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Why America Wants to Promote Liberty and Democracy

Chautauqua Institution
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MTGRAY Avatar
MTGRAY
Posts: 101
Posted: 09.16.09, 02:34 PM
no matter the academic scholars & their point of views Democracy by the standards of modern day does not exist.
this being clear by the last 2 decades of invasion. it is more the new Americans idea of democracy is military strength and forcing other nations to go their way. that is fascist" NOT DEMOCRACY".
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TheDude Avatar
TheDude
Posts: 9
Posted: 09.21.09, 02:08 AM
Brilliant! To encapsulate even the smallest events in history is difficult. Dr. Gordon Wood makes it seem effortless and even expands to the dilemmas and of course irony the USA faces today. I think the prior poster would have done well to listen to this later part.
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JPARKS Avatar
JPARKS
Posts: 3
Posted: 10.20.09, 12:03 AM
People need to watch this regardless of their political perspective. I actually gained some valuable insight after listening in. Thanks Gordon Wood.
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improbable0possible Avatar
improbable0possible
Posts: 2
Posted: 10.29.09, 04:35 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTGRAY
no matter the academic scholars & their point of views Democracy by the standards of modern day does not exist.
this being clear by the last 2 decades of invasion. it is more the new Americans idea of democracy is military strength and forcing other nations to go their way. that is fascist" NOT DEMOCRACY".
You raise a good point. You also forget to mention the coups they have funded, the dictators they have put in place, the shah of Iran being an example. America has used it's economic weight as much as it's military, during the Iraq and Iran conflict whilst publicly funding Saddam the Iranians were getting American capital too. Politics is much like a game, although it saddens me, America are very good at playing the game. Peace.
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AntoineBonnin Avatar
AntoineBonnin
Posts: 2
Posted: 11.12.09, 07:34 PM
Democracy does not exist yet, the lucky ones live in either an oligarchic or plutarchy society.

"Extending democracy to the world is difficult because their societies are much too tribal", this professor should really not talk about current events. This is such a racist comment. Does he realize that Afghanistan was becoming a democratic states in the 70's, and that Iran had a democratically elected governement in the 50's (removed by the British with help of the CIA). Actually, Mossadegh the Prime minister of the time even became the Time man of the year in 1953!

Western societies should really learn about their past deeds, as they might be surprise by some of them. Like Isaiah Berlin said “Only barbarians are not curious about where they come from, how they came to be where they are, where they appear to be going, whether they wish to go there, and if so, why, and if not, why not.”
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