When is it safe to say we're less safe? Posted by Heather Hurlburt

I have a piece up on tompaine.com today about the communications theory and progressive practice on the thorny issue of how much to campaign on post 9-11 security fears.  Lots of folks have written and posted in recent weeks debating whether or not progressives are building any unity and what it means -- I come down on the optimistic side that we are, and it's good, even if we don't all agree about the theory of democracy promotion or exactly when troops should leave Iraq.   

Comments

[Cal]

Lots of folks have written and posted in recent weeks debating whether or not progressives are building any unity... I come down on the optimistic side that we are, and it's good, even if we don't all agree about the theory of democracy promotion or exactly when troops should leave Iraq.

I think everyone would agree with you as far as you go. You and Shadid are just focusing on different levels of the problem. The Dems are becoming more unified when it comes to acknowledging the current circumstances in Iraq. After 3 years of fighting and no corner in sight, the liberal hawks have come to the conclusion that we can't just occupy the country until it improves.

But on the strategic level -- what you called theory -- we're not at all united and I'm afraid may never be united. If the only thing that Chait and Signer have learned is that we shouldn't try another humanitarian war while a Republican is president, then what hope is there that we can stop repeating history?

Would exemplarism have allowed the United States to lead an effort to topple Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq? The answer is an emphatic yes–though on a different set of prerequisites. Exemplarism never would have imposed a "global test" for military action, because that would undermine exemplarism itself; in order to lead, the United States must maintain the ability to defend its relative power position unilaterally. But exemplarism would have required American policymakers to weigh more seriously unilateralism’s impact on our standing in the global community–not because we wanted to be popular, but because decreased international prestige would have limited our ability to advance our interests in Iraq and the Middle East–as, in the end, it has. -- Signer

IOW, when the Dems are in power we will be both feared and loved. Even Machiavelli understood that these 2 things are often incompatible, and when you have to choose you choose fear.

Signer and others don't seem to acknowledge that dilemma. Until then I don't see very much common ground.

[Don Bacon]

Who can come up with the best propaganda? is a bogus question when the US government, no matter who's in office, and it's been this way forever, is bent on corporation-benifitting military and economic expansion at the cost of the rest of the world's people. Of course this imperialistic policy makes us less safe because the rest of the world resents it and it hardly matters how you spin it. The result is unchanged.

[July Canute]

It is pathetic that Democrats are attempting to figure out the best PR campaign in order to get votes. What is Heather Hurlburt thinking! It certainly seems that she doesn't think like most of us rank and file Democrats. Isn't that the problem.

I remember a time when the Democratic party was the Big Tent. Read the liberal/jewish internet for one week and you will see so much hatemongering from the moneybags who run our party to explain why we have problems winning elections.

Therefore the answer is to kick the moneybags out of the party and get it back on track, win elections, and get America back on track and save our economy and our futures.

[Don Bacon]

What is she thinking? As a speech writer, she's thinking that perception trumps reality, which is also what Hermann Goering thought.

[J Thomas]

IOW, when the Dems are in power we will be both feared and loved. Even Machiavelli understood that these 2 things are often incompatible, and when you have to choose you choose fear.

You don't get to choose. When you happen to get love, you're doing pretty good. Try not to blow it. When you don't get love you can try for fear instead. People think it's easy to get other people to fear you, a lot easier than getting them to love you. But pretty often the result is you get anger or hate or disgust instead, or in addition.

People don't love you because of what you do. You can do great stuff and not get loved. You can do bad stuff and get loved anyway. It doesn't make sense. People don't love you for your PR, but sometimes they see through the PR and love you anyway.

You can't get dependable results from other people. The best you can do is be what you want to be, and see how they react. You can't stop them from being who they want to be -- the most you can do is kill them for it, if that's who you want to be.

[kamil]

There are certain things in life related to smoking that simply cannot :)
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