more on an astute essay by former President Jimmy Carter Yes, that'a very interesting article, but]

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

-------- 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 () nationaljournal com>
To:     dave () farber net




I 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 () farber net]
Sent: Tue 11/15/2005 5:31 PM
To: ip () v2 listbox com
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 () cmp com
To:     dave () farber net



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 () cmp com
415.947.6820

http://www.informationweek.com
http://www.lot49.com

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