Just briefly on democracy...I strongly do not agree with our forceful implementation of democracy. However, we should also remember that we don't live in a perfect democracy, as it would be unreasonably difficult to do so (I think).
What we see, however, is that people *do* try to "steal" our system...right now, the world is focused on the powerful pillar of capitalism, which actually is not perfect capitalism and exists among other pillars of American strength.
Again, America is far from perfect. But right now, just like the hype surrounding China is overly optimistic (like the hype surrounding Southeast Asia pre-1997), the "anti-hype" around America is overly pessimistic. Sadly, too many Americans are losing faith in themselves, too. Despite this, the majority aren't staying sad for long and are working to *do something* (whatever they think it should be). In the end (is there an end?), I'm confident that we will come out as a powerful global partner (key word being partner) once again.
|