<$BlogRSDUrl$>

My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2008-06-23

THIS is What I'm Talking About 

A couple nights ago I wrote this:

America is unique and special; therefore, the primary purpose of government should be to protect, preserve, and bring to fruitful realization the full extent of that specialness.

Much good flows from a simple belief like this. Like: the protections of the American Constitution do NOT extend to people captured as an irregular militia on foreign soil trying to kill Americans through stealth and terror; like: our dependence on the world market for core supplies like oil have introduced a vulnerability to our economy that is unnecessary, so we should take the necessary steps to provide for ourselves; like: American jurisprudence should be based on America's needs and place in the world, so judges will get appointed to lifetime jobs based on their understanding and adherence to America's founding documents and not world opinion;

Then I see that John McCain said this last month [courtesy Donald Kochan]:

As you might recall, the case inspired a Supreme Court opinion that left posterity with a lengthy discourse on international law, the constitutions of other nations, the meaning of life, and 'evolving standards of decency.' These meditations were in the tradition of 'penumbras,' 'emanations,' and other airy constructs the Court has employed over the years as poor substitutes for clear and rigorous constitutional reasoning. . . . "

So, at the very least, I think I can count John McCain in my camp on this one.

It seems simple: American decision-making should be based on American standards of law, interest and conduct. But too many on the Left would have us rely on international standards of law--the same ones that condemn Israeli military action but has yet to condemn Hamas and Hezbollah and other terrorist groups--international standards of "interest", meaning America has no rights to act in their own interest, in spite of the U.N. charter, and international standards of conduct--the same ones that brought us the U.N. peacekeeper forced-prostitution scandal and the Oil-for-Food scandal.

Is America perfect? No. But no country, or intergovernmental body, has ever come as close as we have to realizing the vast potential of democratic governance based on Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

I, for one, am encouraged that one of the Presidential candidates recognizes that specialness and is willing to base appointment decisions on it.

At least in this area.
Posted by: Michael / 6/23/2008 12:28:00 AM

Weblog Commenting by HaloScan.com

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?