Post #241,867
1/19/06 10:46:24 AM
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Of course, he doesn't offer any specific alternatives...
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Post #241,868
1/19/06 11:01:07 AM
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Yes he did
he suggested that the citizenry of the US actually participate in their democracy... after all, most of them don't.
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Post #241,871
1/19/06 11:16:34 AM
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I meant policy alternatives.
I'm sorry, Chomsky rubs me the wrong way. He criticizes almost every aspect of US foreign policy in the last 45+ years, yet he doesn't say what he thinks we should do or have done differently. In his writing that I've read, it seems that he believes that most conflicts we have in the world are the result of bad US policies: Other governments react to our bad policies and create problems for us. 'If the US behaved differently, the world would have less conflict and be a better place for everyone' seems to be his continuing mantra.
It's easy to make blanket criticisms like that.
What does he think we should have done differently? What specifically should the US do differently now?
Saying the population should participate in the democratic process and that the Democrats should behave more like an opposition party and do what the polls say people want is fine and good. It doesn't answer the broader question though.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #241,874
1/19/06 12:27:49 PM
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Well, the polls say
that the US people don't want to be in Iraq, and that the US people want comprehensive state supported health insurance.
There's two policy alternatives right there.
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Post #241,877
1/19/06 12:57:38 PM
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Yeah, but what we really mean is
we want unlimited cheap oil without wasting money or lives, and we want unlimited free healthcare without wating in line.
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Post #241,878
1/19/06 1:17:04 PM
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Not much you can do for delusionals
If that happens to be most of the US, well... they will eventually learn; the only question is will it be the hard way or the easy way?
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Post #241,904
1/20/06 8:43:03 AM
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True, but polls
shouldn't dictate policy. Goals should dictate policy. (And polls should dictate goals....well, maybe)
Anyway, once we're in Iraq, there's not much we can do (except leave). Trying to specify that they will have, oh, Calabi (or, whatever his name is) as Oil Minister (when we're claiming to set them up with a democracy) is proabably a bad idea, but is it policy?
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Post #241,914
1/20/06 11:06:31 AM
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Yes
They sort of have two contradictory goals in Iraq as stated... 'they're going to have a democracy as long as we like the resulting government.'
But of course, there's stated policy and there's real policy. The two are not necessarily the same, and I think a lot of problem that people outside the US have with the Bush regime is that the divergence between the two is much wider than usual, and not in a good way.
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Post #241,909
1/20/06 9:54:21 AM
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Disagree
I've read Chomsky over the years and I think these are in line w/ his ideas
1) allow other countries to develop their own political systems
2) don't use the military to clear the way for US corporate interests
3) don't have officials tell lies about people they don't like
4) don't use every crisis (real or imagined) to subvert the Bill of Rights
5) support self-determination
6) expose official corruption
7) limit military spending
just to list a few
A
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Post #241,973
1/20/06 8:08:35 PM
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Well said.
bcnu,
Mikem
It would seem, therefore, that the three human impulses embodied in religion are fear, conceit, and hatred. The purpose of religion, one might say, is to give an air of respectibility to these passions. -- Bertrand Russell
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Post #242,289
1/23/06 10:45:22 PM
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Re: Disagree
Yes, he's easy to ridicule, especially by those seeking only a phrase for a sound bite.
His prose is verbose; he tries to forestall misunderstandings later (but of course - the reading requires an attention span of several minutes at a time - disqualifying many.)
I expect he's a bit too sane to become a National figure for the infotainment rounds.
Muricans don't want to 'know' how we appear to others anyway - just want to emote and congratulate each other for choosing to be born here, where we are always Right, no matter who dies.
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