Try not to regard the vituperation you’ve experienced here as an assault on the redoubt of Western Civilization, but as collateral damage in the fight against ignorance.
Not that I’m agreeing with homeboy, but in the interest of full openness:
Just because something is allowed doesn’t mean it’s required.
Just because something isn’t required doesn’t mean it’s unnecessary or unwelcome.
Blah fucking blah.
I probably would’ve supported the administration had they stood up in front of the UN and said: “Y’know, this guy’s an asshole, and we’re going to take him out. Once we’ve solved that problem, we’re going to put the smackdown on Saudi Arabia – that’s where the money and people came from in the attack, after all. Those two issues will take a little while, but I’m pretty sure you guys can help us pony up a few thousand troops to take care of that dickhead in Zimbabwe. And, hey! South East Asia! Y’all wanna help us take care of the massive human rights abuses occuring in China and North Korea? That’d be great.”
But no. The administration stood up in front of the UN and trotted out bogus data claiming that we were under “imminent threat” of attack.
And while I’m on this subject, since fucking when have Republicans been all over that feel-good, “Think of the poor, down-trodden people!” bullshit? Aren’t they the same clowns who, a decade ago, were jumping up and down screaming their fool heads off over Somalia and the former Yugoslavia because the US is not supposed to be the world’s policeman?
I really don’t mind conservatives co-opting liberal values - hell, I’d be happy if more of them did! - but the least they could do is add some footnotes to their party line. Plagarism is unethical.
The thing is, democracy and liberalism aren’t the same thing (they’re related, but still distinct from each other). A democratic electoral system installed into a society that doesn’t have a tradition of legal or constitutional guarantees for individual liberties can easily turn into mob rule. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding of the neocon worldview is that spreading democracy is in itself a good thing, and doing so as quickly as possible is the desired goal, with no thought given to whether a society has the proper institutions to guard against a “tyranny of the majority” – and this emphasis of democracy over liberty, I think, leads towards a more destabilized and possibly more brutal world. A democratic polity does not, by itself, lift a country’s citizens out of misery or repression.
I trust you’ll find this essay, written by a conservative with impeccable intellectual credentials, a good read.
Me too.
I’d agree as well, if North Korea (and the vast majority of China) were actually in South East Asia. 
You told me not to confuse neoconservatives with realists.
If any neoconservative claimed to be even slightly realistic, I would view this with as much skepticism as if my deranged friend claimed to be a 19th century French dictator.
Welcome to the SDMB, btw.
[sub]I figured he could use a little love in here[/sub]
Dear American voters.
Please get rid of that pisspoor, dimrod, gung-ho excuse of an incumbent.
I shall buy you all pie if Kerry wins.
Let the record show that I voted Kerry at 6:01 am this morning. Polls open at 6:00 am in NY.
What kind of pie?
Sinical Brit agrees whole heartedly with the OP.
Sin
I am about to trundle off to the polls (after an eleven-hour workday, a good chunk of it spent on my feet), in order to stand in line for at least another hour, so that I can do my $&*(#%!! civic duty.
That better not be steak and kidney pie you’re offering.
Well, I tried. I guess the Straussian spell was just too hard to break.
All I can do now is beg you to make sure they reap the whirlwind.
Welcome to the SDMB, Roseworm. I like you already.
Do be careful, though. This board is heavily left leaning. You will find yourself outnumbered most, if not all, of the time simply due to your political views. Even if you behave honorably you will be vicously attacked. With Bush winning the election, things might get really tense around here. Read the rules and carefully obey them.
The SDMB is still worth belonging to though. It’s the best message board on the net and many viewpoints and ideas are pleasantly exchanged here.
“They” who? We tried, too, many of us, and I’m really, really afraid of the whirlwind. I’ve never had such a sense of foreboding about an election’s results before.
Daniel