Letters to the Editor
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Close to the mark
"Until liberals show that they will make the world safe for democracy -- for their fellow citizens, and for citizens around the world -- the American people won't give them the chance"
The fact of the matter is that this barb is close to the mark. Liberals, or at least centrist Democrats, have been making the world safe for Americans if not democracy for several generations in quite stark contrast to the madness of the modern Republican party — but for some reason the American left cannot grasp this fact, let alone defend it.
That's not to say that Democrats haven't had their fair share of ill-advised military escapades and national security lapses. There have been plenty. But there have also been many successes that have shown time and again that the "liberal agenda" (if you will) is better suited to a clear-headed understanding of threats and the kind of holistic, systematic thinking required to defeat them.
Despite that, however, even ardent readers of left-wing antiwar blogs get sort of nervous and start looking for the exit sign when the subject of (say) Bill Clinton's anti-terrorism policy comes up. They've never heard of it. Kos doesn't mention it. Atrios doesn't bring it up. The idea of discussing the effectiveness of a liberal national security paradigm almost seems self-contradictory on its face.
But scratch the surface and something funny turns up — nobody who operates within the master narrative seems to have anything to say about Democratic leaders, liberal policymaking, and national (and international) security. It's like there's a great big blind spot covering ... what?
Is it really reasonable to shrug and assume that nobody in the Clinton administration knew anything about Islamic terrorism or al Qaeda, or had given any thought to a functional apparatus to deal with threats to American national security?
Or to assume that within the Democratic Congress there is not anyone who knows about Chinese militarism and the threat it presents to American interests in East Asia? (Let alone anyone who knows better than the — provably ignorant — right wingers.)
Even if Democrats had been blindingly wrong for 8 years, wouldn't there be some evidence of that? Some details to the story other than just, "Democratic national security policy. Snrk. Yeah, right"?
Why do otherwise erstwhile liberals have such a hard time with the idea that Democratic leaders and policymakers have more credible military and foreign policy experience, and have a proven track record of keeping the country safe?
When the right wing echo chamber trots out the usual liberals-lack-national-security-credentials slander, the liberals in question generally cede the ground immediately and unthinkingly, arguing instead on narrow pragmatic grounds ("oh yeah, well, your ideas don't work so well either") or populist isolationist cop-out ("well then we shouldn't be doing anything in the world, do no harm, shut ourselves off and make them leave us alone").
So I would put it this way instead:
Until liberals defend their extensive record of actually making the world safe for democracy — for their fellow citizens, and for citizens around the world — the American people will keep giving neoconservative Republicans another chance.
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@sysprog
Ten things Google has found to be true
6. You can make money without doing evil.
At the risk of pissing people off by continuing to harp on China, Google, Yahoo!, and others helped implement the internet services over there that gave rise to the filtering and surveillance that Chinese government employs to implement, among other things, the news blackout currently surrounding Tibet. This enables announcements like the following:
Announcement from the Internet Surveillance Bureau
We inform Internet users that it is forbidden to post news about Tibetan events. From today, the Internet Surveillance Bureau will carry out filtering and censorship.
It is forbidden to post, circulate or discuss reports about Tibetan events in Chengdu.
Anyone infringing this ban will have their IP address sent to the police who will take the necessary steps.(on the QQ Tibetan instant messaging service, March 19)
They may have discovered how to make money without doing evil, but they apparently don't have it in production yet. Do the Google China implementation jocks class as 'clerks' in Hannah's scheme of things?
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Stephen Walt was right!
My hearty compliments to Stephen Walt. His opposition to the Iraq war was dead on. And, because it was, he won't be interviewed or even mentioned by the pro-war, establishment press.
And, lest you forget, there's ANOTHER reason why Walt isn't the D.C. crowd's favorite pin-up boy. He and John Mearsheimer are the authors of "The Israel Lobby and American Foreign Policy," an ass-kicker of a book that
exposes the Israel Lobby's influence over "American policy" in the Middle East.
Mr. Walt, just because you're right is no reason for you to think you'll be listened to!
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@ Sysprog and Ondelette - Leftists and Liberals are Glass Half Empty People
Reality update:
Yes, you can make money without doing evil.
Creativity is good. Paint paintings, write songs... the list is endless.
But you guys are confirming the rightwing view that liberals and leftists are glass half empty kinds of people.
Stop it.
Now, did you guys see my brilliant suggestion for Glenn Greenwald? He should write a book called: The Pro-War Freakshow. It's a great idea, huh? It could expose the media's ongoing support for the war. It could be funny at the same time and it could critique McCain in the run up to the election.
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@WT
I'm north of Flagstaff and get down to the Prescott area quite a bit so by northern Arizona standards we're practically neighbors. I've stopped in your town for gas, Taco Bell and Starbucks. Last summer, your soccer kids got in a brawl with our soccer kids (though I think their take was that it was the opposite) and both were suspended for the season. Small world.
Sorry I have no food recommendations. I haven't done any Indian cooking in years though I have a vegetarian teen who might be ready to have her palate challenged. I always thought the ghee thing was cool, because growing up in Massachusetts, every 4th of July we'd have steamed clams with butter. The butter would sit on the grill all day and would just get better and better, one of those distinctive once-a-year tastes that couldn't be replicated - until I made ghee for the first time.