Speaking of the French: It's nothing short of shameful to see so-called Americans genuflect before the alter of "international approval." I haven't seen a single Democrat - so far - express the renegade opinion that the United States must act unilaterally when necessary even while other nations oppose us for ulterior motives (e.g. the U.N.'s "Oil for Food" scandal). They should be kept far, far away from the instruments of government.
Update: Liberal mouthpiece Mark Shields (perhaps reading off his DNC talking notes) just said that the United States is "isolated" in the world. Mark, we've been "isolated" since the Soviet Union crumbled as the sole superpower in the world. There is nothing we could ever do to please the rest of the world unless we accept treaties (e.g. International Court, Kyoto) that abdicate American rights to the will of the EU. Grow up.
Extra: Hey, Kevin heard it too! – “I'm pretty sure I heard Carter say, "What America needs is leadership that won't piss off the French."”
1 comment:
France has had a very different experience with democracy than the United States, which has led to a very different viewpoint. France has had five republics, two emperors, three kings, and a puppet dictatorship as their form of government since the United States first brought democracy back into the world.
France's initial independent democratic revolution is still ranked as the most bloody in recorded history - it even saw the development of an entirely new form of mass-execution known as the guillotine. France's former colonies include Vietnam, Syria, and Lebanon - none of which France was able to lead into democracy.
During World War I and World War II, France, as a democracy, found itself unable to put up meaningful resistance against a dictatorship that was roughly its equal in both population and resources. As a military dictatorship under Napoleon, France had managed to conquer most of western Europe before Napoleon's army was devastated by an ill-planned invasion of Russia.
Attempts to change dictatorships into democracy that involved France, such as the establishment of the Weimar Republic in Germany following WWI, failed.
As a result, polls show significantly less ethusiasm for democracy in France than in the United States. Regardless of whether Chirac is replaced, as seems likely, it would be wildly over optimistic to believe France will play a key role in spreading democracy into the Middle East.
Mark Harm
Candidate for State Representative - Michigan
http://www.markharm.com
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