Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The end of stupidity
The media are missing the most important thing about Obama's interview with al-Arabiya. They focus on his accommodating tone, but this isn't drastically different from Sultan Bush's words. What is different: Obama didn't mention democracy or freedom even once. He talked instead about real human needs: survival, "prosperity and security", and the expectation of a normal and decent life.
Every time Sultan Bush spoke about the BroaderMiddleEast, he extolled freedom and pushed the delusional Wilsonian view that "Democracies Don't War." This is utter nonsense, as Polistra and many other commentators have pointed out. In fact, America's founders knew it was nonsense. Federalist Paper #6 was devoted to a lengthy historical debunking of the idea, and a still useful disquisition on why nations are driven to make war.
This change of direction has been further verified by today's announcement from Defense Sec Gates: "Afghanistan is the fourth or fifth poorest country in the world, and if we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of Central Asian Valhalla over there, we will lose."
Bravo. We still aren't going to win, but with the removal of the Wilsonian idiocy, we stand a chance of losing with some degree of honor. ¶ 6:02 PM
Every time Sultan Bush spoke about the BroaderMiddleEast, he extolled freedom and pushed the delusional Wilsonian view that "Democracies Don't War." This is utter nonsense, as Polistra and many other commentators have pointed out. In fact, America's founders knew it was nonsense. Federalist Paper #6 was devoted to a lengthy historical debunking of the idea, and a still useful disquisition on why nations are driven to make war.
This change of direction has been further verified by today's announcement from Defense Sec Gates: "Afghanistan is the fourth or fifth poorest country in the world, and if we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of Central Asian Valhalla over there, we will lose."
Bravo. We still aren't going to win, but with the removal of the Wilsonian idiocy, we stand a chance of losing with some degree of honor. ¶ 6:02 PM
