Symmetry wrote:
I guess the new diametric would be concerning Islam, though. Whether to support progressive movements in islamic countries, or to support conservative dictatorships.
That is a problem for the left and right in this nation. Both sides wage war equally (IMO) but the stated goals and reasons are different. The Republicans try and frame it as national security where the Democrats frame it as Humanitarian (as if bombing people somehow equates to "humanitarian").
Take Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush claimed that we need to make them democratic in the interest of our own national security. If we could just Democratize the Middle East we'd be safer in the US. Kind of a Domino Theory was the strategy of the Bush Doctrine. If we could establish a Democratic bastion it would spread to the other America hating nations.
I find this logic absurd. If we really believed in individual freedom, we'd leave people alone to decide for themselves what they want. If the people of a nation want/tolerate/long for a dictatorship then so be it. It's not the business of the US nor the role of our government to use taxpayer money to enable such things.
The Left in the US, as is the case of the Krony video recently making the rounds through the internets, it's "look at how these people are suffering" and thus it's the job and duty of the US to do something about it. Libya was done because of a supposed massacre by the dictator in charge. It's a Neo-Con belief that spreading liberal democracy even by the point of the bayonet is something we should be doing.
The Founders of our nation argued that we should not be doing that. We should not be getting entangled in the vast political and social webs of the various nations and peoples of the world. We should be taking care of ourselves and in regards to other nations we should be trading with them without judging. That is where I fall in.
Our Founders believed that to spread our way of life, the best way was just just take care of ourselves and be prosperous. That prosperity would be viewed by other nations of the world with a sort of envy. An envy that would make them choose for
themselves to adopt our systems without us ever having to lift a weapon or utter a threatening word. And that way served us well.
Everywhere in the world in the long distant past the peoples living in their unjust nations of monarchs, dictators and oligarchies, would dream- "Ahh, if only we could leave here and go to America". It was a dream of people, a shining hope and we didn't interfere with other nations.
And so it is with Islamic nations. One of the few times I've actually agreed with Obama was when Iran was in upheaval and he sat back and kept his mouth shut. Others said we should try and take advantage, we should stand in solidarity with the Iranian people who were dying in the streets in protest. But it was an Iranian matter, none of the business of the US. Verily I say that if Obama had tried to make a statement it would have only lead to even greater death tolls among the Iranian protesters.
Despotic regimes always die, eventually. All on their own. Even the United States is not immune to this truth. The US government become more bold in it's desire to increase hegemony across the world in the name of "Democracy" and in doing so becomes more and more despotic itself. People forget that our Founders hated Democracy because it always degenerates into Mob Rule and the individual gets trampled by the Many Headed Monster that is the irrational Mob.
Our rule of law provides the answer, our Constitution. War and acts of war must be approved by Congress. Period. We have circumvented that ultimate law with things like the War Powers Act and Patriot Act. If we wish to wage war then debate it and vote on it. If voted for, it's for the purpose of crushing our enemy, not for bringing Democracy or Nation Building.
The reason we were able to Nation Build in Germany and Japan is because those nations were completely destroyed. Their cities were rubble, their people suffering beyond belief to the point that they themselves finally acquiesced. We waged Total War and beat them into the ground beyond anything that we today could imagine or stomach. We don't fight war like that anymore. But if we truly wanted to nation build then that is what must be done first. Beat the enemy into such a state that they will accept
anything just to be free from the suffering that we are delivering.
So, I say, let Congress debate
that, let the American people understand that this is what must be done. If we have the will and the ability and so choose freely and legally as per our Constitution, then prosecute that action and get it done quickly. But we must understand that we are doing this to people whom are no real threat to this nation in the first place. We must acknowledge that we are doing this terrible thing and compare it to what we are trying to change in said nation. I think, more than not, it would only bring undo suffering that would outweigh the benefits. Accept and understand that we would not be doing this out of self defense but rather in the attempt to
change a people and a people's system of society and government by using violence and war to effect that change.
All of these Islamic nations are nothing more than insignificant gnats compared to the security of our nation. In fact, by us poking the snake instead of either leaving it alone or killing it outright, only serves to put our nation in danger rather than keep us safer. The Islamic Caliphate is incompatible with the US model of government. Even if Islamist had a majority in our nation it could not lead to the US becoming an Islamic State because our Constitution prevents it. But if people in other nations are fine with living under Islamic Law, then so be it. More power to them.
But the Democrats want to bomb the brown people of the world because they treat their women terrible and live under harsh religious law and other non liberal policies. The Republicans want to bomb the brown people of the world because they are convinced that our national security is at stake, to make us safe here as if we are supposed to fear Islam and Islamic nations.
There is nothing to fear from Islam. Our Constitution, our way of life and our beliefs protect us from ever falling under the yoke of such draconian Theocratic systems of Government. There is no reason we should bleed and die to free people from something that those people themselves
don't want or are unwilling to free themselves
from. Our military might protects us from ever having to worry about an armed invasion from Islamic forces.
What we have to fear is the eroding of the very things that protect us. Our Constitution, our military, our belief in Individual Liberty. We erode our Constitution by circumventing it. We erode our military by spreading it too thin and asking too much from it. We erode individual freedom in the name of Political Correctness and Group Rights. In very way, the mainstream Republicans and Democrats do these things equally. Erode the very things that made this Nation a bastion of Liberty and Freedom. If the people who vote and support rank and file based on a letter in front of a candidate's name (be it a "D" or an "R"), then those fool people vote to destroy the very things that made us blessed, prosperous and safe. And our nation will learn that Political and Social Darwinism applies to the US as to everything else.....
