Iraq: Democracy Not So Much
What is wrong with our Iraq policies? The basic message is, don't blame the Iraqis for the failure of the Bush government. Blame the fact that Bush does not believe in democracy, and does not...
View ArticleIraq: Bush's Failure
The debate on Iraq has been carried out on Republican terms, which are, as always, false. We are told that we have to stay in Iraq or we will fail. But it does not make a difference, because Bush and...
View ArticleBushSpeak
In interpreting President Bush's speeches, it is important to realize that, like the caterpillar in Wonderland, Bush uses words that mean what he wants them to mean, and nothing else. Keeping these...
View ArticleThe So-Called War on Terrorism
Some Democrats have said that the War on Terrorism is not a war of guns and soldiers, but a war of ideas. This phrase, war of ideas, has also surfaced elsewhere, including in Thomas Friedman's columns...
View ArticleUnspoken Pillars of American Foreign Policy
American foreign policy has been guided by two unstated assumptions since the end of WWII. This paper examines those assumptions explicitly, and suggests the damage they have done to U.S. interests...
View ArticleNeither Left nor Right
It is common in political discourse today to identify every politician or country or idea as being either "left" or "right." The problem, however, is that either word - and, indeed, the full panoply of...
View ArticleVote for Moral Values
After you vote for a Democrat, a polster may stop you and ask both who you voted for, and why. Answer the why question with: Moral Values.
View ArticleBush Has Failed
It's time to say it. It's past time to say it. Bush has failed. The unnecessary and badly managed invasion of a country that did not threaten us has - past tense - failed.
View ArticleWhat does a Liberal believe?
First of all, no one can claim to speak for all Liberals. Liberals' beliefs are not bound by party. Liberals follow no Great Leader, because Liberals think for themselves. Thinking for yourself is part...
View ArticleThe Evil of Essentialism
One of the most pervasive, if unstated, notions controlling our thought and discourse today is that of essentialism.
View ArticleWizard's Twelfth Rule
I have been a reader and fan of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series for many years. I enjoy not only the stories and the characters and the world he has created, but also the philosophy of the...
View ArticlePlato vs. Socrates
It can be said - and I am saying it here - that one of the most significant - in the long run - conflicts of our time is that between those who bow down to the God of Certainty and those who embrace...
View ArticleWhy did they do it?
At an event at the New America Foundation, a member of the audience asked the question (I paraphrase from memory), “Why does Al-Qaida hate America so? Why did they fly those planes?”While not...
View ArticleSovereignty
The following is an essay I wrote just to get it out of my system in December, 2004:What is the meaning of sovereignty? What is its role in international relations? This is a particularly touchy issue...
View ArticleI Want to Be a Subversive
While I have enjoyed much of the information gained in DailyKos, and the interaction with others, there has been a small feeling of something lacking. The problem is that the reaction to both what I...
View ArticleThe Myth of Sacrifice
Corporate spokespersons – of whom the main ones are Republicans, traditional conservatives, and network and print journalists – describe many of the aims of the classical liberal agenda as sacrifices...
View ArticleThe thing about impeachment is
That the Republicans have – as they have with every other part of government that they touch – rendered it illegitimate.
View ArticleReal Economics
This is just a short diary posting to keep my hand in and my name active. It is a follow-on to my earlier diary "The Myth of Sacrifice," in which I called for a better understanding of social and...
View ArticleReason vs. Magic
More and more, it strikes me that in many of the debates, news reports, entertainment plots, and general information that surrounds us, there is an assumption that is closely akin to the idea that...
View ArticleWhat Not to Do
Reading some of the books that came out last year -- a year too late -- about the woeful mishandling of the Iraq occupation, one is left with the sad impression that the BushCo cabal were not the only...
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