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Sowell: Dangers Ahead--From the Right
Capitalism Magazine ^ | jan 5, 2003 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 01/05/2003 4:25:54 AM PST by The Raven

This year may be long remembered as the year when either the wisdom or the lack of wisdom of our leaders decided the fate of Americans yet unborn. The undeclared war against this country by nations harboring and fostering terrorists sworn to our destruction became undeniable on September 11, 2001.

The nuclear threat implicit in these undeclared wars became explicit last year, when North Korea openly repudiated the treaty by which Bill Clinton had tried to buy them off by essentially paying blackmail to get their nuclear weapons off the headlines.

Sweeping the problem under the rug worked for Clinton, in the only sense that mattered to him, that it solved his immediate political problem and left the dangers to be dealt with by his successors. But now that President Bush has openly recognized the terrorist threat and taken it on, the path of buying off North Korea once again seems no longer open to him, even if he wanted to take it.

Nevertheless, it is not encouraging to hear Secretary of State Colin Powell talking about how we will not "negotiate" with North Korea, but that we will have "conversations" with them. This sounds too much like Bill Clinton's habit of splitting hairs over words, while hiding behind semantics.

Those who discuss death-laden international complexities as if they were discussing abstract issues around a seminar table are asking why we are getting ready to take on Iraq without first taking on North Korea. Iraq does not have a nuclear-armed China backing up Saddam Hussein. That is not a small difference in the real world.

China, incidentally, has nuclear missiles that can reach American cities, thanks to American technology which they obtained when Bill Clinton over-ruled the objections of our military and intelligence officials, and allowed that technology to be exported. China also now controls the canal that Americans built in Panama, which Jimmy Carter gave away when he was president.

Clinton gained campaign contributions and Jimmy Carter gained the kind of international image that eventually led to the Nobel Prize, especially after he later schmoozed with North Korean and Cuban dictators, and publicly trashed the foreign policy of the Bush administration.

Cynics say that every man has his price. But you might at least expect presidents to have higher prices than these.

While the left has done enormous damage to the security of the United States, the political right is not without its problems. Those neoconservatives, especially, who were pushing an activist "national greatness" foreign policy, even before September 11th, have seized upon that event as a reason for the United States to "use American might to promote American ideals" around the world.

That phrase, by Max Boot of the Counsel on Foreign Relations and The Weekly Standard, is breathtaking in its implications. When he places himself and fellow neoconservatives in the tradition of Woodrow Wilson, it is truly chilling.

Many of the countries we are having big trouble with today were created by the Woodrow Wilson policies of nation-building by breaking up empires, under the principle of "self-determination of nations." Such trouble spots as Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon were all parts of the Ottoman Empire that was dismembered after its defeat in the First World War.

The Balkan cauldron of nations was created by dismembering the defeated Austro-Hungarian Empire. That dismemberment also facilitated Adolph Hitler's picking off small nations like Czechoslovakia and Austria in the 1930s, without firing a shot, because they were no longer part of a defensible empire.

The track record of nation-building and Wilsonian grandiosity ought to give anyone pause. The very idea that young Americans are once again to be sent out to be shot at and killed, in order to carry out the bright ideas of editorial office heroes, is sickening.

In a dangerous nuclear world, it is a full-time job for the U.S. government to protect the lives of the American people. That cannot be done by staying home and depending on two oceans to shield us, as the old-line conservatism of Patrick Buchanan seems to suggest. But to destroy regimes that are trying to destroy us is very different from going on nation-building adventures.


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: copernicus3; thomassowelllist
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See also the excellent Dangers from the Left also by Sowell.
1 posted on 01/05/2003 4:25:54 AM PST by The Raven
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To: The Raven
"North Korea openly repudiated the treaty by which Bill Clinton had tried to buy them off by essentially paying blackmail to get their nuclear weapons off the headlines. Sweeping the problem under the rug worked for Clinton, in the only sense that mattered to him, that it solved his immediate political problem and left the dangers to be dealt with by his successors."

Once again, Thomas Sowell demonstrates his brilliance by summing up the Clinton's Foreign Policy in a sentence or two.

FReegards...MUD

2 posted on 01/05/2003 4:31:54 AM PST by Mudboy Slim
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To: any1
Colin Powell's suggestion of *having conversations* with N. Korea is simply an effort to buy the time to deal with Iraq before we are forced to possibly war with N. Korea.
3 posted on 01/05/2003 4:45:54 AM PST by any1
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To: The Raven
Cynics say that every man has his price. But you might at least expect presidents to have higher prices than these.

----------------------

Quite the opposite. We require our people to be whores and incompetents to get elected.

4 posted on 01/05/2003 5:10:36 AM PST by RLK
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To: RLK
Quite astute, RLK.
5 posted on 01/05/2003 5:23:07 AM PST by Savage Beast
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To: The Raven
Sooks like he deplores the demise of empires. Very, very interesting.

Let's remember that our little country used to be part of the once-mighty British empire. Were George Washington and friends wrong?

6 posted on 01/05/2003 5:29:51 AM PST by A Vast RightWing Conspirator
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To: A Vast RightWing Conspirator
Sooks = Looks (cold fingers)
7 posted on 01/05/2003 5:30:19 AM PST by A Vast RightWing Conspirator
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To: RLK
Absolutely correct. Americans will not elect honest candidates. The real world isn't a nice place but don't try to tell people that when campaigning. You'll lose.
8 posted on 01/05/2003 5:32:34 AM PST by NoControllingLegalAuthority
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To: A Vast RightWing Conspirator
>>Looks like he deplores the demise of empires. Very, very interesting.

That is interesting! He didn't mention Berma(?). I think he's headed in the direction of "left-wing" rather than right wing thought. The post-war carving-out of little countries from big countries doesn't work.

The US (and Taiwan) broke off by ourselves.
9 posted on 01/05/2003 5:39:08 AM PST by The Raven
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To: The Raven
But to destroy regimes that are trying to destroy us is very different from going on nation-building adventures.

Replacing "regimes" with "puppets" or different forms of corruption doesn't work. Any US supported start-up nation that is not laying down a "Constitution" similar to ours...means:

A. We are asking for trouble somewhere down the road.

B. We've all been duped.

10 posted on 01/05/2003 6:05:03 AM PST by PGalt
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To: RLK
"The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it. "
P. J. O'Rourke
11 posted on 01/05/2003 6:06:19 AM PST by Howie
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To: RLK
slam
12 posted on 01/05/2003 6:08:56 AM PST by TLBSHOW
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To: The Raven
The track record of nation-building and Wilsonian grandiosity ought to give anyone pause. The very idea that young Americans are once again to be sent out to be shot at and killed, in order to carry out the bright ideas of editorial office heroes, is sickening.

Absolutely true.

In a dangerous nuclear world, it is a full-time job for the U.S. government to protect the lives of the American people. That cannot be done by staying home and depending on two oceans to shield us, as the old-line conservatism of Patrick Buchanan seems to suggest.

Obviously the two oceans do not shield us from a nation equipped with ICBM's or SLBM's.

Given the facts that; (1) every nation and even non state actors pose a credible potential threat via nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, (2) the US is (for the time being) a relatively free and open society, (3) pathetic border control and lax immigration policies, the question is where does the US draw the line of pre-emption?

Sowell draws a distinction between US troops dying to enforce a Wilsonian world utopia as compared to troops dying to protect the US from potential threats. Again he is correct, but he avoids the central issues.

Those issues are the facts that (1) idiotic Wilsonian foreign policy created the enemies we currently face, (2) our attack on Iraq will harden the resolve of enemies we already have and create more in the bargain, and (3) the only way to make America truly safe is to establish an American led global empire with freedoms on par with the Soviet empire.

An empire based on legitimate security concerns is ultimately no different from a Wilsonian empire.

Freedom is not free. It's cost is a degree of risk. That is a cost I am willing to pay.

Regards

J.R.

13 posted on 01/05/2003 6:18:22 AM PST by NMC EXP
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To: Salvation
This year may be long remembered as the year when either the wisdom or the lack of wisdom of our leaders decided the fate of Americans yet unborn.

BUMP
14 posted on 01/05/2003 6:21:42 AM PST by TLBSHOW
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: The Raven
Great piece. Thanks for posting it.

It does bring up the question of what the U.S. "is going to do with" Iraq after we take care of Saddam.

16 posted on 01/05/2003 6:46:11 AM PST by snopercod
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To: Savage Beast; RLK
I'm of the minority who expects a higher standard, not merely a higher price from our leaders.

I'm no whore, either.

17 posted on 01/05/2003 7:10:25 AM PST by happygrl
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To: A Vast RightWing Conspirator
No.

But the British were hoisted on their own petard of parliamentary government.

In a sense, we are still a part of the Anglo-empire which includes English speaking democracies in North America and Australia/New Zealand. I would include India as well. Heirs to the ideas of Magna Carta, but admittedly, less and less to limited government.

18 posted on 01/05/2003 7:15:04 AM PST by happygrl
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To: The Raven
It is about time the Wilson Administration was placed back on the front burner of American Consciousness.

Nearly every (Unconstitutional)problem of contemporary America- from the IRS, to the centralized Police force known as the FBI, to the odd public/private Central bank known as the Federal Reserve,to the direct election of Senators, to interventionist "entangling foreign alliances" had their genesis in the Wilson Administration.

The 20th Century was truly the Wilsonian Century. FDR may have built Socialist America, but Woodrow Wilson was the architect with the original blueprints.

There should be a separate Woodrow Wilson section on Free Republic so people can learn how badly the Constitution was gutted during his tenure.

Best regards,

19 posted on 01/05/2003 7:30:16 AM PST by Copernicus
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To: A Vast RightWing Conspirator
Sooks = Looks (cold fingers)

Rather, changed from "sounds" to "looks" midword?

20 posted on 01/05/2003 7:36:41 AM PST by copycat
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