8 years ago: This is who we are

Feb. 15, 2005, on this blog: This is who we are

The best situation, then, would be an island nation, preferably one nearby, where democracy and human rights were routinely denied. Our model American outpost could be established on a small part of that same island — some distinct cove or bay. And there our model outpost could demonstrate in microcosm who we really are and what we really stand for.

To multiply the impact of this bold example, we could find people from all over the world — especially people from places where tyranny is rampant and democracy is only a vague, foreign word — and invite them to come and live for a time in our model island outpost. There our guests would see and experience our American values firsthand.

Word of this experience would spread to their countrymen and their homelands: This is what America is really like. This is what America is all about. No amount of rhetoric on behalf of freedom and democracy could compete with the message such an outpost would provide. Our ordinary rendition of democracy and freedom is powerful, but this model, this extraordinary rendition, would be even more powerful.