…amid the turmoil of 2011, and this weekend’s military intervention in Libya, we need clarity about our guiding principles. Yes, the situation in the Middle East is highly complex. That complexity makes moral vision all the more necessary. The list of our non-negotiable values is not long, but they include the right of peaceful assembly, freedom of speech and of the press, and religious liberty for all faiths. Our commitment to these freedoms historically derived from the confidence, as Jefferson wrote, that those “liberties are of the gift of God.”
Belief in God-given liberty is still the most compelling reason to defend freedom around the world. We should marshal all our influence and means of diplomatic pressure, speaking with one voice, to promote liberty in the new Middle East. The region’s protesters continue to call for relief from decades of oppression. Our politicians will typically react to these pleas in one of two ways: The pragmatist will hedge and stutter, while the moral leader will cast a vision for what a good and just future might hold.
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(USA Today) Thomas Kidd–More freedom, less pragmatism needed on US Foreign Policy
…amid the turmoil of 2011, and this weekend’s military intervention in Libya, we need clarity about our guiding principles. Yes, the situation in the Middle East is highly complex. That complexity makes moral vision all the more necessary. The list of our non-negotiable values is not long, but they include the right of peaceful assembly, freedom of speech and of the press, and religious liberty for all faiths. Our commitment to these freedoms historically derived from the confidence, as Jefferson wrote, that those “liberties are of the gift of God.”
Belief in God-given liberty is still the most compelling reason to defend freedom around the world. We should marshal all our influence and means of diplomatic pressure, speaking with one voice, to promote liberty in the new Middle East. The region’s protesters continue to call for relief from decades of oppression. Our politicians will typically react to these pleas in one of two ways: The pragmatist will hedge and stutter, while the moral leader will cast a vision for what a good and just future might hold.
Read it all.