Here is George W. Bush, laying out his vision which dictates that a) as long as there is a non-democratic state anywhere on earth we cannot be safe here in America (“safe” to have, as it turns out, a growing police state that has now empowered itself to indefinitely detain and even murder Americans on the whim of the President and “safe” to have a vast “expansion of freedom” project abroad, including exhausted, over-extended troops on the ground in 120 countries ). In addition, Bush’s intense religious faith in the healing and redeeming power of Democracy is hugely evident here. Remember, this was the man who could not tell the difference between the Precious Blood of the Lamb and the American electorate. He was a President who actually said, on purpose and without a trace of consciousness of how blasphemous it was, “There is power – wonder-working power – in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people.”. Full of this secular messianic utopian faith in America as the New Church and sacrament of salvation to the nations, he preached in his Second Inaugural:
We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
America’s vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation’s security, and the calling of our time.
So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.
This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own. America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way.
The Copts of Egypt are about to find out how well that happens when “the soul of a nation speaks” and that beautiful vision of Muslim democracy finds its own voice, attains their own freedom, and makes their own way to command Christians to “convert, pay tribute or leave“. Of course, while it was nice to see a thug like Mubarak go, (when tyrants tremble sick with fear and hear their death knells ringing… how can I keep from singing), still anybody but the most blinded utopian fool could have seen that there was only the faintest hope of anything better and that it was like to end worse for Christians, much as it did for the Chaldeans of Iraq.
“W” stands for “Woodrow”. The Utopian War to End all Tyranny on Planet Earth will achieve as much, perhaps even more, than the War to End War did. If you want to call the destruction of the Church an achievement.