apparently, this is what happened to Alan Keyes. What was once eloquence has become extremism. What was once morality has become madness. What was once virtue has become viciousness. This is a sad development, not only for Keyes, but also for those of us who once admired him.
