A quiet Saturday night. Political thoughts.

I am spending the evening with the wife. When I got home from work she was asleep in bed. I was feeling bushed after work so I joined her. After half an hour of being in each other's arms, we got up and went to a nearby restaurant and had simple food: fried noodles. A plate of that and I was full. I hate having to eat four dishes of food and seeing most of it not eaten. Afterwards, we had ice cream at KFC for dessert.

We walked from KFC to a nearby island which can be accessed from a foot bridge near the Wu Ai Jia Lu apartment complex. The wife did not care for the Island because it meant having to walk; I thought it was a revelation. The Island contained a tea house, nice traditional style buildings, courtyards, interesting murals, garden paths and greenery. I will return to the island and take pictures.


The defining political issue of this day and age is how you feel about America and how you feel about the Iraq War.

I believe America is a force for good in the world and has done good in the world. No matter what course of action it takes it will be dammed. It is the first World Power to ever try to bring about an idealist agenda. But its very success, its very openness for all the world to see earns it derision. Because we are all so well aware of the imperfections of the USA, many are so quick to despise it. But despite its imperfections, it is still the most successful country in history.

What other world power has been able, for instance, to rebuild Japan and Germany, after having defeated them in battle. Other world powers in a similar position would have flatten them and rendered them extinct (like Rome did to Carthage). The Marshall plan which rebuilt Europe after WWII was without precedent. I know some have said it was solely a plan to benefit American business. Even if it was, it brought enormous benefit to Europe. You can make profits and benefit people. I am still waiting to see government social programs that could benefit people and raise their dignity. And the money is wasted.

I support the Iraq War. While you could say America did if for Oil (France did not go to Iraq because it had signed oil contracts with Saddam), America at least had an idealistic component to going in. Toppling a dictator and replacing it with rule of law, democracy and property rights is a goal that should have been embraced by all decent minded people around the world. Why it has not been I think can only be attributed to bigotry and self-loathing pacifism. The bigotry is against America. Americans are the New Jews. Pacifists, if they had their way, would have us living in a fascist Europe in 2007. In the 1930s, they thought Hitler was a decent guy. Pacifists feel the same way about Saddam. In a strange twist of logic, the fascist who they did not want to fight against in the 1940s: Hitler is seen the alter-ego of the fascist they don't want to see engaged in a fight: Bush-Hitler. The truth of the matter is that if you want peace you have to fight for it.

If people have affinity for the poor and oppressed they should have sympathy for Bush and the war he is fighting in Iraq. They would also abandon the left.

I started out as a Leftist. At about 23 or 24 years of age, I changed my mind. First, I remember playing Devil's Advocate about America with a NDP type (the NDP is Canada's version of the old Labour party in England) and saw to my surprise that this person was one of the biggest bigots I have ever met. He talked the talk about caring for the poor but when it came to America he turned hateful and spiteful like a Nazi. Nothing about America was good. The second turning point was listening to Rush Limbaugh. I listened to Rush out of curiosity. Every one said he was a conservative monster. He was nothing of the sort. The conservative position that he advocated was that the Left, mostly out of decent motives was ruining the life of the poor through social programs. After listening to the Left portray him, I was surprised to see what a decent guy he was. More and more, I realized how bigotry and narrow-mindedness was a leftist phenomenon. I felt I had been lied to all along by the left. They were never on the side of the angels.

Please refer to this blog entry form seablogger: http://www.seablogger.com/?p=7571. It is ostensibly about Paul Wolfowitz's struggle to improve the World Bank, but it contains some passages which inspired my about rant:

Perhaps the word “wolf” in the man’s name has inspired his enemies, but he is
hugely misunderstood. Wolfowitz is a classical liberal — an idealist who
believes that any nation can prosper, given property rights and rule of law. He
welcomes the overthrow of tyrants like Saddam Hussein. He worked long and hard
to achieve the ruin of one dictator, hoping that the linked causes of law and
liberty would advance everywhere.
Given the backlash, it remains to be seen
whether Wolfowitz was correct; but if he erred, the cause was his profound
sympathy and affinity for the poor and oppressed. Unlike leftist ninnies, he
champions ideas that would produce objective improvement for backward nations,
if implemented.

Amen.