I agree with your assessment. Having read Woodward's Bush At War, I believe that the President genuinely wants to bless other countries, and not with any kind of abiding US presence. Frankly, I'd be horrified if the US wanted to build any sort of Empire. I know enough about the Middle East to know that democracy would be a farce if left to Middle Easterners. They simply do not understand the concept of equality, and I think you were right on in saying that without a solid Biblical foundation, there is no hope for any kind of justice there. I know that when the British left Jerusalem, many were sore afraid, and obviously with good reason. <br><br>Well, it's disturbing to me. I have to say that this forumite's comments are making me pay a bit more attention to what our country is trying to accomplish.<br><br>One thing the man has been saying is related to the Civil War. He asserts that Lincoln was an evil monster who imposed godless Northern ideas on the South, without allowing them to reconstruct in their own way, and that most of the country learns that Lincoln was a great President because 'the victors write the history books'.. He has a point in that Universalism and liberalism was eating the faith out of the North in a bad way at the time, but at the same time, the supposedly 'godly' people in the South were turning a blind eye to the dreadful practice of slavery! Now, he says, the US is doing the same thing to the rest of the world. We will be exporting our godlessness anywhere we can, becuase our self-interest is all that counts. In another conversaton, he asserts that constituional monarchies are best because they most closely imitate the Kingdom of God.<br><br>In short everything I have ever learned in US history is being turned on its head. I hasten to add that I like the guy and think that other of his ideas are right on, but these ideas are creatures I've never encountered before. Maybe I'm just and ignorant, complacent Yankee. If I ever told him I was related by marriage to both Grant and Sherman, I think my computer might explode! [img]http://www.the-highway.com/w3timages/icons/laugh.gif" alt="laugh" title="laugh[/img]<br><br><br>

Stand Fast, Craigellachie!