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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
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To: Dayuhan who wrote (44352)9/16/2002 1:21:24 PM
From: greenspirit  Read Replies (1) of 281500
 
Thought provoking as usual Steven.

res-We tend to assume that bad governments exist because those who govern are bad. I’m not convinced that this is the case. I think that bad governments exist because those being governed are not yet able to force those who govern them to govern them well.

An excellent observation and I largely agree with it. But, let's extend this thinking to the world at large. Do bad governments exist because good governments allow them to develop? Allow them to spin out of control? Allow them to subjugate their people with terror and control?

The logical extension of your thinking is the people must rise up and do something about their government. The "people" element of the equation can come from a variety of sources. In other words, the process of change can be driven from outside a nation and then infused within the populace. There are many wonderfully educated and patriotic Iraqi's living abroad who escaped the tyranny of Saddam's rule. They yearn for a rebirth of their country. They have a vision of a new Iraq, full of the values most admired in America. How can we help them see that vision through?

Sometimes people need help. Sometimes when your neighbor's son is being tortured by his father, you need to get involved and stop it. Yes, we can't impose a good government on the people of Iraq. But we can certainly act like the neighbor who cares and create an "urgency to change" from within.

If America had the same philosophy of non-involvement and hopeless government change in the past, we would never have gotten involved in any war outside our borders. We would have sat by and watched the slaughter of millions, while pontificating over how their people need to rise up and do something about it.

Sometimes a neighbor needs a helping hand.

Sometimes a nation needs one too.
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