GreenJester
09-07-2004, 09:24 PM
Does it matter what the rest of the world's opinion of America becomes?
The Republican standpoint seems to be "no". The Good Christian Englishmen who founded this country got everything right, right from the start. It worked then, it should work now. We should all have a musket over the fireplace, ready to take down those invading foreigners who threaten Our way of life, and we can. It's not our problem if the rest of the world disagrees with us, we're the biggest, the strongest, the most righteous. And we'll pave over anyone who tries to persuade us otherwise.
The Democratic standpoint seems to be "yes." They recognize that the founders of America got some essential ideas right--freedom of choice--but that the understanding that comes with time, and the changing face of the modern world, have shown some of those olden-time, traditional values to be just a little... unreasonable. Unworkable. The Democrats seem to recognize that you can't just keep kicking the crap out of bullies, because eventually you turn into one yourself. You have to get the whole schoolyard on your side, or, to avoid a fight, use something other than your muscle to pressure a change. There's a social finesse to liberalism that the conservative platform just doesn't have.
So... do you think it matters how we stand with the other nations of the world? Or is it gung-ho America, making the earth safe for one, narrow set of values?
The Republican standpoint seems to be "no". The Good Christian Englishmen who founded this country got everything right, right from the start. It worked then, it should work now. We should all have a musket over the fireplace, ready to take down those invading foreigners who threaten Our way of life, and we can. It's not our problem if the rest of the world disagrees with us, we're the biggest, the strongest, the most righteous. And we'll pave over anyone who tries to persuade us otherwise.
The Democratic standpoint seems to be "yes." They recognize that the founders of America got some essential ideas right--freedom of choice--but that the understanding that comes with time, and the changing face of the modern world, have shown some of those olden-time, traditional values to be just a little... unreasonable. Unworkable. The Democrats seem to recognize that you can't just keep kicking the crap out of bullies, because eventually you turn into one yourself. You have to get the whole schoolyard on your side, or, to avoid a fight, use something other than your muscle to pressure a change. There's a social finesse to liberalism that the conservative platform just doesn't have.
So... do you think it matters how we stand with the other nations of the world? Or is it gung-ho America, making the earth safe for one, narrow set of values?