Jim S,>>>While you wring your hands and fret about the niceties of non-PC talk about the Chinese, and the possibility of (horrors!) nationalistic feelings in the US, the possibility is growing that we can all have our butts blown away in a real, no-kidding war. <<<
There are reasons why we are the only global super power in the world. Our democratic form of government, open society, advanced technologies are the envy of the world and provide the reasons for our success.
Our humanity and respect for the rule of law are not easy concepts to understand and harder even to implement and maintain. It is sometimes messy. Dictators and the self rightious, however, have much simpler visions of how things should be - and they are invariably wrong.
WRT to China, they are not now, or at any time soon, a military threat to their neighbors (India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Japan, and Russia) much less to us. They have their own internal debate - whether or not to open up, institute democratic reform, and set up infrastructure for the rule of law. If they do not succeed in reform and revert back to a soviet style of governance, they will meet the same fate as the Soviet Union - their society will collapse from within. Evil has a way of destroying itself.
Having said that, I do not beleive, just as you do, that our own survival and prosperity is guaranteed.
Where I differ with you is how to not only maintain our way of life but to improve it and how to increase our prosperity.
We must maintain our humanity, our openness, our stringent respect for the law. We must not give in to hate, fear, and suspicion.
WRT the President, I too, feel that he (Mr. Clinton) is not truthful and is morally corrupt. I wanted him impeached. But where I strongly disagree with you is where you would take us with your brand of patriotism.
If you believe the President is a traitor to his country, then by logical conclusion, all the people who voted for him and believe in him (not me) are also questionable as to their level of patriotism and should be viewed with suspicion, if not hatred. If you think the President is a traitor, just think how many other people you should be suspicious of and necessarily hate. Your views would inevitably lead us into a way of life where we are constantly filled with hate, fear, and suspicion.
It is quite clear that science and technology can only survive in an open, and in some ways necessarily messy, society. Making the trains run on time (metaphorically) and locking doors do not necessarily create a better way of life.
|
