Pericles
I note your comment about 'our way is the only way'= moral corruption. But I don't agree completely. It has an element of truth though. I think all political parties have this view, thats why they get elected, because of their 'way'.
It becomes a problem when there are no checks and balances, i.e. totalitarianism.
With this in mind, may I urge further consideration to the nature of the calling to be 'Christs-one'.. it is 2 fold, to be Salt (to preserve against decay) and Light (to show the way). The Christian role is Biblically more one of the prophetic call to justice than to form a government. It is to call any government to do right. I glance at the preaching of John the Baptist is most instructive in this regard.

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10“What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

11John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”

12Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

13“Don't collect any more than you are required to,” he told

them. 14Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He replied, “Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely–be content with your pay.”

~~~

This is the nature of the kingdom of God. when God 'rules', so does Justice.

This is the kind of background which underpins the 'warm heartedness' u detect in Americans I feel.


SUSPECT. I note your comments. While watching News this morning, I saw that Green groups now are seeking to form alliances with Evangelicals because of their increasing outspokenness on the Environment, (preserving it, not wrecking it). I'm so glad, but a little regretful that we didn't make our voice heard much earlier.

Paul Kelly editor of “The Australian” newspaper - predicts that the present war on terror, will be a long-running one. He also predicts that Western nations such as Australia face the prospect of an exceedingly difficult challenge, a challenge with the military only playing a supporting role

Paul Kelly cites David Kilcullen, keynote speaker last weekend on the theme of “War and Conflict in the 21st Century.” Kilcullen, who has only recently returned from the US as a special adviser on counter-terrorism, believes the US is in a dilemma. It must maintain military superiority to contain the rise of problem states, yet the core threat America faces, apparently needs far more strong intellectual understanding.
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Kilcullen’s diagnosis is that two epic trends drive the new warfare, neo-liberal globalisation and US imperialist military dominance.

. Globalisation and the return of the 19th century free-market, has created the already, well-known term, blowback. G8 protestors, environmental extremists, and narco-insurgents, opposing the American neo-liberal model, yet the model disrupting all their lives in different ways - the extreme of the protestors ready to fight the US and its allies where the massive military combination is weak, in the combination’s own lodgings and in its own streets by the use of increasingly successful suicide bombing..

Suicidal warfare as being played now by the Muslims, is cheap, difficult to counter and often effective - as also agreed upon by Keith Suter, who in an Online essay not long ago, cited the successful suicide attacks by the Tamil Tigers, which caused a worried Sri-Lankan government to grant them independence. Also the Americans were forced to remove their troops from Lebanon after more than 250 American marines were killed in one suicide-actuated explosion. Many other examples can be cited, the more recent one in Spain, causing Spain to withdraw its troops from Iraq.

Kilcullen’s three-point victory programme is daunting to the extreme. A need for a road map to guide democratic societies under assault. However, the debate post-London is so marked by community revulsion, there is still yet a profound strategic uncertainty.