In which I really, really, really hate the Bush Administration?

[unusualmusic_lj_archive]

Why Conservatives Can't Govern (The Political Duality Of Rep and Dem, Pt 2)

One final thought about Rosenberg's schema. If we apply it to the terrorist attacks of September 11, we would expect sequential thinkers to retaliate against similar-looking perceived threats. Invading Iraq makes perfect sense to this sort of mindest, regardless of any other considerations. We would expect linear thinkers to retaliate against Al Qaeda itself-the logical, linear cause of the attacks. Invading Iraq is a distraction from the war on terrorism to this mindset, made worse by the fact that it complicates our relationships with our Arab allies. Finally, we would expect systematic thinkers to be primarily concerned with altering the conditions that allowed Al Qaeda (and other terrorists) to flourish in the first place. Rebuilding Afghanistan would have been a top short-term priority toward this long-term goal. Getting serious about Palestinian statehood would have been another top priority. (And would have lead to an immediate, very serious response to the fall 2002 announcement of an Arab League proposal to recognize Israel's right to exist as part of a global settlement-a proposal that's been marginally in the news again over the last month or two, but that has generally been ignored, because it's so wildly at odds with anything the Bush Administration is actually interested in.0 These are not idealistic, humanitarian priorities. They are straightforward pragmatic necessities, blindingly obvious from a systematic perspective.

WHUT??? Did anyone know about this?

The 2002 Saudi-Arab League Initiative

Comments

[cobecat.livejournal.com]

O_o Holy SHIT. I heard not a word of this...and here I thought I'd been following the news out of the Middle East. Mmm, nope.

That's really interesting, though. Tentatively hopeful...but with the presidential candidates supporting Israel and Israel only, I cannot see how the US's role can possibly be a positive one.

Thanks for linking this. Also have been following your discussion of conservatism vs liberalism, or trying to--my brain doesn't like me making it deal with economics, for example. ^_^''