Oceans apart

Wretched sums up the difference between conservative and liberal attitudes in "Boston and New York."

The Democratic convention in Boston underscores how deeply September 11 has changed the political landscape for diametrically opposite reasons. For many conservatives the attack represented the first shot in a war waged against America. In contrast many liberals felt it was the response to the attack that opened hostilities against America; that there was no war except that which we subsequently called down on our feckless heads. John Kerry's slogan to 'restore respect for America abroad' and to 'make it safer' are an explicit accusation that we have created, or at least amplified the danger which faces us now.

In my view, Conservatives and liberals are, literally, oceans apart in their response to the 9/11 attack.   The Atlantic ocean, to be specific.

There is nothing new about the liberals and their faith in multiculturalism and multinationalism and their belief that anyone, any country, is preferable to the U.S.   They might even kid themselves that there is some redeeming value to international organizations like the U.N., but those beliefs are strictly European, not American.   It is not the American way to wait around for the Internationalists to get around to defending us.   Europeans can't even defend themselves, let alone the rest of the world.

Europeans would not, or could not, intervene in Bosnia without the U.S. forces at the forefront.   And the international community was particularly negligent in Rwanda.   Come to think of it, they had the same problem in Cambodia,   in Uganda,   in the Congo,  Zimbabwe,   South Africa,   East Timor,   the Phillipines,   containing Marxist guerillas in Columbia or halting terrorism in Northern Ireland.   Nor have they been effective in countering continuing slavery in Africa,   illegal drugs,  moneylaundering,  or investigating their own malfeasance.

The problem is that the international community has no more interest in defending the United States than they have in defending Israel, anymore than they had in confronting the Soviet Union.   All for the same reason - they did not want to put themselves in danger.   It is a combination of cowardice, incredible self-absorption and pathological self-interest.  What they really despise is the fact that the U.S. is demanding they grow up.