Six Questions For Americans To Ask Of Any Government Action/Policy

1.  Is it the government’s business?
2.  Does it promote self-reliance?
3.  Is it responsible?
4.  Does it make America more prosperous?
5.  Does it make us safer?
6.  Does it unify us?  

– Edwin J. Feulner, Getting America Right.

The Price Bush Paid

“When Bush charged Saddam Hussein with refusing to give up his weapons of mass destruction, he was…relying in good faith on what the CIA–and every other intelligence agency in the world–assured him was the case.  He was also acting in good faith when he warned that Saddam might put such weapons into the hands of terrorists and when he then invoked this danger in an advance justification of the new policy of preemption…But there would be a heavy price to pay for placing so much stress on the issue of WMD.  Not only did the failure to find them retrospectively injure the case for invading Iraq; perhaps even more injurious was that the emphasis on WMD obscured the long-range strategic rationale for the invasion.  For while the immediate objective was indeed to disarm Saddam Hussein, the larger one was to press on with ‘draining the swamps’–whether created by religious despots, as in Afghanistan, or by secular tyrants, as in Iraq–that were in Bush’s view the breeding grounds of terrorism in the greater Middle East.  Nor could those swamps be drained only by strong-arming the regimes under which they had been festering.  It was also necessary in this view to replace these regimes with elected governments that would work to fulfill the hopes of ‘the peoples of the Islamic nations [who] want and deserve the same freedoms and opportunities as people in every nation.” – Norman Podhoretz, World War IV, p. 134-135.

Being Careful About “World Opinion”

As a Scripture-reading and -believing Christian, I am cautious whenever people say things like, “The world hates America” or “America’s image in the world is declining.”  I do not deny that there are justifiable reasons for the reality behind such slogans.  I am sure that there is some degree of truth behind every charge of America’s arrogance, or “going-it-alone,” or “isolationism.”  However, I also believe that too much weight should not be placed on so-called “world opinion” precisely because the world is also the same world that crucified Jesus (cf. Jn 15:18-19; 17:9), the same world that is under condemnation by God.  In saying this, I am not in the least suggesting that America is the kingdom of God.  It is not and never will be.  Indeed, insofar as America is outside Christ, it too is a part of the world as well.  However, my point is this: if the world cannot be fully trusted to judge matters of righteousness, if the world is under the power of the evil one, why should we place our full confidence on world opinion when it comes to any one member of the world community–in this case, America?  This is why I find it disturbing whenever people harp on “world opinion” as a case against America’s foreign policies.  The world does not know everything.  The individuals that make up the world are not always well informed.  While people complain that Americans do not know enough about the world, the opposite argument can be made that people from other countries make too many assumptions about America without really understanding this country.  More importantly, the world–as a collective comprising people outside of Christ–is in darkness and cannot be relied upon to make moral judgments that reflect the whole counsel of God.  This certainly calls us to be more careful before jumping on any bandwagon endorsed by the “world.”    

Huckabee on Restoring America’s Greatness

Gov. Huckabee’s 12 Stops to restore America’s greatness are as follows:
1.  Stop being cynical
2.  Stop thinking horizontally (aim up, not just left and right)
3.  Stop cheating our children
4.  Stop the culture of chronic disease
5.  Stop abusing our planet
6.  Stop the revenge-based criminal justice system
7.  Stop robbing the taxpayers
8.  Stop the heat and turn on the light on hot issues.
9.  Stop the loss of America’s prestige at home and abroad.
10.  Stop moving the landmarks of liberty.
11.  Stop the loss of good jobs and the erosion of agriculture.
12.  Stop being a selfish citizen. 

– Mike Huckabee, From Hope To Higher Ground.

President Sarkozy’s Speech

The speech delivered at congress by President Nicolas Sarkozy may be found here.

Can We Rely On The World Court?

“The World Court today is chaired by a Chinese judge whose country is a totalitarian society repressively occupying Tibet, refusing to hold open elections in Hong Kong, and threatening to invade Taiwan.  In 2003, Libya, which was ruled by the dictator Muammar Qadhafi, became chairman of the Human Rights Comission.  In 2004, the United Nations included Sudan on the Human Rights Commission even though its Islamist dictatorship is accused of murdering thousands of Africans, fostering a starvation policy that could kill a million more Africans this year, and that has been responsible for what Secretary General Kofi Annan says is the biggest humanitarian crisis on the planet.” — Newt Gingrich, Winning The Future, p.15.