Subject:
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Re: Two good ones in a row.
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 10 Jun 2002 12:24:35 GMT
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Viewed:
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394 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> Hansen can sometimes be a demagogue, and there's certainly stuff in both of
> these to disagree with, but these are both well worth reading.
>
> Why democracies, even ones we disagree with, are better than dictatorships,
> even ones we are allied with:
>
> http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson053102.asp
I agree with the basic conclusion, but I think he hurts himself by getting
there. He spends the first bit talking about how great the US is and how we've
done all these great things, while blaming certain less free governments. But
this ignores our role in creating and supporting those institutions. How dare
he? We are treading on thin ice to forget our complicity and the mistakes of
our past. We won't learn to be better if we pretend we were not worse.
As the native Americans how great a democracy is. Ask BinLaden and Hussein how
it feels to deploy arms given by a great democracy. Ask the Branch Davidians
if a democracy can kill its own.
And so on.
The basic notion that we should be supportive of democracies over dictators is
sound. And I _really_ think we should be more selective about what nations we
associate with. But we don't need all that Chicken Soup for the American Soul
garbage in order for it to make sense.
Something that occurs to me though, is that a democracy that does bad things is
in some ways more troubling than a dictator who does. In a democracy, a whole
bunch of folks are engaged in bad stuff. It's easy to write off a dictator as
a bad apple, but what about a whole barrel full?
> "The hypocrisy of the world’s attention...":
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> http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson060702.asp
Thanks, good read. I agree with him.
Chris
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Two good ones in a row.
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| Hansen can sometimes be a demagogue, and there's certainly stuff in both of these to disagree with, but these are both well worth reading. Why democracies, even ones we disagree with, are better than dictatorships, even ones we are allied with: (...) (22 years ago, 10-Jun-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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