No, it wasn’t Tony Blair, although it might as well have been and, given his enthusiasm for guitar axemen, he may just have later subconsciously paraphrased it:
If [Gaddafi] had been left in power while the west was willing to see President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt deposed, “the damage to the west’s reputation, credibility and stature would have been not just massive but potentially irreparable. That’s what I mean by saying inaction is also a decision.
By the way, the bit about credibility is particularly poignant, now the West’s lies in tatters over Obama’s “red lines” in Syria for precisely the same reason.
So, to wonderful, whiny-voiced Geddy Lee of Rush (in the UK this week, as it happens): you may not realise it but, in 1977, in some small way you were New Labour before there even was New Labour.
FOOTNOTE: to be strictly accurate, the lyric was written by drummer Neil Peart. @christophe_read tells me it is a paraphrasing of Sartre, which sounds convincing. But for me it will always be sung in that whiny voice.
The NME called rush Fascists for the lyrics of this album, apparently if a communist dictatorship is liberated by the people it's fascistic, but when lefties overthrow a government by taking to the street,it's revolutionary!
Ha! I rather like the lyrics. There is also quite a creditable North American can-do ethic in other tracks (Something For Nothing).
I rather liked Rush – but some of their politics WERE suspect. Especially the worshipping of 'the genius of Ayn Rand'. I liked 'Working Man' – seemingly politically neutral – you wouldn't guess from the title
Actually, all this is rather interesting. Must admit, I didn't know anything about the Ayn Rand stuff. I always saw Rush just as an antidote to the rather predictable lyrics rock had become accustomed to by the late 70s. Any links on this?
Yeah. Read the lyrics to Rush's first six albums and look at how Peart lived his life.