Rus: I use the term “liberal” more in the modern sense of “liberal democracy” (i.e. as found in Francis Fukuyama’s “End of History”). I want to be very careful there, because mention of Fukuyama is likely to prompt a response regarding his previous alignment with Bill Kristol and the Neoconservative movement. What I am trying to say is that “liberal” to me means someone who believes in the rule of law, the right of franchise and free speech and the right to choose their own form of government. Yes, “Common Sense” was Paine. Paine’s contemporaries included Edmund Burke (who coined the wonderful expression: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”), as well as Robespierre, both of whom had very different ideas about freedom, liberty and governing.
That being said, I would also quickly like to point out that some of our policies as of late would certainly not support the idea that the US advocates a liberal approach, but rather is more hegemonic in our approach, especially with something like the nation building strategy employed in Iraq.
I wanted to say that I found much of what you said regarding the US disheartening. The idea that we are nothing better than a rampaging monster bent on world domination at any cost stands in stark contrast to history. It was a tirade in the sense that it left out a lot of facts, as well as making assertions that are undeniably false. One of these is the notion that Israel is a vassal state to the US. Israel, at present, is the only country in that part of the world where the rule of law does prevail. It is surrounded by countries where having opinions like the ones we freely express here would get you imprisoned, tortured or worse.
You also omit the part about how many Moslems are killed throughout the world by their co-religionists, or the true nature of Islam when it comes to subjugation. I would think Osama’s vision of a worldwide Caliphate completely subject to Shari’a (Islamic law) hews more closely to world domination than any plans the US might have in this regard.
I think for the dialogue to work, we need to stick with facts and dump the rhetoric and the polemic. Just my $.02.
