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To: Thorin
As a conservative, did you believe that Reagan's belief in eliminating the tyranny of communism was also 'foolhardy?'

Did you also want him to speak in more modest, realistic tones?

And if so, when the Iron Curtain fell and millions were freed and fledgling democracies established, did you recognize that you were in error?

687 posted on 01/22/2005 10:00:27 AM PST by ohioWfan (Have you PRAYED for your President today?)
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To: ohioWfan
>>>>>As a conservative, did you believe that Reagan's belief in eliminating the tyranny of communism was also 'foolhardy?'

I agreed with Reagan, because Soviet Communism posed a clear threat to the United States. The Soviets had a massive military, a large nuclear arsenal, and many ideological allies in the West. We face no such comparable threat today.

Reagan had no trouble allying us with authoritarian regimes when it was in our interest. He criticized Carter for abandoning the Shah and Somoza, for example, because he placed the national interests of the United States above abstract appeals to "freedom."

By contrast, Bush's speech wasn't focused on our concrete national interests but on abstract appeals to freedome. Bush's speech even explicitly linked our freedom to the spread of freedom abroad. In other words, America is somehow in danger if Mali and Myanmar are ruled by dictators. Anyone who seriously believes that is insane.

689 posted on 01/22/2005 10:07:24 AM PST by Thorin ("I won't be reconstructed, and I do not give a damn.")
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