briefly:
as prelude to a future and more in-depth analysis of dogmatic thought in general, I thought I might link to a particularly lovely editorial from the Washington Post which offers the best conceivable summary of the real difference between the thought-processes of ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatives’ in the United States, with direct reference to the upcoming caucusing. it also (not incidentally) draws out some of the underlying self-contradictions within each political ‘camp’ and their relation to the political process in general. as the unnamed editorialist proposes:
“Republicans basically accept Mr. Bush’s vision of himself as a latter-day Harry S. Truman who has reorganized U.S. policy to meet this all-encompassing global threat. Like Mr. Bush, they see the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the larger conflict with Islamic extremism, and Iran and its clients in the Middle East as yet another front. Democrats disaggregate these problems and balance them against challenges that have received too little attention from the Bush administration: the rise of China; the return of an autocratic and relatively hostile Russia; the danger of unsecured nuclear materials in unstable parts of the world; and global warming, among others. Ms. Clinton’s definition of the world the next president will inherit in a recent Foreign Affairs magazine essay fills a fat, 140-word paragraph and speaks of ‘an unprecedented array of challenges.’ In contrast, Mr. Giuliani begins with a single sentence: ‘We are all members of the 9/11 generation.’
Ms. Clinton’s view strikes us as more realistic. Al-Qaeda remains a grave threat, and the United States has a vital interest in supporting moderate Muslims against the extremist minority. But threats such as Shiite Iran should be understood and addressed differently than Sunni jihadist movements; and the rest of the world does not fit neatly into a bipolar struggle between two camps. The next president needs to be prepared to check aggression from China or Russia, or combat a pandemic.”
Read the rest of the article here.
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