What is more important... bringing liberty to another country, or protecting our own?

Question

(And let's not pretend these two things aren't mutually exclusive. If the U.S. is depending on other nations for its freedom, we've got bigger problems than terrorism in this country.)

Answer 1

we should be protecting the people of this country first.

Answer 2

I am afraid that's a loaded question and I sure wish I had a good answer for you, but I don't.

I really don't see anything 'mutual' about it. I do see us, however, protecting our nation from future terrorists by helping Iraq to build a democracy of their own...and to assist their people in finding the freedoms that some people in the US take for granted.

I too, wish this for every country and to live in peace. And haven't you ever noticed how many questions are in here from people in other countries asking how they too can be like America? I've found at least 20 in the past month. There are people out there that cannot enjoy the things we do.

My family is over there fighting on their behalf and they are very proud of being a part of stabilizing their new government. If we love one another, then we should want everyone to have they freedoms that we have.

Answer 3

Despite what you may think, the U.S. "does" rely on other nations to help keep the flame of liberty and freedom alive. The primary responsibility of government is to protect its people from all adversaries. Iraq, thru its actions and words, made it clear that we were the enemy and utilized many destablizing techniques in the Middle East before we arrived. Though it is impossible to determine at this point, a case can be made that those tactics would have continued and certainly become for intense and deadly until someone had enough and ended their reign of terror within their own country and in the entire region. Given the cultural make-up of the middle east, it takes little to rachet up the tensions that get a lot of people killed and Saddam was an expert in that area. Paying suicide bombers to blow up bus loads of innocent people should have been enough for someone to step in. Unfortunately, there arn't a whole lot of countries around that have the gonads to do the right thing. Liberating 25,000,000 people from terror tactics used by these barbaric thugs is an accomplishment to have pride in, not condensention for purely political purposes. We do have big problems in this country. Primarily we are building a culture of hatred for our fellow man thru constant and unending criticism of our government and our military for providing freedom and liberty to folks who were oppressed and humiliated by one of the most murderous regimes in the entire region for the last 25 years. Its not like their reputation was a secret. We should continue to protect our country and those who cannot help themselves. I once thought that this was one of the tenets of a christian nation. Obviously that is not the case anymore. Now the evolving slogan seems to be "I've got mine-go get yours somewhere else." A classic example of do as I say not as I do. In some ways we are told to feel ashamed---not for constant criticism of our own people but for even trying to secure and uphold liberty for others besides ourselves.

Answer 4

The Algerians, Morrocans, Tunisians, French, Belgians, Dutch, Norwegans, Swedes, and to some extent the Brits and Italians in WWII, and I, had a good laugh over your 'mutual exclusion' premise.

Oh, and let's not forget the Chinese, Burmans, and the Phillipinians, Micronesians, etc. in the South Pacific around 1940-1945.

Right! Let's just always fight the enemy on their own soil -- yeah, that's the ticket!

.

Answer 5

Protecting our own. It is alarming and sad that the United States (and most of the world) holds the "top spot" for the model of a free Democratic Republic. The last time I checked we were ranked a low #8 in the race for the "free-est" society (http://www.stateofworldliberty.org/report/rankings.html). With the way that our government (I put no blame on any sole entity like "the Bush Administration" I blame the American Federal government as a whole) has been "handling" situations in the recent (and not so recent) past, I assume our rank will drop.

I have to wonder if we, as the American people, are living in a society with less liberties than the Cold War USSR...

Answer 6

I see two choices in the fight against Terrorism. Either we Isolate ourselves from the World by Walling up our Borders and Fighter Jets patrolling our skies 24-7 for the rest of our miserable existance.
Or by taking Democracy to the World and promoting stability in unstable regions such as the Middle East. Two Democracies have never gone to War with each other in History, there's a reason for that.
It sounds like you prefer the latter.

Answer 7

No, these two aren't mutually exclusive...

I'm not saying Bush went about this the right way
(quite the contrary) - but it is possible to have a
foreign policy that encourages democracy while
protecting your own.

In fact, I would argue that such a DIPLOMATIC
policy does lots to protect your own.

However, as soon as you are seen to be a bully,
you (to use the opposition's own words) embolden
your enemy - you certainly bolster their cause.

Yes, I would argue that attacking Iraq was actually
a great step BACKWARDS at improving domestic
security - but I certainly think that one can have a
mutually beneficial foreign and domestic policy.

Answer 8

we aren't depending on other nations for freedom , clinton did and that was the cause of 9/11 , thank god we took matters into our own hands and haven't had a successfull attack on america since then .

But yes , we do have bigger problems , and it is the weak minds of the liberals spreading propoganda and causing americans to hate and attack their own

Answer 9

Big Brother Bush is making steady progress taking away our rights to privacy. The government can search your financial and other records including your weblog and put together a circumstantial case against you, freeze your assets using secret evidence, arrest you and hold you without an attorney indefinately. Big Brother says your employer can regulated your private behavior.

A "Wall" was created between foreign intelligence investigations and domestic criminal investigations. The idea was to prevent the kind of secret dossiers being kept on American citizens during J. Edgar Hoover's tenure in the FBI. Those files, under a program called COINTELPRO, were obtained without informing the citizen being watched even though there was no evidence of a crime. The "Wall" was largely the result of a misunderstanding of what appears to have been a very difficult law to understand. The extreme right wing has used the Clinton Administration's experiences with the "Wall" as justification to remove the wall to enable law enforcement and intelligence agencies to share information. But do we really want government spying on citizens just because their beliefs are outside of what the current FBI administration calls "mainstream"?

Answer 10

Protecting our own country and looking after our own people. We've helped enough in the past and got kicked in the butts for it. Let them help themselves. I'm talking about some of the larger countries, not some of the smaller ones whom I have read support us and do what they can to help or repay us and are grateful for our help.

Answer 11

Start with our own, and if we handle it well and present our country as the shining example of all our best ideals in theory AND in practice, then over time the world will follow suit.

Or we can just blow it by abrogating all our principals so that some neocons can play fantasy games with our military.