PrintJanuary 24, 2009
Will the real imperialist please stand up?
The U.S. Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba may be closing soon, with some of the "detainees" brought to mainland U.S., where they will no doubt be afforded the same constitutional protections that citizens have.
It's clear that there has been a dramatic switch in doctrines:
Bush Doctrine: Fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here.
Obama Doctrine: Bring them over here so we don't violate their rights over there.
This is perplexing, because it seems to me that the Obama Doctrine violates a pet tenet of liberal philosophy. If forcing our way of life (freedom) on non-U.S. citizens in other parts of the world is a bad thing to do overseas, how is it the right thing to do just because that non-citizen is in the U.S.?
It's ironic that someone can be a “progressive” who spent the last eight years criticizing Bush's "illegal and immoral spread of U.S. imperialism" in one breath, and in the other breath is not only calling for forcing U.S. constitutional dogma upon select non-citizens, but to also bringing them here against their will to do so.
Will the real imperialist please stand up?
