Posted on 05/01/2008 3:50:27 PM PDT by BGHater
Republican presidential candidate John McCain envisions a "League of Democracies" as part of a more cooperative foreign policy with U.S. allies.
The Arizona senator will call for such an organization to be "the core of an international order of peace based on freedom" in a speech Tuesday at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.
"We Americans must be willing to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies," McCain says, according to excerpts his campaign provided. "Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom, knowledge and resources necessary to succeed."
"To be a good leader, America must be a good ally," he adds in the speech, another in a series of policy addresses as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination.
Such comments offer a contrast to President Bush, who critics contend has employed a stubborn, go-it-alone foreign policy that has dramatically damaged the U.S. image abroad.
McCain is careful to note that his proposed multinational organization would not be like Woodrow Wilson's failed "League of Nations." Rather, McCain says the organization would be far more similar to what Theodore Roosevelt favored—a group of "like-minded nations working together in the cause of peace."
"It could act where the U.N. fails to act," McCain says.
Such a new body, he says, could help relieve suffering in Darfur, fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa, develop better environmental policies, and provide "unimpeded market access" to countries sharing "the values of economic and political freedom."
And, McCain adds, an organization of democracies could pressure tyrants "with or without Moscow's and Beijing's approval" and could "impose sanctions on Iran and thwart its nuclear ambitions" while helping struggling democracies succeed.
Recalling Harry S. Truman's actions during the Cold War, McCain also urges a similar "massive overhaul of the nation's foreign policy, defense and intelligence agencies" to meet the world's current challenges. He says details will come later.
(This version CORRECTS Corrects in graf 2 that Hoover Institution is at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.)
Another collection of useless diplomats, all at America’s expense.
McCain has never suggested it to be an alternative. It is an addition.
It depends how democracy is defined.
For example, at the very low end, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North), may call itself a democracy, but it certainly ain’t.
Even the EU is becoming more and more questionable as a democratic confederacy. An increasing number of their masters in Brussels are unelected. Only the European Parliament is popularly elected, and it does not initiate legislation, meaning that there is no popular input into the running of the government. Some of their national governments are just fading away.
Many other “democracies” are sham democracies. They are either single party states, formally or informally, or are led by a “President for life”. Others are bureaucracies, with socialist mandarins running the place. Yet others are police states. Iran is a “democratic theocracy”.
Is even Canada a democracy anymore? With its Human Rights Commission transcending its constitution and all civil rights to punish by whim, it seems that they have abrogated their liberty.
Should a country be called a democracy if it has gun control or limits free speech, restricts religion or permits anti-democratic institutions like Sharia law?
Before I head off to watch a movie, do you know if this League of Democracies is also called Community of Democracies?
Not true.
I can't stand McCain either! I will not work for him, nor will I send him $$. However, if you live in a sate that is in play, you must consider voting for him. If however, you are like me & live in a state that is solid blue (or red,) by all means vote third party.
Different animals... although Albright and McCain may be on the same long term wavelength.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_Democracies
The Community of Democracies (CD) is an intergovernmental organization of democracies and democratizing countries with a stated commitment to strengthening and deepening democratic norms and practices worldwide. The CD is composed of both a governmental component made up of government representatives, and a non-governmental component comprising civil society organizations who meet as a group at biennial ministerial conferences. In 2004, CD governments also organized themselves into a Democracy Caucus in the United Nations (U.N.).
(snip)
The CD was inaugurated at its first biennial ministerial conference hosted by the government of Poland in Warsaw on June 25–June 27, 2000. The initiative was spearheaded by Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, along with six co-conveners: the governments of Chile, the Czech Republic, India, Mali, Portugal and the Republic of Korea.
At the close of the conference the participating governments signed onto the “Warsaw Declaration”, agreeing “to respect and uphold…core democratic principles and practices” including, among others, free and fair elections, freedom of speech and expression, equal access to education, rule of law, and freedom of peaceful assembly.[2]
In closing remarks to the ministerial conference in Warsaw, the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan praised the Community of Democracies as a positive development toward global democracy, saying. “When the United Nations can truly call itself a community of democracies, the Charter’s noble ideals of protecting human rights and promoting “social progress in larger freedoms” will have been brought much closer.”[3]
Since the original conference in Warsaw, the chairmanship has been held by South Korea, Chile, and Mali, and each chair country hosted additional ministerial conferences: Seoul in 2002 (which produced the Seoul Plan of Action), Santiago in 2005 (which produced the Santiago Commitment), and Bamako in 2007 (which produced the Bamako Consensus). Following the Bamako Ministerial in November 2007, Portugal assumed Chairmanship of CD and will be the host of the next ministerial conference. João Gomes Cravinho, Portugal’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, was named by Portugal to coordinate its Chairmanship of CD.
In the dizzying world of politics it must first be an addition to become an alternative.
Oh, i agree with THAT. I’m just saying that even I sometimes use the same loose (and wrong) language usage.
When the next Duncan Hunter type comes along, donate money, pass out flyer's. Sing his praises to the mountain tops. We can't continue to sit on our duffs and expect to get anything besides what we are faced with. I happen to think its important enough to fight for. If you will do some work, next time obviously, study the candidates, you'll find a couple a darn sight better than McCain who will put up a real zealous fight. All Hunter needed to be in McCain's place today was some cash to work with. Quit whining that “there just wasn't anyone to vote for. That don fly. Doesn't even get off the ground a lil' bit.. WORK
Anyone with a screen name El Cato knows how to get things done. Who rules your house. The cat(s). Me too. She's 19 years old and it's her pad and she let's me live here to. She makes me work.
EXACTLY. That wouldn’t be in the works if Duncan Hunter had had support.
My country tis of thee, sweet land of LIBERTY.
I weep for her.
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