[CLUE-Talk] The prism of our experience

[Matt Gushee]

On Thu, Jul 10, 2003 at 09:57:58PM +0000, Randy Arabie wrote:
> 
> I didn't read the commentary by the Christian Science
> Monitor.  But the quote you included in your email implied
> that starting wars without congressional declarations of war
> was a "conservative" and Republican issue.
> 
> It isn't, and to imply so is BS.

For once, I heartily agree with you (didn't expect that, didja?).

But the other side of the coin is that opposition to the Iraq war is not a
"liberal" or Democratic party issue, as some commentators have implied (though
you haven't, that I recall).

Some of the toughest critics of the Iraq enterprise are, in fact,
conservatives--at least, to the extent that word has meaning, and to the
extent that I understand it, they seem to me to be outstanding examples
of conservatism. Do the names James Jeffords and Ron Paul ring a bell?
And it probably won't surprise you to hear that I frequently visit
anti-war/anti-Iraq-war websites. Some of the best of them come from a
conservative viewpoint (e.g. antiwar.com, and particularly Justin
Raimondo's column: http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html).

But of course, we know (don't we?) that The Liberals are just the
all-purpose political bogeymen of our age, since noone is scared of The
Communists any more. It's been many years since there was any
significant number of real liberals in positions of authority in the US.

-- 
Matt Gushee                 When a nation follows the Way,
Englewood, Colorado, USA    Horses bear manure through
mgushee at havenrock.com           its fields;
http://www.havenrock.com/   When a nation ignores the Way,
                            Horses bear soldiers through
                                its streets.
                                
                            --Lao Tzu (Peter Merel, trans.)