Quoted on NPR today by Ted Koppel: "Men have friends. Nations have interests." The context was the then President of Israel objecting to France making nice nice with its Arab enemies. "I thought we were friends," said he.
If the US truly operates on principle, for freedom and democracy--and I have serious doubts that these are much more than rhetorical flourishes when it comes down to concrete decision making--it is alone. The rest of the world operates on Realpolitick.
This is, for one, why so much of the Bush administration's rhetoric has been "blah, blah, blah" from any insightful or realistic perspective. Ideas have force at the end of a gun. And it is also why the rest of the world has basically ignored Bush since he castrated himself in Iraq.
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I remember being scandalized when I learned of the Carter doctrine (1980), which states that the US will use military force to defend interests in the Persian Gulf (aka we'll fight for our oil). But now I understand that's what a consumptive nation-state must do to survive.
Which I why I don't find people looney when they suggest we're in Iraq (at least partly) for oil.
This really shouldn't be all that surprising since governments are only concerned with their own survival. In this sense, terms like "freedom" and "democracy" are defined as what is beneficial to the governing body, as you say, "at the end of a gun." Even Bush--as flowerly and idealistic as he is--still has his agenda just like every other government does. It may be packaged in nice Patriotic langauge, but in the end its given for the sake of accomplishing ends, pulling the wool over citizens' eyes in the process. This is one reason why I find the right wing skepticism towards "the liberal media" so ironic; as if the government were any more trustworthy! Foucalt referring back to Nietzsche described history as the transition of one institution of power to another and I think he may have been right.
Is "self interest" any different when it comes to the Church, Athada? Every organizational social structure has their interests and I think it is more palatable to admit that it is in the interests of the organizational structure and not "spiritualize it" as in "God's Kingdom". That is when people like Nietzche are correct when he said that "God is dead"....and this is why an individual's conscience must be affirmed, as there is no social structure that is absolutely representative of "God". It is a matter of values.
As far as American interests in oil, yes, there are interests there and it gives us freedom to travel as we do (and those who have family that live far away are just as blessed as the oil profiteers). We are, as McCain pointed out sending billions to countries that do not believe in individual conscience or freedom of religious conviction....do we want to be subservient to that "rule of law"???
Angie, you make absolutely no sense.
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