Sheesh, just look how we “got” Hawaii. They’re still complaining. Rightfully.
1 Like
So Imperialistic adventures was practiced by a few leaders, but that does not make the country an Imperialist power.
As you stipulated, Obama followed the principle of “just cause”. It shows that the US , as a Democracy does not willfully practice Imperialism. We do practice willful unrestricted Capitalism against its citizens. That I oppose strongly, because it invites and rewards the abusers.
1 Like
Bush the elder made war on Iraq because Iraq had invaded Koweït, with China and Russia tacite approval and with a mandate of the United Nations Security Council.
It is true that it was in the USA oil industries interests, but that was not the prime motive. Hussein got an ultimatum before war was launched. He neglected it.
Bush Junior and his friends from industry engineered a disaster, using lies.
You cannot put the two Bush on the same level.
I agree strongly that USA is an imperialist power, not because of some leaders, but because it built its economy and its strength on imperialism.
2 Likes
Not really. I gave an example where he fixed a problem caused by W. He still shot the guy instead of putting him on trial. He also dropped a lot of bombs on civilians. He made no move to investigate Bush’s crimes. That’s the tangent we are on, that it would be a travesty if we let Trump go free. Well, that is the precedent that has been set.
Glaspie’s statements that “We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts” and that “the Kuwait issue is not associated with America” were interpreted by Saddam as giving free rein to handle his disputes with Kuwait as he saw fit.
Any way we look at it, Liberalism is 100% about the individual.
Actually, it’s not. Liberalism is for the greater good, while conservatism attempts to help no one. If the program helps people, conservatives are against it the majority of the time. Liberal is not 100% for the individual. No single group is 100% just as young single women are not 100% of the time liberal (I know a lot who are not) and older married women are 100% conservative (simply not true). I really love how you make blanket statements about various people and various groups. I get to punch holes in them, but you never believe what I say and just say I’m an oddity. The fact I’m an oddity shows no single blanket statement you through is true.
liberalism is about the individual.
Please, would you give us some source.
Sure,
LINK
A political ideology centred upon the individual (see individualism), thought of as possessing rights against the government, including rights of due process under the law, equality of respect, freedom of expression and action, and freedom from religious and ideological constraint. Liberalism is attacked from the left as the ideology of free markets, with no defence against the accumulation of wealth and power in the hands of a few, and as lacking any analysis of the social and political nature of persons. It is attacked from the right as insufficiently sensitive to the value of settled institutions and customs, or to the need for social structure and constraint in providing the matrix for individual freedoms.
But please note that the definition of liberalism is one of the dishonest approaches to attacking the term liberal democracy (vs an illiberal democracy). Liberal democracy as defined inTurkey is also unlike the liberal democracy of the west.
Democracy is what is under threat from republicans. Just look at their Don’t tread on me flags and you can see what individual means to them.
You really don’t get liberalism.
I provide a definition from a reputable source and it’s me who doesn’t understand? Take it up with the Oxford reference!
1 Like
But we the people demand it. Our economy would look totally differently, if we gave other nations a fair cut for their resources, that we import and consume.
Low gas prices continues to near the top of our concerns, none of us in this country (except perhaps the Indians we’ve been shoved onto improvised lands) is in a position of moral righteousness, or conceits of innocence. If we live here, if we buy here, if we eat here, we have blood on our hands too.
As the song goes, if you are going to stay, you wind up playing anyways.
Oh and The Donald is just like any other politician out there, no worse, no better ? ? ?
I better understand the problem.
Coffee definition of liberalism is short but globally true from a classical and European point of view.
From this point of view, liberalism is a philosophy combining individual, political and economical freedoms. Coffee is right from an European point of view, liberals are people on the right side of politics, promoting free markets and business.
But, in USA , liberalism has become a synonym of left ideology. And from a US point of view, given the evolution of the meaning of the word liberalism, he is wrong.
In USA, the traditional liberalism is divided into 2 lines, classical conservatism and libertarian philosophy.
And Trumpism combine conservative authoritarianism, with free business and priority to the interests of the rich people, on the verge of fascism.
1 Like
Exactly! If liberals (like me) expect to intelligently converse with conservatives, we have to understand where conservatives are coming from. Your link to modern liberalism is what democrats generally mean when we say we are liberal. But the term has long held the non-modern meaning.
I refer to myself as a liberal democrat. I favor the things that help include all people in the United States. I am strongly opposed to racists and haters as they try to justify their ignorance.
2 Likes
Of all the tangential, word twisting, cherry picking, topic changing you do, could you at least pay attention to what and who I’m talking to?
This question makes no sense. It has nothing to do with the conversation I’m having.
That is a challenge. But, seriously folks, the words are highly charged. With the changing of the guard we are having, or at least I hope the old white men have lost some power this summer, we are seeing more discussion about where the parties are headed and how do we change them. Ranked choice voting used to be fringe, but not quite as much lately.
The way I learned it, liberalism was what the French did when they overthrew their queen, and its enshrined in their, and our, Constitutions. But those are imperfect. So, we keep fighting over words.
1 Like
Every political system is about the greater good. The problem is the greater good is not seen the same way by everyone.
OK I’ll buy that, but the fact that Repugs refuse to have programs that help people and insist on programs that help large corporation, I do not see that as being for the greater good.