Posted on 04/14/2005 2:22:35 PM PDT by rdb3
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Statement of Principles • Launch Editorial • Who Was Henry Jackson?
The Henry Jackson Society is a non-profit organisation that seeks to promote the following principles: that liberal democracy should be spread across the world; that as the world’s most powerful democracies, the United States and the European Union – under British leadership – must shape the world more actively by intervention and example; that such leadership requires political will, a commitment to universal human rights and the maintenance of a strong military with global expeditionary reach; and that too few of our leaders in Britain and the rest of Europe today are ready to play a role in the world that matches our strength and responsibilities.
The Henry Jackson Society intends, therefore, to provide a platform for much-needed discussion and research. It will attempt to mobilise support behind a principled policy of democratic realism. For further elaboration please see our Statement of Principles.
liberal ?? -- End of discussion.
They're smoking crack. Even though the UK is going to have the titular presidency shortly, France and Germany still run the EU - at least for the near future.
As for liberal democracy, I suspect they mean the type practiced by American liberals. That's a product I don't think we should be exporting.
Scoop Jackson was the first Zell Miller.
Ping to the other side of the pond.
Here's a hopeful sounding bit.
Joe Lieberman is about the only current Democrat left, that even vaguely resembles Scoop Jackson.
1. Believes that modern liberal democracies set an example to which the rest of the world should aspire.
2. Supports a ‘forward strategy’ to assist those countries that are not yet liberal and democratic to become so. This would involve the full spectrum of our ‘carrot’ capacities, be they diplomatic, economic, cultural or political, but also, when necessary, those ‘sticks’ of the military domain.
3. Supports the maintenance of a strong military, by the United States, the countries of the European Union and other democratic powers, armed with expeditionary capabilities with a global reach.
4. Supports the necessary furtherance of European military modernisation and integration under British leadership, preferably within NATO.
5. Stresses the importance of unity between the world’s great democracies, represented by institutions such as NATO, the European Union and the OECD, amongst many others.
6. Believes that only modern liberal democratic states are truly legitimate, and that any international organisation which admits undemocratic states on an equal basis is fundamentally flawed.
7. Gives two cheers for capitalism. There are limits to the market, which needs to serve the Democratic Community and should be reconciled to the environment.
8. Accepts that we have to set priorities and that sometimes we have to compromise, but insists that we should never lose sight of our fundamental values. This means that alliances with repressive regimes can only be temporary. It also means a strong commitment to individual and civil liberties in democratic states, even and especially when we are under attack.
They have some of the "words" but I don't think they have the "music"
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
Follow the links off The Cost of Military Intervention.
Classic liberalism (Locke, Montesquieu, Hume, jefferson, Madison, et al) bears little, if any, resemblance to neoliberalism (Kennedy, Kerrey, Carter, Rodham, et al).
The group sounds interesting
Sounds interesting, we'll see how it pans out with.
From Wikipedia:
The term liberal in liberal arts originally meant "appropriate for free men."The Democrats coopted the term "liberal." While philosophy, history, languages, and the arts have unbreakable ties to the hard sciences, the leftists have coopted "liberal arts" on our university campuses.
We can ignore the left's abuse of the word liberal at our own peril. It shouldn't be that free men allow themselves to be limited by the notion that "liberal" is wrong.
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