He is willing to say "If that is imperialism, what is so bad about that?" I am not so easy. No one has ever understood self- government to involve colonial dependency.
I did not call Marxists evil. Quite a few were not, in fact (I am a neocon, remember), especially revisionists. But blinkered by a moribund analysis of historical processes, yes.
Yes, a society has to accept democratic forms, and some are more fitted to do so than others, which is one reason to deal with authoritarian regimes some times, rather than being purists. But "are they ready" can just as easily be an excuse for making no move in the direction of democracy. Unless you suppose that most people in the world are naturally fit for being tyrannized, democratization is mainly a matter of education. Unless you think that being tyrannized is better than having some modicum of personal freedom and being able to hold government accountable, one should earnestly desire the evolution of all societies in that direction.
I am sure there have been abuses. I also have no doubt that most of our activity during the Cold War was, at worst, an exercise in "lesser evilism", somewhat like our alliance with Stalin during World War II. |
