Would you want your children to live in a society such as that which existed under the Taliban, or even that which exists today in communist China; where freedom of thought, word, and deed are rare?
I can respect you being a member of the ACLU, but that statement about China was horribly ignorant. Have you ever even been to China? Communist China is only communist by name and not by practice. Modern China is a capitalist economy that is ruled by interests identical to those in the US ($). China today is not the China of the 80's and the Tiananmen Square...it just isn't economically beneficial for China to go oppressing its citizens randomly because it will enrage the multitude of foriegn interests that are heavily invested in the Chinese economy (as well as scaring off potential tourists).
Walking around China I was able to think, talk, and act as freely as I was able to here...I loved it there, the people were friendly, spoke english, and I never felt like I was in any danger of losing my freedoms. The ONLY difference between here and China, is that here we have the illusion that our government believes in (and will adhere to) our consitutional rights, when in reality they will deprive us of those rights whenever they see fit. The historical examples of that are easily pointed out if you'd like a review.
Every man and woman who has fought in a war for this country has laid their life on the line protecting the freedom that we now enjoy.
Since we haven't fought a war on US soil since the Civil War, none of these wars can even be considered for protecting our freedom. Almost every war we get involved in protects US interests abroad, not our freedoms. We would still have our freedom had Hitler taken over all of Europe, we just wouldn't have Starbucks sitting in Paris, Milan, London, and Berlin. No foriegn power would be dumb enough to actually try to invade the continental US and enslave us, the concept is just foolish. Our biggest threat to our freedoms is our own government, and that's why organizations like the ACLU are valuable.
However, being a member does not give you the right to make sweeping generalizations that you know little about.
Its a bit cavalier to assume American fundamental rights should be applied to ALL the people in the world.
Although you personally may believe in the fundamental rights provided to you as a US Citizen (ha!), that doesn't mean our rights, and our value system should be implemented globally.
Although I agree that bombing and invading isn't an option that should be supported by our government, political and cultural invasion can have similar consequences. Historically, the applying of a democratic value system to countries that were culturally and socially incompatible with that sort of poltical/cultural system fostered instability and in some cases recurring political chaos. (Look at the somewhat recent events in Africa...and dozens of other historical examples of political chaos surrounding failed implementations of democracy..)
It took the US 200 years, and thousands of years of historical development before that, to arrive at a what some people call a successful democracy...but that doesn't mean we should go "help" other countries see things our way, because in many cases, our way might be flawed.
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I can respect you being a member of the ACLU, but that statement about China was horribly ignorant. Have you ever even been to China? Communist China is only communist by name and not by practice. Modern China is a capitalist economy that is ruled by interests identical to those in the US ($). China today is not the China of the 80's and the Tiananmen Square...it just isn't economically beneficial for China to go oppressing its citizens randomly because it will enrage the multitude of foriegn interests that are heavily invested in the Chinese economy (as well as scaring off potential tourists).
Walking around China I was able to think, talk, and act as freely as I was able to here...I loved it there, the people were friendly, spoke english, and I never felt like I was in any danger of losing my freedoms. The ONLY difference between here and China, is that here we have the illusion that our government believes in (and will adhere to) our consitutional rights, when in reality they will deprive us of those rights whenever they see fit. The historical examples of that are easily pointed out if you'd like a review.
Every man and woman who has fought in a war for this country has laid their life on the line protecting the freedom that we now enjoy.
Since we haven't fought a war on US soil since the Civil War, none of these wars can even be considered for protecting our freedom. Almost every war we get involved in protects US interests abroad, not our freedoms. We would still have our freedom had Hitler taken over all of Europe, we just wouldn't have Starbucks sitting in Paris, Milan, London, and Berlin. No foriegn power would be dumb enough to actually try to invade the continental US and enslave us, the concept is just foolish. Our biggest threat to our freedoms is our own government, and that's why organizations like the ACLU are valuable.
However, being a member does not give you the right to make sweeping generalizations that you know little about.
Its a bit cavalier to assume American fundamental rights should be applied to ALL the people in the world. Although you personally may believe in the fundamental rights provided to you as a US Citizen (ha!), that doesn't mean our rights, and our value system should be implemented globally. Although I agree that bombing and invading isn't an option that should be supported by our government, political and cultural invasion can have similar consequences. Historically, the applying of a democratic value system to countries that were culturally and socially incompatible with that sort of poltical/cultural system fostered instability and in some cases recurring political chaos. (Look at the somewhat recent events in Africa...and dozens of other historical examples of political chaos surrounding failed implementations of democracy..) It took the US 200 years, and thousands of years of historical development before that, to arrive at a what some people call a successful democracy...but that doesn't mean we should go "help" other countries see things our way, because in many cases, our way might be flawed.