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Let’s publish about what is holding us back

November 22, 2006 by Mandragoran, 2 years 50 weeks ago
Comment id: 15152

I appreciate the Rand Corp taking the initiative to publicize this approach to the problem of terrorism. IMHO it is intuitively obvious that we should have been doing all that, for several decades or more in the past, but we have not been doing anywhere near what we should have, so, it bears repeating, loudly and often, that we need to do more. This work can never entirely replace military and counter-intelligence activities, but failure to act on the public relations front may well lead to overall defeat regardless of how clever and enthusiastic we may be in the other two areas. I suggest that those who have published this research would do their fellow humans a great service if they did some work on who is standing in the way of progress in this work. I have noticed that whenever our government tries to take this kind of action, there is opposition from American liberals who are suspicious of our government. Of course, we RWE's, Right Wing Extremists, also have concerns that our government can be part or all of the problem in some matters; but we tend to believe that our American government has a better chance than most, and that we Americans have a lot to offer the rest of the world toward improvement of the general welfare in most other countries. Our history is replete with comments by liberals to the effect that the American political system is so full of corruption and evil that we should shut up and leave everybody else alone; i.e., that our involvement with other people of the world has led to deterioration of their welfare because of the evils of our system, particularly capitalism, and those evils are inherent in our way of life so that we cannot advise anyone and do any good for them. If we are to have any hope of improving our image in the world, we have to address the concerns of people in our own country who have a negative image of our own country. As the noted Roman General, Coriolanus, said, if a man's own sword defend him not, who stands for that man? If Americans do not respect and appreciate the utility and benefit of our political and economic system, who stands for that way of life?

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