Great Post Kai, I admire your honesty, and everything was very well said. I used to share that exact view, and it is a wonderful dream if it were possible.
The Founding Fathers did not lead the world's only superpower, they founded a fledgling nation in a time of widespread tyranny.
So do you think that those ideals of non-intervention are now out of date? I suggest that they are not, because the founding fathers saw first hand what terrible treatment the British had done to us. And its not so different from what we're doing to Iraq, Afghanistan, and dozens of other nation building projects that we're involved with. When a foreign power steps in to force a new system, it has always been rejected historically, because the foreign power cannot fundamentally understand those they are attempting to govern. Disagree? Give an example to the contrary.
And they were not all isolationist even then.
Non-intervention is completely different from isolationism. We are becoming more isolated from the middle east as a result of what we are doing. Iran had a very powerful movement forming to overthrow their government, but we are undermining that with our presence in the middle east. The ideals of those protesters are being tainted with the actions we've taken.
Now those who infringe on the rights of people to live free don't have the freedom to do it without incurring condemnation from the UN.
So where do you draw the line? Why aren't we in North Korea, China, Darfur, or Congo?
This is the way to change the world, backing up words and sanctions with action. And this will benefit the US in the long run, because we will gain allies as we spread democracy.
The long run? Most of the backlash we are seeing from the middle east are a result of us fucking with them for 80 years. The more we try to do there the less we accomplish, and the more hate and instability we create. If we're so good at helping the "long run" Why did we sponsor the Iran-Iraq war? Why did we support the Taliban and Bin Laden? There is only one way to spread peace, and that is to set an example, give food, medical, and infrastructural aid to groups and nations that we feel are making the right strides, but going in with guns and bombs never works, and has never worked. Again, if you disagree give a historical example to the contrary.
And people that don't live in tyranny will work towards prosperity instead of trying to kill other people out of hate.
But those people are trying, we are only undermining their efforts by creating hate and distrust for what they're trying to accomplish. Remember, when you can only win by winning the hearts and minds of a nation, then you have to use methods that are capable of doing that. Guns, violence and occupation have NEVER succeeded in that.
The debt is not outrageous when compared with our GDP.
Really? Then someone should step up and start paying it off if it's so inconsequential. We are currently borrowing 3 Billion dollars a day from overseas. Every great empire has died when it's run out of money. We are no different. Continued disregard for our debt will bite us in the ass, there's no avoiding it. In addition to our 9 trillion dollar debt, we currently have 90 trillion more already committed to our broken national retirement programs.
The investment in freedom will have returns. Hiding and hoping is not the answer.
It's a wonderful dream, but there's nothing in history to indicate that it is possible. The Iraq war has already lasted longer than WWII, and there is NO end in sight. We've done what we can do, and from this point on we are only hurting the chances of Iraq's democracy surviving. At this point, the Iraqi people have to step up and claim this democracy, we can't do anything more to convince them they want it.
