Ten Lessons (If you only read one non-Steyn article today, this should be it!)

The Wall Street Journal via dennisprager.com ^ | Daecember 17, 2003 | Dennis Prager

[quidnunc]

1. America is the greatest force for good on the planet. America, with the support of Britain and some other countries, and against the rest of "world opinion," liberated Iraq from evil. If it were up to the U.N. or the EU, or the editorial boards of most major American newspapers, Saddam would still be happily making palaces for himself and torture dungeons for his people.

2. The positive effect on humanity of good vanquishing evil cannot be overstated. When evil people get away with what they have done, it has a dispiriting effect. Even those of us who believe that a just God dispenses justice after this life ache to see justice done here and now. In this regard, it is not only good that Saddam was captured; it is good that he lived in holes, and aware that his sadistic sons had been killed. It is nice to know that he has been suffering.

3. No Muslim or Arab country lifted a finger to help the Iraqi people. This is because the Muslim and Arab worlds do not divide the world between good and evil, but between Muslim and non-Muslim and Arab and non-Arab. Since Saddam was a fellow Muslim and Arab, the fact that he tortured and murdered so many was as irrelevant to the Muslim and Arab worlds as the Islamic regime's genocide in Sudan and the subjugation of women in Taliban Afghanistan.

4. Not everyone is happy about Saddam's capture. Palestinians, for example, are weeping. Saddam was their hero. Iraqis were forced to march with his posters, but Palestinians did so voluntarily. Many on the Left are also not particularly happy. Saddam's capture is a victory for American force and for George W. Bush, and the Left hates both more than it hates Saddam.

5. The Left seeks power, but is incapable of leading because leadership and wanting to be loved are mutually exclusive. Leftists, including liberal politicians, want to be loved and want America to be loved. That was President Clinton's great desire, and that is why, with all his abundant talents, he could never lead. Much of the Left's criticism of Mr. Bush revolves around this issue: "Look at how popular we were right after 9/11 and how unpopular we are now."

6. Most of the Left does not hate evil; hatred of evil is primarily found on the Right. With exceptions such as Tony Blair and Joseph Lieberman, virtually the entire Left finds evil far less disturbing than global warming, smoking, economic inequality, and drug prices. And with the exceptions of "paleoconservatives" such as Pat Buchanan, most of the Right regards the use of American power to vanquish evil as the greatest good the U.S. can engage in.

7. In the Arab world, power is venerated. For years leading up to 9/11, Islamists were respected for their increasing power and America was losing respect as it suffered blows at the hands of Islamic terror. Now America is seen as the powerful one, and is earning the respect once accorded Saddam and Osama. The importance of this cannot be overstated.

8. There are many who respect goodness above all else. But humanity as a whole has far more respect for power, and takes powerful societies more seriously than good ones. That is why China is respected despite its being a dictatorship and its brutal crushing of Tibet. China is powerful. The stronger America is, the more people will take it and its values seriously. As an unprecedented combination of power and goodness, America could reshape the world.

9. The Marxist belief that forces, not individuals, shape history is wrong. George W. Bush is living proof.

10. The reason the president is shaping history is that he has as strong a set of beliefs — in America's moral mission and in Judeo-Christian religious values — as those he is fighting. Those who hold bad beliefs can only be defeated by those have equally strong good beliefs.

[Pagey]

7. In the Arab world, power is venerated. For years leading up to 9/11, Islamists were respected for their increasing power and America was losing respect as it suffered blows at the hands of Islamic terror. Now America is seen as the powerful one, and is earning the respect once accorded Saddam and Osama. The importance of this cannot be overstated.

BUMP!!!

[Sergio]

Excellent post. Save for later.

[bondserv]

Ping!

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

My point was simply that our fighting forces should ONLY be used against bad guys who are a threat to US!

How quickly some have forgotten the most rudimentary precepts of the Reagan Doctrine.

[goldstategop]

Paleo conservatives believe in a more restrictive use of force. Coming from the neo conservative tradition, I believe that America should employ force not just to advance our national interests but to promote freedom and justice. After all, it IS the American Way.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

I believe that America should employ force not just to advance our national interests but to promote freedom and justice. After all, it IS the American Way.

Hear, hear, sir! :)

[BobS]

I missed a good Prager show. I'd switch from Rush to Prager when Rush was "out" or I wanted something easy to listen to. But Rush has been so much fun since he cleaned up, I just can't turn him off:)

[ryanjb2]

The founding fathers would be appalled at the level of foreign interaction we engage in today. A return to isolationism would be in our best interest. A good start would be the elimination of all foreign aid to every country on Earth.

I could find a bunch of George Washington quotes about this issue.

[Tolik]

It was Dennis Prager himself who had two articles highlighting exactly that: the differences between the conservatives and the left.

TOWNHALL.COM

October 21, 2003

The second American civil war: What it's about: Part II

 

TOWNHALL.COM

October 14, 2003

The second American civil war: what it's about

[perfect stranger]

bump

[LibertarianInExile]

As you've noticed, to defend expansion of government by positing ad hominem is a neocon's mindset. But then, neocons don't care about anything but power and 'what's right'--logic doesn't come into their thinking. They are the conservative movement's just desserts for allowing state schools, people who understand power but not why or when it should be used, only that it should be.

It's all 'isolationism' and 'paleocon' from the neos when it comes to Iraq, but I don't hear a single one of them crying for us to invade Tibet or China or Congo or Zimbabwe. There are certainly evils there to deal with. The fact is that there is no national foreign policy more important than the PROTECTION of the United States. That's why WMD was the party line, and why people bought into Iraq. Certainly, I'm glad Saddam is gone, and I don't care that they haven't found WMDs, because I believe Bush would not have gone in without really believing WMDs were there. But there are far too many stupid neocons who want to say 'preventing evil' is now our national foreign policy--and it isn't. It better not be. I don't know about you, but I don't want the U.S. military cleaning out Algeria or Cambodia. I don't care about any other country unless they're threats to our country's security, and there are a lot more people like me than there are neocons, no matter how many stupid polls the neocons push.

Thank you for being an occasional voice of reason. I'm glad you're still here. Haven't seen much of you recently.

[Vigilanteman]

Good point. Kuwait openly supported us. Bahrain provided important bases. Qatar provided us with rear support. At least three Arab countries are worth a damn.

[little jeremiah]

I haven't been able to listen to Rush every day since he came back, but he sure is sharper than before, and funnier.

(Like Ann Coulter said, he was better than any of them even when half his brain WAS tied behind his back! She said when he came out of rehab he'd really destroy them.)

[Quix]

AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!

GREAT POST.

THANKS MUCH.

I filed it in several categories.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[cgk]

Bump.

[Tymesup]

"9. The Marxist belief that forces, not individuals, shape history is wrong. George W. Bush is living proof. "

One could contend that George W. Bush's election is a result of millions of people believing in good vs evil. Perhaps George W. Bush does not get elected if Bill Clinton wasn't the prior president.

[CasearianDaoist]

They took a lot of heat for it. All of these country are right next to either Iran or Iraq. They know the score. About the Kuwaities: They are capable of gratitude and loyalty. It amazes me that Japan an Kuwait are more honorable allies that France or Germany.