Beautifully written, Max. Those were bittersweet times when America was united and we enjoyed near-unanimous global support.
Now, of course, exactly the opposite is true. What is your take on why this is so?
Maxsays
Two words, Steve: the war.
Issues about the decision to go to war, along with the execution, justification, preparing the electorate, institution-building v. nation building, and all of that are probably different conversations.
You might say that we could never keep that fire of oneness no matter what happened with Iraq — eventually we’d go back to our old ways. But the war probably turned us back into bitter partisans pretty quickly.
And thanks, btw, for the kind words.
Steve Turnersays
Agreed. My whole point regarding Iraq all along has been that it would make us less safe. (Especially if you buy into the whole Islamofascism/Caliphate theory.) We replaced a secular (and yes, repressive)stable regime with a radical religious unstable regime. Meanwhile, everything that we have done in Iraq has strengthened Iran.
Regarding partisanship…yeah, that was going to rear it’s ugly head no matter what, but it didn’t have to be that way on national security matters.
We live in an era of hyper-partisanship that I don’t see changing for decades. I can’t even imagine a crossover candidate who could reconcile the differences between the bases.
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Steve Turner says
Beautifully written, Max. Those were bittersweet times when America was united and we enjoyed near-unanimous global support.
Now, of course, exactly the opposite is true. What is your take on why this is so?
Max says
Two words, Steve: the war.
Issues about the decision to go to war, along with the execution, justification, preparing the electorate, institution-building v. nation building, and all of that are probably different conversations.
You might say that we could never keep that fire of oneness no matter what happened with Iraq — eventually we’d go back to our old ways. But the war probably turned us back into bitter partisans pretty quickly.
And thanks, btw, for the kind words.
Steve Turner says
Agreed. My whole point regarding Iraq all along has been that it would make us less safe. (Especially if you buy into the whole Islamofascism/Caliphate theory.) We replaced a secular (and yes, repressive)stable regime with a radical religious unstable regime. Meanwhile, everything that we have done in Iraq has strengthened Iran.
Regarding partisanship…yeah, that was going to rear it’s ugly head no matter what, but it didn’t have to be that way on national security matters.
We live in an era of hyper-partisanship that I don’t see changing for decades. I can’t even imagine a crossover candidate who could reconcile the differences between the bases.