I think we're talking past each other on "Part B". I think you are mistaken in characterizing what "conservatives" bitch about. I noted that I see them bitching about "Part B", not as you characterized it.
On the root article that started this one of two conversations, the issue is whether or not an America whose FP standard is its own self-interest can also serve the interests of others. I said yes, I think it is obviously so.
Just as an additional comment, the real problem here between the US and the "international community" is the changed role of the US since 911. We aren't the status quo power any longer, in a large sense. We are a radical, revolutionary power seeking to overturn the status quo because the status quo is no longer sustainable, and is even dangerous. That's the conflict, IMHO. Resistance to a reordering of relationships. When we were the status quo power, we needed to only soothe and fluff and maintain. Bill Clinton is the quintessential "status quo" President. Now, we seek to actively change. The behaviors are necessarily different. We are more dynamic in our relations, because we need to be. Bush, IMO, is in that regard the perfect President. He is unsentimental.
Derek |
