The United States of America exists for the benefit of Americans. Any benefit we may happen to confer on the rest of the world should be calculated to advance the interests of Americans. Done properly, these things can ensure and enhance our life, liberty, and happiness:
Mistakes can and will be made. But we shouldn’t be paralyzed by the fear of making mistakes. Passivity is a greater mistake.
Eugene Volokh quotes Robert Reich in The American Prospect. Reich’s target is the religious right, which he finds less threatening than terrorism: “Terrorism will disrupt and destroy lives. But terrorism itself is not the greatest danger we face.” In spite of ample evidence that al Qaida and its ilk are indeed acting out of religious hatred for infidels, Reich asserts that “Terrorism is a tactic, not a belief.” I say that the tactic is inseparable from the belief.
Here’s where Reich is inadvertently right:
The great conflict of the 21st century will not be between the West and terrorism….The true battle will be between …those who believe in the primacy of the individual and those who believe that human beings owe their allegiance and identity to a higher authority….
It’s true. The great conflict of the 21st century will be between those who believe in the primacy of the individual and those who believe that human beings owe their allegiance and identity to a higher authority: the state.
I know that Reich is on the side of the state. He is therefore my intellectual enemy.
Politics and Prosperity 