Empire: "They" just don't have our "values"

A benefit of Ron Paul's quixotic presidential run is realized when he asks his audiences to walk in the shoes of people on the receiving end of our program of "exporting democracy." How would we feel if a foreign army rolled down our streets, occupied our capital, used drones, missiles and Apache helicopters to rain terror on the heads of our children? As for the rest, as Winslow Myers writes,

candidate Mitt Romney demagogues the security issue by advocating more “full-spectrum dominance,” or candidate Rick Santorum waxes bellicose about doing more to stop Iran’s nuclear program; Barack Obama is forced to maintain his own cred by dubious if popular ventures like high-tech extra-judicial assassinations.

As we build toward a hot war with Iran, it is worth examining how our attitude toward nuclear arms is animated by the same cultural biases.

“Our” nuclear weapons are justified by our need for security, while “theirs” indicate an unacceptable aggressiveness.

Parenthetically, will there be a peace candidate -- will someone stand against militarism and empire -- in November?

The rest of the story: Occupying Fears About Iran by Winslow Myers (Consortium News 2012-01-07).

Winslow Myers, the author of Living Beyond War: A Citizen’s Guide, serves on the board of Beyond War, a non-profit educational foundation whose mission is to explore, model and promote the means for humanity to live without war.

See, also: Recognizing the "Unpeople" by Noam Chomsky (Truthout 2012-01-07)
End of the pro-democracy pretense by Glenn Greenwald (Salon 2012-01-03)