Wednesday, June 22, 2011

A question for Senator McCain

If the United States removes its troops from foreign countries but continues to be an active diplomatic voice and the largest source of both government and non-government aid, plus a major cultural and media influence around the world, how is it possible to call that isolationism?

17 comments:

Unknown said...

Why is it that we actually have people who study foreign policy yet our leaders keep trying to reinvent the wheel? And no, they never get it right, hence the bumpy ride. Does the concept of paying off militias sound right to your ears? First rung on the ladder to democracy?

Birdman said...

Talk about isolated! McCain has staked out a position on this that NOBODY agrees with. He seems to be a devotee of the theory that the only way to engage the rest of the world is with an M-16 and a grenade launcher. I can't think of one instance where democracy emanated from the barrel of a gun.

Anonymous said...

well, there was 1776 Birdman.

Dennis

Unknown said...

That's right Birdman, we all know the true course to democracy is thru insider trading. Herpes spreads easier and gives a more consistent result, like butter spread on toast. Not so democracy. It can lose something in the translation: witness Iran.

Why do fervent leaders have so little faith in what they believe? The Cold War was about 2 competing economic systems which tried to destroy each other by non-economic means. Religious fundamentalists insist on doing the heavy lifting for their god. What ever happened to the concept of teaching by example? Is goodness such a weak contagion?

Anonymous said...

OK. Home grown insurgencies can certainly succeed. See: 1776, China, 1917 Russia, 1783 France.

We can't force democracy on another country by invading it. see: Vietnam, Afghanistan

Birdman said...

That last one was obviously me.

Unknown said...

We all agree you can overrun a country with guns. But impose democracy with them?

1776 was a succession that was motivated by democratic ideals, among other things. It certainly helps to have a potential to windfall by all comers. Those days are gone. We are back to the world of limited and shrinking resources. Them that has, gets.

I'll grant you France, even with all the messiness. But Russia and China? Not a move to democracy, rather a stacked deck.

AY said...

"War is too important to be left to the generals," as the saying goes. And certainly should not be left to irrelevant politicians.

warrenout said...

Much like you gentleman who are old friends. The US has no friends of the last 50 years worth a good *%^&. war and money does not buy loyality nor does it buy respect.Little tin horn dictators and thier pickwickian ambassadors are no different than the 15 year old selling crack out of a ghetto jet. Lie right to your face. So ,although I find Mr Mccains'stance hardcore its honest. At least he knows you can't get laid in whorehouse by sliding 50 bucks under the door but you can get ******

kgwhit said...

We went to Afghanistan to get Osama Bin Laden and to root out his safe haven there. It may have taken ten years but we did it.
So why are we hell bent on finding reasons to stay? Al Qaeeda has plenty of other safe havens so it is possible they could come back but it doesn't matter.
Whatever the country devolves into will happen when we leave whether that be 10 months or 10 years from now.
Bring'em Home!

Anonymous said...

Senator McCain's measure was clear from the first time he came into general view during the unpleasant business with Charles Keating. McCain is a pure political opportunist, very disagreeable guy, thoroughly dislikeable, without a thread of interest in anything that doesn't suit his own interest. Boy, and and he sure knows how to raise up children: get a load of that load, his daughter. He's such a minor player, and discredited jerk, I wonder what it was about this that brought you, Dennis, back from the beyond. This guy is barely a footnote, even to the republican party.

You May Be Right said...

Dennis come back!

Your flock thirsts for your presence. That they, one and all, wish your return is signified by how quickly the regulars queued up their comments on this post after your long absence.

I’ve looked at your new blog, and your new activities that it describes. You are apparently motivated by your better self to improve the community in which you were raised, and which you love. I’ve often remarked to myself in the last twenty five years on the wisdom of Nietzsche in his maxim to “beware of the improvers of mankind.” I don’t mean by that to imply that there is something unwholesome in your intention or new activities. Only that outcomes don’t necessarily follow from intentions, nor mirror their beatific nature. I ask you two questions: is the conversation with assorted government types, followed by hopeful but sterile writeups that get no commentary (good bad or otherwise) or attention, really more satisfying than speaking to the whole world, and a small but dedicated group of followers, about the full range of important matters of the nation (and whatever else strikes your fancy?) Even if it is, aren’t you, high functioning guy that you are, at the top of your worldly powers, able to do two things at once?

What guidance, what leadership, that they accept, can you offer to the sodden apparatchiks (some of whom after all are no doubt at least partially responsible for the sorry state of the residential physical plant in Warren.) On the other hand, not much insight flows from the otherwise quite congenial group that posts here, but what there is, is conditioned on your quite readable and often provocative posts on the affairs of the day. No offense intended to your friends. The commentary here is often interesting in many ways, but it’s usually not up to the standards, in any way, of your masterful self.

I usually post here under this name, although sometimes, usually by my error (as for instance the post immediately above, and the current penultimate post on the prior thread) anonymously. We obviously don’t agree about many things, starting with politics and the human condition. No doubt I’ve irritated you (at least a little bit, I hope), and you’ve surely irritated me at times with what I have thought to be a purposeful misconstruction of my meaning or some other obtuseness. But so what? I’m not interested in repetitive and banal back scratching. I try to maintain a level of civility in discourse just high enough to keep the conversation going, and to not get banned. And I keep coming back because I want to. You are the glue.

A little while ago, I went back to the little Appalachian berg that raised me. I love that place. Everywhere I looked, I saw something that begged for betterment via my activities, and the skills that I learned in the larger world after I moved on. But the truth is that my little town, like the sphinx, will go forward under its own power, and for its own reasons, to be good or bad, successful or unsuccessful, without or even in spite of my meager input. That’s what makes it the home of the salt of the earth, of which I am part. You’ve got some of that going in Warren, probably.

We’ve never met. I don’t know you, and have never seen you that I know of. I have just read your stuff and posted here occasionally, after stumbling in a couple of years ago, by what route I forget. But I’m sure I could get a second from the entire group on the motion to make our pass phrase:

Dennis Come Back!

kgwhit said...

I second "You may be right": here, here

Anonymous said...

Nice Post. This transmit helped me in my college assignment. Thnaks Alot

d'blank said...

Well, thanks for the kind comments and the appeal to be more active on the db. I will try to post more often now that I have my feet under me in my new project, plus the '12 campaign will be heating up and no doubt raising the temperature of my blood with it.
@ "You may be right": you misinterpret my motives for the WarrenExpressed project, but don't feel badly as almost everyone does. I'm doing it because it is a fun and interesting thing to do and because I think I can bring about tangible results in addition to the old blah, blah, blah. I enjoy the blah blag blah, but sometimes one needs more.
I know it doesn't look like much is happening there, but it's like an iceberg; the blog is just the tip you can see while the real action is below the surface.

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