Quote:
Originally Posted by Rochard
You mean countries where citizens have very little rights?
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No, that's not what I mean.
There is little congruence these days - if there ever was - between how dependent a nation is on the grace of the United States and the rights afforded to its own citizens domestically.
E.g. Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos? A real beacon of Liberty in the South Pacific? But tighter than hell with our government. E.g. Egypt till we took the former leader out - it was where we contracted out our torture needs. Cf. Switzerland, which has always maintained a fiercely independent stance, but possesses among the highest standards of liberty. Cf. Iceland, ditto.
As a nation, we've never selected our friends or made decisions about aid and assistance depending in any big way on how closely the domestic front resembles our Bill of Rights, as it once was lived here.
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Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice. . . Restraint in the pursuit of Justice is no virtue.
Senator Barry Goldwater, 1964