Is it just me?  Am I the only one who gets leery when hearing about “spreading democracy over the world”?  This is supposed to be a ‘conservative’ mission, as put forth by our President and his advisors, but is it?

This idealistic phrase smacks strongly of utopianism, which is a fundamentally liberal outlook.  While conservatism has its own idealistic side, namely that the government will stay out of our pocketbooks as much as possible and will uphold traditional morality, it has always been the pragmatic side of the politcal spectrum.  The very word ‘conservative’ implies a pre-occupation with the way things are, not the way they should be.  Rather than pursuing some starry-eyed vision of an ideal society of equality, diversity, and tolerance, conservatives focus on finding innovative solutions to situations at hand without compromising liberty.  But with the rise of the so-called neo-conservatives, that seems to have changed.  This movement foresees a world dominated by a U.S. hegemony, overseeing the creation of many prosperous ‘democracies’, that is third world and Middle Eastern nations remade in the American image, or at least what the neo-cons think of as the American image.  The neo-conservatives’ golden opportunity to implement their radical policies came with the occurrence of the September 11th tragedy.  However, their premises are basically flawed in that the fail to realize that America’s unique system of government is not just a body of easily transferable political philosophies and procedures, but is based on centuries of Western thought, Judeo-Christian beliefs, and predominantly British cultural and political influences.  To seet to transmit our political system to nations which lack our cultural values is folly. (more…)