The Myth That Shapes Bush's World

LA Times ^ | January 15, 2006 | Mark Helprin

[mongrel]

I am not advocating that his future projections are accurate. But his case is based on specific data that does show that democracies that guarantee civil rights to all residents do not go to war against other democracies that also guarantee these rights. In addition, he convincely shows that there has been a rapid increase in the number of people who live in such countries.

Gotta love FR. May all heresies come to an end.

[elmer fudd]

Germany's parliament held very little power and only one house of it was elected. The chancellor was appointed by the kaiser and he was the head of the government. The Reichstag had very little power over him and his ministers.

In Iran today there is a democracy of sorts. Unfortunately however it is overseen by an unelected group of theocrats who get to change the rules as they go along and exclude those people and laws that they don't approve of.

[Inkie]

Here's the diff. Japan is a small country, and their movement was NATIONALIST. And although famous for the Kamakazes, they were generally not of the mindset that blowing up non-Japanese would get them to heaven. When they were defeated, they were defeated utterly -- their country decimated, their industries leveled, their people brought to their knees. It took many decades of that big bugaboo, U.S. hegemony, in their land to bring them to where they are today -- our allies.

Islamic extremism is INTERNATIONALIST and it has hundreds of millions of followers populating every corner of the earth, many right here in the U.S.A. They use our own freedoms against us and betray the hospitality of every westernized country that has ever offered them refuge from their own cesspools of motherlands. They want us to be annihilated, not merely enslaved. While not all Iraqis obviously feel this way, I feel they are fair weather friends and cowardly -- afraid to take a stand, lest the bad guys get back into power. They won't take the risk that, say, our founding fathers took when they signed the Declaration of Independence. Every one of them knew that, if they fell into British hands, they would be hanged for treason. Going out to vote was an act of bravery by the Iraqis, but we were there to protect them. Would they stand up for themselves without us and do what it takes to make their land free? I doubt it. Plus, once they have democracy, they could go the way of the Palestinians. Are there going to be any Jews allowed to live peacefully in Iraq, by the way? I doubt it.

Islamists want us all to live in the 7th century. No thanks. And yes, I do distinguish between Islamofascists and Imperial Japan. There are too many differences, and distinctions matter, especially the nationalist v internationalist distinction.