ClayBarham
11-30-2007, 03:33 PM
George Bush reminds me of Thomas Paine, following the late 18th century British defeat in America. Paine, when back in Europe and all fired up about America, envisioned George Washington galloping across Europe and planting the American ideals there. Lafayette told Paine it would be an impossible, fruitless task, because Europeans, steeped in their traditions of top-down management of their lives, could never switch to a self-sufficient bottom-up way of life. Americans started their traditions in the frontier in 1620 without government or elite managers to guide them. They had to do it all on their own. By the time of the 18th century separation from Britain, American traditions firmly established a bottom-up way of life.
Jefferson described that new tradition in the Declaration of Independence. Included in it, he listed the evils of the Old World traditions imposed by the king. The Old World has been down on America ever since, as no monarch or dictator welcomes the idea that individual freedom exists on the planet that someday could infect the nations each rules. Independent of the Old World, America did its own thing long enough it surpassed that world in wealth and general happiness. America proved the world could be remade, if people could challenge their own traditions, culture and thinking. Americans had no choice, no other option, but to stand on their own two feet just to survive. The Old World cultures looked to rulers and warriors when survival was an issue and could see no other option.
George Bush, like Tom Paine, is excited about American traditions and values, and wants to export them around the world. As it was in Tom Paine’s day, the world is not ready for the American values of individual freedom. They reject it as being too difficult. Even in America, many are no longer willing to stay the course and be free. One has to wonder just how far George Bush is willing to commit Americans to the harsh realities of such an export, as it is getting costly. One also has to wonder how long Americans are willing to pay the price to export a culture many, like the Democrat Party, no longer accept.
The opposition to individual freedom, long held by all Old World nations, is now more aggressive in the hands of the Muslims. It is their expressed desire to eliminate it altogether by force and terror. George Bush’s intention of exporting American values must now give way to just defending them against worldwide Muslim terror. The Mullahs, Ayatollahs and Imams want to rule the entire world, and America is its biggest obstacle. A war to change people’s traditions cannot succeed. Instead, our efforts must hold back the Islamic hoard from dominating the world and taking it back to the dark ages.
Jefferson described that new tradition in the Declaration of Independence. Included in it, he listed the evils of the Old World traditions imposed by the king. The Old World has been down on America ever since, as no monarch or dictator welcomes the idea that individual freedom exists on the planet that someday could infect the nations each rules. Independent of the Old World, America did its own thing long enough it surpassed that world in wealth and general happiness. America proved the world could be remade, if people could challenge their own traditions, culture and thinking. Americans had no choice, no other option, but to stand on their own two feet just to survive. The Old World cultures looked to rulers and warriors when survival was an issue and could see no other option.
George Bush, like Tom Paine, is excited about American traditions and values, and wants to export them around the world. As it was in Tom Paine’s day, the world is not ready for the American values of individual freedom. They reject it as being too difficult. Even in America, many are no longer willing to stay the course and be free. One has to wonder just how far George Bush is willing to commit Americans to the harsh realities of such an export, as it is getting costly. One also has to wonder how long Americans are willing to pay the price to export a culture many, like the Democrat Party, no longer accept.
The opposition to individual freedom, long held by all Old World nations, is now more aggressive in the hands of the Muslims. It is their expressed desire to eliminate it altogether by force and terror. George Bush’s intention of exporting American values must now give way to just defending them against worldwide Muslim terror. The Mullahs, Ayatollahs and Imams want to rule the entire world, and America is its biggest obstacle. A war to change people’s traditions cannot succeed. Instead, our efforts must hold back the Islamic hoard from dominating the world and taking it back to the dark ages.