US government Options

[Respudious]

How many of you feel like you are highly educated on our government? Do you feel like imperialism has dominated the inner-workings of our government and it is the interest of top corporations that reign supreme over the interests of the people nowadays? What are your feelings on the Wolfowitz Doctrine? I'm sorry for all the questions but recently I have devoted time to trying to uncover the other side of our war policies and it's startled me. I feel like our nation has been misled greatly by the inentions of our government. I saw in another post that someone said only 28 civilians were killed so far this year or something like that? Fallujah was a massacre!! Soldiers were told any person walking was an enemy target, and this is from the first hand testimony of a soldier himself. Don't take this as an anti-american rant because I love our country, yet I feel there are flaws within our country, mainly foreign policies. 9/11 was a pain inflicted by our own country! If you are offended by this I'm sorry, but all the facts point to this conclusion. What are your feelings on the government, and how did you reach these feelings?

well I hope I didn't scare away any potential debaters if this is a subject over your heads, or hopefully you debaters are just gathering up your ammo by doing research which I encourage, because this is not a subject to come mis-informed on.

(posts merged)

This post has been edited by Smoogrish: Apr 13 2006, 07:14 PM

[innovation]

This really isn't a debate topic; it needs to be narrowed down. But anyway, since you're asking for my "feelings" on these topics:

Corporate dominance: You need to elaborate what you mean by "imperialism" dominating our national government--why would our government want to conquer itself? Regarding the influence of corporations in politics-- yes, large corporations do have significant lobbying power, but this does not mean that the government disregards civil society's interests. In some circumstances, catering to the demands of corporations actually leads to long-term benefits for the nation as a whole; however, citizens might not see that benefit immediately. In determining whether or not the government should give in to the interests of large corporations, it depends on the situation, of course! Please provide a more specific example. It'll make it easier for us to comment.

Neocon Doctrine: This, I am most certainly against. The Bush Doctrine basically implies that U.S. sovereignty reigns supreme--above the sovereignty of other nations, above political norms, even above international law. There is a fatal flaw in the Bush Administration's aggressiveness. As an example, I will discuss Bush's policy on terrorism. In order to deter terrorism, the B.A. invaded Iraq in search of WMDs and is now engaging in nation-building (???). Not only did Bush do this in spite of international opposition but he also compromised the U.S. ability to combat terrorism. Indeed, combating terrorism requires global collaboration. If the U.S. is the supreme actor and decisionmaker in combating terrorism, how will we prosecute international terrorists? How will we address the root problems--illiteracy, poverty, and corruption? How will we establish the collaboration necessary in order to gather sufficient intelligence? Furthermore, look at the neocons' aggressive policy regarding WMDs. Bush labeled the "Axis of Evil;" this clearly is not proactive diplomacy. Moreover, the B.A. pushed for regime change during talks with the DPRK--clearly imposing democratic ideals at the expense of the topic at hand (nuclear nonproliferation).

Distorted information: I'm not too familiar with this. How has the Bush Administration manipulated major media corporations into concealing information? I think that the NY Times just sort of feels obligated to represent the U.S. in a positive light, for as the nation's major newspaper, America is in a way judged by what it reports.

Indeed, these are only my "feelings." I am in no way an expert on such complicated political/economic issues. Now, I shall wait for someone ultra-conservative to bash my points. :[

And haha, James:

i certainly share your sentiment...

So diplomatic! :]