-------- Original Message --------Subject: RE: [IP] an astute essay by former President Jimmy Carter] Yes, that'a very interesting article, but
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 23:49:08 -0500 From: Munro, Neil <NMunro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: dave@xxxxxxxxxxI need time to consider how Carter's concerns match up with Washington'a warning about foreign entanglements, Lincoln's 'last great hope of mankind' speech or his 'last drop of blood' swearing-in speech, the transfer of Spanish-controlled territory to the United States, the Monroe doctrine, Kennedy's "bear any burden" promise or FDR's insistence on unconditional surrender, or how the U.S. bargained for the (still operational) arms control agreements signed in 1945 with Germany and Japan. I've also yet to reconcile Carter's comments about repect for dissenting voices with the Vietnam-era chants, "Hey, Hey, LBJ, How many kids did you kill today?" or the more recent claims that President Bush lied to the nation so that our soldiers could liberate the Iraqis from Saddam. I'm sure Carter is right about our traditional respect for local autonomy, but I'm trying to fit that statement with the American civil war, reconstruction in Georgia and federal civil rights laws of the 1960s and 1970s. I share his concern about how the burden of foreign liberation has falled on volunteers, but I don't see much alternative given that the draft was ended by President Richard Nixon. There must be good answers to my questions, if only because Carter is clearly astute enough to distill lessons from his special experience in negotiationing peace with Egypt and Iran. Maybe I'm just ignorant about American history, after all, I was born and educated outside the U.S. What would I know? Neil
________________________________ From: David Farber [mailto:dave@xxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Tue 11/15/2005 5:31 PM To: ip@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [IP] an astute essay by former President Jimmy Carter] -------- Original Message -------- Subject: an astute essay by former President Jimmy Carter Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 13:16:56 -0800 From: TClaburn@xxxxxxx To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-carter14nov14,1,7413966.story This isn't the real America By Jimmy Carter, JIMMY CARTER was the 39th president of the United States. His newest book is "Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis," published this month by Simon & Schuster. IN RECENT YEARS, I have become increasingly concerned by a host of radical government policies that now threaten many basic principles espoused by all previous administrations, Democratic and Republican. These include the rudimentary American commitment to peace, economic and social justice, civil liberties, our environment and human rights. Also endangered are our historic commitments to providing citizens with truthful information, treating dissenting voices and beliefs with respect, state and local autonomy and fiscal responsibility. At the same time, our political leaders have declared independence from the restraints of international organizations and have disavowed long-standing global agreements - including agreements on nuclear arms, control of biological weapons and the international system of justice. Instead of our tradition of espousing peace as a national priority unless our security is directly threatened, we have proclaimed a policy of "preemptive war," an unabridged right to attack other nations unilaterally to change an unsavory regime or for other purposes. When there are serious differences with other nations, we brand them as international pariahs and refuse to permit direct discussions to resolve disputes. Regardless of the costs, there are determined efforts by top U.S. leaders to exert American imperial dominance throughout the world. These revolutionary policies have been orchestrated by those who believe that our nation's tremendous power and influence should not be internationally constrained. Even with our troops involved in combat and America facing the threat of additional terrorist attacks, our declaration of "You are either with us or against us!" has replaced the forming of alliances based on a clear comprehension of mutual interests, including the threat of terrorism. Another disturbing realization is that, unlike during other times of national crisis, the burden of conflict is now concentrated exclusively on the few heroic men and women sent back repeatedly to fight in the quagmire of Iraq. The rest of our nation has not been asked to make any sacrifice, and every effort has been made to conceal or minimize public awareness of casualties. ...continued... Thomas Claburn, Editor-at-Large InformationWeek, CMP Media, Inc. 600 Harrison St., 6th Floor San Francisco, CA 94107 tclaburn@xxxxxxx 415.947.6820 http://www.informationweek.com http://www.lot49.com ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as nmunro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/ ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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