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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (79801)	10/9/2006 8:42:46 PM
From: Cogito	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

>>K lets look at Sweden. See how long even such a stable neutral country lasts if its government swears off all use of force (not just by the national government but by the Län and länsstyrelse, and any other form of local government within Sweden) and sticks to that pledge no matter what.<< Tim - Having spent quite a bit of time in Sweden, and knowing the people fairly well, I'd say the country would remain stable for quite a while, if not indefinitely. It's a question of whether the people are happy with their government and continue to consent to be governed by it more than its a question of force. (Note that I am talking about the use of force internally, not externally. But Sweden hasn't taken arms against any other nation for well over a century.) Perhaps our mutual misunderstanding stems from the fact that I originally said of Iraq's government that it's power is "derived chiefly from force" and that the bulk of that force is foreign. You then went on to make the general statement about all governmental power being "based on force". I've tried to use examples to illustrate what I'm talking about, but you just keep repeating that one phrase. Perhaps that's why your point continues to be lost on me. Let me try a different tack, as I am always actually trying to communicate. Here's another way of putting what I was originally trying to say: There's a big difference between what is going on in Iraq today and what goes on in what I would consider a free society. I submit that what we have brought to Iraq bears little possibility of ever showing the Iraqis what it feels like to have the kind of liberties we take for granted in the West. - Allen