A Sorry State

by Peter Saint-Andre

2003-09-01

Stephen den Beste comments on Newt Gingrich's essay about the State Department in the current issue of Foreign Policy magazine. I don't agree with Gingrich's assertion that George Bush's vision is the right vision for America, but I do think the Department of State needs to focus on freedom, not coddling corrupt regimes across the planet. Of course, the same can be said for the World Bank, the IMF, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank, the United Nations, and host of other NGOs and multi-lateral organizations. Unfortunately, expecting large government bureaucracies to focus on freedom is self-defeating. Too many folks on the right seem to think that if only they could mold government in their own image, all would be well. They fail to see that government is the problem, and that the key to advancing the cause of freedom is not to seize the reins of power but to drop them entirely. But I guess that's the difference between a conservative (who seems to value freedom, or at least some freedoms) and a libertarian (who values "all freedom, all the time").


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