John McCain, on the other hand, still thinks that the Cold War is happening right now. I respect and admire the dedication that he has shown this country through his military service and his political career. He has sacrificed a great deal, and for that, I give a humble thank you. All that said, he spent the entire night trying to cast a light of naivety on his opponent when it is he who is truly naive.
The "War on Terrorism" is the new Soviet Union. The American Empire needed a new enemy because our culture is lost without one. Without another superpower in the world we had no reason to be spreading our military might around the world and demanding that other countries play by our rules. Unfortunately, military might is the last vestige of an empire. This is a last ditch effort to claim our superiority.
I'm not saying that there are not people around the world that would like to do us harm and I'm not saying that safety of our citizens and national security are not important. However, demanding that people and countries adopt our way of life has no basis anymore. Whereas we used to fight the spread of communism, now we are fighting terrorist cells. Unfortunately, we are trying to do it the same exact way and it has proven to be entirely ineffective. Do you know where the country of al-Quaeda is? Me neither.
Muslims don't hate America. I know that may be hard to believe because we have been told over and over again that they do. In a 2001 speech, George W. Bush wondered aloud "Why do they hate us?" Shortly thereafter, Gallup set out to determine the answer and launched an extensive poll. They polled over 50,000 Muslims in 35 nations and published this in 2008:
- 93% of the Muslim population is "moderate."
- 7% of the Muslim population is "radical."
- Being a religious Muslim does not make you a radical.
- “Radicals” are politically extreme, not necessarily religiously extreme; and give political reasons, not religious reasons, for condoning terrorism.
- “Radicals” are better educated, have better jobs, and are more hopeful about the future than are “moderates”; they also support democracy/ believe in democracy more than the “moderates” do, but are just cynical about getting it themselves.
- Muslims don’t want secularism or theocracy, but a democracy based on religious values.
- Muslims don’t hate the West, they just don’t want Western ways imposed on them.
John Esposito, professor of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University and one of the authors of the book Who Speaks For Islam? What A Billion Muslims Really Think, says "Muslims want self-determination, but not an American-imposed and defined democracy. They don't want secularism or theocracy. What the majority wants is democracy with religious values."
This is what John McCain either doesn't know or chooses to ignore. This is exactly what George W. Bush has ignored or refused to acknowledge his entire presidency. Bush showed his disdain for diplomacy when he said "You can't talk your way to a solution to a problem." That's our president, folks. I don't know about you, but my parents never told me to hit first and ask questions later; and I didn't have the face of nation attached to me.
To be clear, there is no compatibility between democracy and Islamic fundamentalism. To fundamentalists, all foreign ideologies are evil. The question is whether there it is compatible with Islam itself. According to the Gallup poll, that seems to be a distinct possibility, but accusations and air strikes prevent that from happening.
Imperialism is over. Superpowers are things of the past. What we have is a clash of civilizations where there can be no winner, only understanding.
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