March 08, 2004

Am I Libertarian? / And a week of International news commentary - Part 1

Well, I took the Libertarian Purity Test found at:

http://www.bcaplan.com/cgi/purity.cgi

So how did The Mighty Wizard score on the test? I scored a 98, meaning that I... "have entered the heady realm of hard-core libertarianism. Now doesn't that make you feel worse that you didn't get a perfect score?"

From other websites, I found out that the National Review's 'The Corner,' Rick Brookhiser scored a 40, Jonah Goldberg scored a 41, and Ramesh Ponnuru scored a 73.

Why do a get the feeling that lots of guys at the National Review and the Weekly Standard probably never served in the military, but want to send other people's children overseas to carry out their plans for "American National Greatness?"

--------------------------------------------------------

So why is it that I don't write too much about international affairs in my weblog? The main reason is that events from far away don't affect ME too much, ergo why should I pay attention to them? I can't do too much about what is going on regarding, say, the democracy battle that has been developing in Hong Kong. After all, "isn't all politics local" as Tip O'Neill used to say? Most Americans (and others around the world) rationally have views like this, at least until situations like September 11, 2001 come along and slap America in the face. Then Americans wake up to the blowback from our involvement in far flung affairs which few are aware of. That is why I am an activist in Houston politics.

With that, I'll start this week's commentary on international affairs with some words about Iraq. It appears that an agreement over an internim constitutuional structure was worked out and signed. This constitution will be in place until next year, when a new constitutional framework is supposed to be worked out and voted on throughout the Iraqi nation.

What makes me laugh (or shake my head, I'm not sure) about the matter was that several weeks ago, President Bush's appointed local American despot, Paul Bremer, made a public statement saying that, "Islam was not to be part of the framework of the Iraqi Constitution." Islam could only be an inspiration, but not woven into the framework. In other words, Iraqis can have a form of democracy, but only a form of democracy that America approves of. My suspicion is that next year, if / when a new constitutional framework is put into place, the Iraqis will decide to rewrite their constitution so that Islam IS woven into the constitutional framework. In other words, if the normal democratic process is allowed to take its course, Iraq may well end up like another Iran but with a Shiite Muslim majority instead of a Sunni Muslim majority.

That is, if the new Iraqi state lasts that long. I will have to pay a visit soon to my Palantir and take counsel with regards to this matter. That session will require me to bend my mind very hard and for a very long time in order to divine what fates are in store for Iraq...


Posted by The Mighty Wizard at March 8, 2004 11:35 PM