Introductory Comments
Because of the writing
I've posted on this page, many have accused me of being anti-American. In fact the opposite is true: following
the Bush presidency has made me more patriotic, not less. I've come to realize how important it
is to fight for the potential embodied in the American vision, a potential
that, domesitically, is based on law, consensus and individual rights. Internationally, the American vision is
based as much on leading by example as it is on on our economic and military
might. This means that we make
both America and the international order weaker when we break the laws we
ourselves helped forge.
Bush's breaking of
treaties, his foreign policy excesses and unilateralism, the fact that his
administration has adopted torture as an accepted method--all this makes me
ashamed of the route my country has taken. And it has led me to push for a return to American
values.
A stridently anti-Bush
stance is not anti-Americanism. It
is love for their country and shame at the levels to which it has sunk that has
led many to stand against these extremists and essentialists, these ideologues
that evidently believe that because we are Americans we can do what we like,
and the international order be damned.
I would insist on the contrary: our flouting of the international order
has done us more harm than good, and if we continue down this path we will only
become less able to attain our goals.
Does this make me anti-American?
Eric Mader
November 2005
Email: inthemargins03@hotmail.com
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