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February 04, 2004
Is Bush Reelectable?
It looks more and more like Kerry will be the Democratic nominee for President. I'm not one of those guys who thinks that "anyone but Bush" represents the height of political sophisticationI think Al Sharpton would do a worse job, for instance. Still and all, Bush has been bad for this country...
References to America as a new incarnation of the Rome are overblown, overdone, and mostly wrong. Still, they canon occasionbe useful. So I'll make one now:
Before the Roman Republic slid into Empire (or at least before the first Emperor. I think the two are not the same. Others disagree) there was a time when Citizens of the City of Rome were given the vote and other rights of citizenship, but no others were. This annoyed the Italians to no end. They (Italy) had for all intents and purposes become a part of the Roman State. They were under Roman discipline but not allowed the protections of Roman Law.
The Romans (naturally) constantly voted for Candidates who would consider only Roman interestseven at the expense of Italian ones. This included small things (putting Italian troops into shock troop duty) and larger ones (selling Italian lands to Romans after selling the owners into slaverysomething that Roman law forbid Romans to do to each other). Eventually the Italians Revolted.
The war was a military victory for the Romans but that didn't seem to matter. The Romans came to understand the war as a Civil affair, and thus see the Italians as part of the same nation. The Italians were granted citizenship...
While much of this analogy doesn't work in direct terms (I don't expect the Europeans to launch a war upon us while clamoring for American Citizenship), there is a point of Comparison that does make sense:
The American president is seen as the leader of the world (it used to be just the free world). We keep electing presidents as American leaders, beholden to American interests only. Is this good?
We need to look at the records of both candidates and see how much they care about world interests. Not just the War on Terror. This must be seen as only a component of the whole. Has Bush demonstrated a commitment to our Allies? Is our opinion more or less important to the rest of the world than it was before he took office? When we look at Kerry, we must ask what his Record is. How would he handle matters of foreign trade? What is his interest in/experience with matters that don't solely concern America?
It's a big world out there. American Hegemony can only really last for as long as the rest of the world doesn't act to stop it. Whoever is president come 2005 needs to understand that basic truth. Our job is to ensure that the president does...
Posted by Andrew at February 4, 2004 11:10 AM
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