The thing that most folks don't understand about us neoconservatives is that we are humanitarian. That's why you get sloppy folks who don't the difference between pre-emption and 'warmongering'. I have yet to figure out what technically makes somebody a warmonger, but I understand what pre-emption is all about. Pre-emption is basically the practical end of the dictum 'Where there is no hero, you be the hero'. Sooner or later, even Lefties are going to understand that.
To that end of consensus, you will hear me in most of the future refer to 'shrinking the gap', which is basically the practical end of a war on extreme poverty, dictatorship and the existence of the third world. I think that devotees of Karl Marx have a quote of his that they use when they recognize their altruism failing. It goes a little something like 'Capitalism will fill the planet before it fails'. This is their way of saying that we'll all eventually become commies after everybody gets rich and then ultimately goes broke. Whether this is 50 or 500 years in the future doesn't matter because it gives them the last word. In the meantime they can explain away things like West African women owning businesses for the first time. "Oh sure, capitalism will come to West Africa before the worldwide collapse, Marx said it was inevitable". But that's not good news in their eyes. Feh. Some pessimists just can't be helped. I will call it what it is, Shrinking the Gap. Like human rights and civil rights, economic development is a gift of the strong. And unless and until environments are created for the fostering of such fundamentals, they will continue to be scarce.
Over at AlterNet, there's at least one lefty who has backed his way into some truth. He recognizes the fundamental good of nation-building. I think he even recognizes that we're going to have to conk some bad guys over the head in order to make that happen.
I understand that BDS victims are so deeply invested in saying that George W. Bush is evil that they wouldn't acknowledge that he's trying to be a nation-builder and a gap-shrinker. That's why you're not hearing any news about the Surge. It's working. People in Sadr City are re-opening their shops.
While many Iraqi families are returning to the homes they once were forced to leave, there are also Baghdadis who are reopening their stores, ending the months they spent out of business because of violence and intimidation. Some streets that were virtually deserted a few months ago are slowly showing signs of returning to life.
The reopening stores even include some liquor shops! There are two stores on one street that I used to shop that closed early last year when their owners received death threats from the insurgents and the militias. Yesterday I walked through that street and, to my amazement, I found both stores open and back in business.
This is what progress looks like, one small step at a time. Shrinking the Gap means kicking bad guys to the curb and allowing modern life to flourish. Everybody should know we've done it in Northern Iraq, Baghdad is slooowly improving. We know what to do militarily, it's just a matter of time and commitment. One of these days, even our Lefty Americans will recognize, because it's what they expect for themselves.
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