The Manichean Presidency

David Gordon of the Mises Institute writes an excellent review of Glen Greenwald's new book, A Tragic Legacy: How a Good vs. EvilDestroyed the Bush Presidency Mentality . Here is a money quote from the book:

The term Manichean refers in its most literal sense to a religion founded in the third century by the Persian prophet Manes … it central precept was that the entire world could be cleanly divided into two opposing spheres — God and Satan in the world of the eternal, and a corresponding battle of Good and Evil playing out on earth … the historical fate of the Manichees is of far less interest than is contemporary reliance on their religion's central moral tenets. In the overwhelming majority of President Bush's significant speeches and interviews throughout his political career — but particularly since the 9/11 attacks — he evinces a dualistic worldview lodged at the core of his belief system. (p. 46)

"The Bush administration views other countries as so dominated by evil that they cannot be expected to act rationally."

Here's praying for a foreign policy which looks at all other nations with the eyes of the Father, a good Creation, a rational Creation, capable of Redemption. Ron Paul's foreign policy would be based on a realistic view of our own faults and a realistic respect for the dignity of other peoples in their affairs. A non-interventionist foreign policy invokes the Golden Rule as its central principle, one which, if we have Faith, will serve this nation and the world well.