NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER: The Pursuit of Liberty
Regnery, Alfred S.
NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER The Pursuit of Liberty BY ALFRED S. REGNERY T HE AMERICAN SPECTATOR has always greeted the world with a combination of amusement and seriousness, and this issue is no...
...He warns that there may be illiberal ones, elitist ones, and others that do not resemble democracies, as we know them, much at all...
...4 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR SEPTEMBER 2006...
...And what does religious freedom mean to the people of the Middle East...
...Some countries may have lots of one, but little of the other...
...Stay tuned, as there is much more to come...
...Alfred S. Regnery, publisher of The American Spectator, is writing a book on the conservative movement...
...But do the people to whom the United States will bring them know what they mean...
...And finally we will consider other dimensions of free societies, among them the religious and spiritual, and the challenges of building free institutions in cultures that are unfamiliar with them or that take a view very different from ours...
...By those words, in his 2005 Inaugural Address, the President reaffirmed an American foreign policy earlier set forth by Woodrow Wilson, and continued, under different circumstances, by Presidents Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Reagan...
...NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER The Pursuit of Liberty BY ALFRED S. REGNERY T HE AMERICAN SPECTATOR has always greeted the world with a combination of amusement and seriousness, and this issue is no exception...
...And differ we do, from our commitments to individualism and our patriotism to our devotion to hard work and entrepreneurship...
...Are we going to export those necessary (to us, anyway) components of freedom such as civil liberties, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press to countries that have never had such things...
...We will examine the conflicts that are sure to arise in the target countries, as well as the practicality of launching such a project at all...
...James Q. Wilson, political analyst and long-time observer of American society, opens the series in this issue with a critical look at how the United States is governed, and how we differ from other democracies...
...Freedom and democracy are sacred terms to Americans, and we all think we know what they mean...
...Readers will find on our cover a return to our famed 1990s logo with its amused "ct" in "Spectator," and plenty inside to bring a smile as well...
...And do we...
...America is certainly unique in the world and in history, and it is no surprise that most Americans think that the rest of the world would benefit from our way of life-despite all the shortcomings we all talk about constantly...
...And because democracies respect their own people and their neighbors, the advance of freedom will lead to peace...
...Nevertheless, he reminds us that even such democracies are likely to enhance the freedom of their people, and are more likely to be peaceful than what preceded them...
...But wise men, James Q. Wilson certainly being one of them, know that democracies that take hold around the world are unlikely to resemble what has grown up here...
...With the current issue, The American Spectator is launching a ten-part series, supported by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation, to be published over the next year, looking at just what George Bush was talking about...
...What is the difference between political freedom, for example, and economic freedom...
...We will look at the history of American efforts at nation building, and the obstacles and challenges that such a policy has already encountered...
...Our aim," said George W. Bush, "is to build and preserve a community of free and independent nations, with governments that answer to their citizens, and reflect their own cultures...
...When we have completed the series we will turn the articles into a book under the title, The Pursuit of Liberty: Can the Ideals That Made America Great Provide a Model for the World...
...His purpose, Bush said, was to link an idealistic campaign to promote freedom with America's interest in security and stability...
...On a more serious note, we begin a concentrated look at American foreign policy, particularly what has become known as "nation building...
Vol. 39 • September 2006 • No. 7
