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From: lkk@teddy.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: More Thoughts On America Bashing
Message-ID: <1104@teddy.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 6-Aug-85 13:25:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: teddy.1104
Posted: Tue Aug  6 13:25:55 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 9-Aug-85 02:14:13 EDT
References: <421@iham1.UUCP>
Reply-To: lkk@teddy.UUCP (Larry K. Kolodney)
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Organization: GenRad, Inc., Concord, Mass.
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In article <421@iham1.UUCP> cbd@iham1.UUCP (deitrick) writes:
>I can already feel the heat of the flames for this, but it's an important
>point and I can't pass this up.
>
>What makes anyone think that the rest of the world wants or even cares about
>democracy? As far as I can tell, democracy is practiced only by the countries
>in Europe or countries with strong European influence in their history

How many countries HAVEN'T had a strong european influence in their history?

> [More examples of how European style govt. is irrelevant to the inhabitants
	of many third world countries.]


Well, Carl, you may be surprised that I'm in essential agreement with you.
Much of the conflict in the third world is due to arbitrary boundaries
imposed by Colonialists.  And we SHOULDN'T be trying to impose anything on
anybody.  HOWEVER, I still maintain that the extremism of many revolutionary
groups is due to U.S. intervention (economic and political) in small
countries.  

I suggested that we weren't helping democracy in the third world.  Perhaps
that was a poor choice of words.  We aren't helping HUMAN RIGHTS in the
third world.  This is a concept that, in my view, should trancend cultural
boundaries.  The right not to be tortured is universal.



We shouldn't be imposing 'humane' governments on other countries.  But we
shouldn't be instigating conditions which are noxious to such systems either.




-- 

Sport Death,
Larry Kolodney
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