Inaugural Speech
Nym90:
Quote from: htmldon on January 28, 2005, 09:18:43 AM
It was absolutely beautiful. It underscored the reasons why I so strongly support President Bush, despite reservations on a few issues. It brought back the image of America as a lighthouse on the hill that uses its influence and power around the world to help those in desperate need of liberty.
I agree with that vision, too, but the problem is, as Ford himself as noted here and before, is that that isn't our consistent foreign policy. We like to say that it is, but we don't oppose dictatorship and oppression everywhere. We are willing to tolerate it if it is good for business and the corporate world.
So while the idea of America being an exporter of democracy to the world is a good one, nothing in our past record indicates that there is any intention of making this be truly anything more than empty rhetoric.
angus:
Quote from: John Ford on January 28, 2005, 02:41:56 AM
I approve of the words, but I'm not sure how sincere Bush is when you examine his policies. I also wish he'd have been more specific in certain parts. One was left with the feeling that he wanted to achieve this in his second term, but I'm pretty sure he just means that we should reshape the values our policies are based on (replacing narrow national interest with principles we think are important).
Somewhere between one and two, but neither option really fits. I voted 1. I liked it. It was visionary, like you say, but I'd suggest that this is not necessarily a good thing. It was definitely imperialistic, Wilsonian if you will. What I liked most was the avoidance of trivial, petty, wedge-issues, and given the intense pressure that this president must be under from certain quarters within our parties, that was no mean feat. I also liked the olive branch (pardon the tacky pun) to the religious communities, specifically the mention of the Qur'an. But I had my "What the hell is he getting us into?!" moment. This feeling was largely alleviated in the press conference he gave later (Monday, I think?) I saw clips of that on CNN and am convinced it's more of a long-range visionary idealistic speech.
Overall, it was a warm and fuzzy speech, with few specifics, and avoided a number of contentious domestic issues. That's my idea of a good inaugural speech. A-minus.
A18:
What's good for business and the corporate world is good for consumers.
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Japan. Germany. Afghanistan. Iraq. Every European country Hitler conquered.
What do these names have in common?
Wakie:
Quote from: Philip on January 28, 2005, 06:53:36 PM
What's good for business and the corporate world is good for consumers.
Not necessarily true. For example, a shortage in a good/product that is in high demand but has few alternatives which can replace it (such as oil) will result in the price of said good going up. Because they are manufacturing or refining less of it, the cost of doing business is lower for companies and they increase profitability. Consumers are hurt because they have less of this product and what they do have has come at a higher price.
Nym90:
Quote from: Philip on January 28, 2005, 06:53:36 PM
What's good for business and the corporate world is good for consumers.
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Japan. Germany. Afghanistan. Iraq. Every European country Hitler conquered.
What do these names have in common?
I never said that we have never exported democracy, but the list of dictatorships that we don't care about or even in some cases give aid and comfort to is a lot longer than the list above.
And your first statement is laughably wrong. Anyone who thinks that most corporations actually care about people and not profits is, I think, sadly mistaken. Corporations definitely do a lot of positive things, and there are certainly a lot of times when what's good for them happens to also be beneficial for everyone else, but that's definitely not what motivates them.
In my opinion, it's more of the opposite. What's good for the masses is ultimately good for business and corporations.
The ultimate goal of every corporation is to eventually become a monopoly within their field. Obviously that's not good for consumers at all.
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