IT’S NOT OVER YET

Just who is he referring to when he says 'we'?

So?

He is a militarist not a conservative; this is a conservative web site. Makes no difference to me, but there are lots of impressionable mines who might actually start to believe that somehow troop movements in the Middle East have anything to do with conservatism.

["After the September 2001 terror attacks, we were faced with two options."] Just who is he referring to when he says 'we'?

I assume that he is referring to "Americans". Why? You think he is wrong about the choices we faced? If so, that's fine, but it still doesn't add up to "he views the state as an extension of himself"; maybe he's just wrong about the choices we faced.

He is a militarist not a conservative;

You think so? Why? (P.S. Please also include your personal definitions of those terms so that it is clear what you are saying.)

this is a conservative web site

1. So? Lots of articles are posted here with varying points of view. If you have some disagreement with the article spit it out. Are you saying that only articles by conservatives should be posted here? 2. Even presuming we should care, we still have no indication that the author isn't a conservative. Did you ask him? 3. It's worth adding that presumably a majority of people who visit this website agree with the article; if you insist that the article is "not conservative" according to your definition, then maybe most Freepers aren't either.

there are lots of impressionable mines who might actually start to believe that somehow troop movements in the Middle East have anything to do with conservatism.

Thank goodness we idiots have you to set us straight, where would we be without your genius ;-P

Actually I'm not sure that anyone here has ever said "troop movements in the Middle East have something do with conservatism" to begin with. No conservative advocates troop movements anywhere "because it's conservative"; they do so for reasons of (perceived) national defense. You didn't know that?

Do you really base whether you advocate troop movements somewhere solely on your apparent ideological need to "be conservative"? If doing something "is conservative" you're for it, if not you're against it? Doesn't sound like a very conservative approach to me, it sounds ideological. Real conservatives eschew ideology.

Uh-boy.

There are conservative parameters for debate and there are militarist parameters, exemplified by Canadian conservative David Frum who said the only reasonable debate was who 'do we invade first?'

The author believes that there is a collective 'we' that collectively face 'choices.' While he may well be a litte to the right of 'it takes a village' it's the same statist rhetoric that gives him away.

News for you; we are not doing the fighting in Iraq. Sons and daughters of your neighbors are doing the fighting.

Why is he a militarist?
I have no reason to think he is intersted in conserving anything, just destroying things.

Where would you be?
New Republic's website I guess.

There are conservative parameters for debate and there are militarist parameters, ..

Don't tell me about "parameters for debate", tell me your definitions of the word "conservative" and "militarist". If you want to be understood by anyone.

The author believes that there is a collective 'we' that collectively face 'choices.'

The author is correct in this, er, "belief". There is after all a group of human beings which may be referred to as "Americans". Unless I am wrong (tell me if I am), this is who he meant by the (innocuous) pronoun "we". As for whether Americans "face choices": being humans, of course we do. But (and this is probably what he meant) we also have a representative government (being a republic) and the members of that government make choices on our behalf, with (in principle) our views and interests in mind. Let me know what else you need explained on this level.

While he may well be a litte to the right of 'it takes a village' it's the same statist rhetoric that gives him away.

Actually I prefer to say that it's your bizarre overreaction to and extrapolation of his rhetoric (and, of stuff he never even said) which gives you away.

News for you; we are not doing the fighting in Iraq. Sons and daughters of your neighbors are doing the fighting.

Thanks for the news flash Mr. Cronkite. Again, where would I be without you? You're a true blessing.

I have no reason to think he is intersted in conserving anything, just destroying things.

That's awfully weird that you think that way. What can I tell you?

Where would you be? New Republic's website I guess.

???

I might suggest,

conservative-- general distrust of centralized power, belief in the American tradition of liberty, belief that liberty is maintained through institutions and traditions. Realist on matters of foreign policy, resisting appeals to abstracts and emotion.

militarist-- belief that freedom is maintained by military exploits made in the name of the nation-state.

As if that is the only time he uses 'we' to mean the United states government, the American people, the troops in the Middle East. The interchangeability of his pronoun usage reveals that he bought a truck-load of liberal propaganda.

I might suggest, conservative-- general distrust of centralized power, belief in the American tradition of liberty, belief that liberty is maintained through institutions and traditions. Realist on matters of foreign policy, resisting appeals to abstracts and emotion. militarist-- belief that freedom is maintained by military exploits made in the name of the nation-state.

Very well. I suggest you forward these definitions to LT Smash and ask him which one he thinks he is. It's not clear why you think you can categorize him on the basis of having (half-) read the little essay at the top of this thread.

The interchangeability of his pronoun usage reveals that he bought a truck-load of liberal propaganda.

No it doesn't. Your overreaction to the third-person-plural pronoun (a very common word in the English language) reveals something about you, not about him.

Now how did I miss this the other day???

Thanks for the ping!
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Bump! Thanks RC !

Wonderful pieces...Thank You, Thank You!!!

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