KK> Back when Iran had some hostage of ours, I talked to some perfectly
 KK> sane, reasonable people who felt that we should reply by dropping an
 KK> atom bomb on Iran.
 KK> I would like to imagine that if the average American actually got his
 KK> hands on the big machine, he would quickly grasp the incredible
 KK> difficulties and responsibilities, and would quickly get over ideas like
 KK> the above.  But we all seem to have certain values or programming that
 KK> are inaccesible to reason.  For example, evangelical fundamentalists
 KK> feel obliged to try to convert other people, and to remake the country
 KK> in their own ideology, for the simple reason that if they don't, they
 KK> are told that they aren't doing their duty to God, ergo they are going
 KK> to Hell, ergo they are fear-driven.
   In the diplomatic world, even the notification to the other State that the
gauntlet is being thrown down is couched in language that the layman could
easily interpret (grin) as an invitation to an afternoon tea and a little
thoughtful discussion.  SOME bloodbaths have been avoided because matters 
ere
settled in these exchanges.  I wrote my masters thesis almost entirely from
the correspondence between the Chilean legation and the Department of State 
t
the turn of the century and from consular exchanges (most having to do with
begging our guy to champion our guns for use in anticipated wars.  It takes
some getting accustomed to the real meaning of such language.  
 KK> and utopian.  I remember thinking that, okay, it's good to think about
 KK> utopian ideas, but don't imagine that just because they sound good,
 KK> therefore they must be viable.
   In a similar vein the rough-hewn but very shrewd Earl K. Long of Louisiana
used to appoint highly respectable and "idealistic" individuals to 
ommissions
with the potential of accomplishing a lot of good.  He would tell them to
handle the job right down the line just as they saw fit but to "leave the
politics to him."  Blaise Starr was more of a passing phase with him than a
controlling passion of his life or so I've been told.
 KK> We can contrast this with someone like James Watt, who, as Reagan's
 KK> Secretary of the Interior, informed the world that there was no point
 KK> worrying about protecting the environment, because the Lord was coming
 KK> soon.
   (Grin) I'm hoping it will be just prior to the time my computer either
gives up the ghost or becomes hopelessly obsolete, thus saving me from
purchasing another as in my sinful zeal I'd surely do left to my own evil
devices!!
 KK> At some level I prefer them to philospher-kings; after all, Plato's
 KK> _Republic_ is essentially a fascist system.  How romantic to get
   No question but that the sending of the current "corrupt" society into
oblivion to make way for the training of the philosopher-kings resembles our
moderm fascistic ideologies and I guess it shouldn't be sugar-coated but the
apologists for Plato say that he was only demonstrating that the desired
platform COULD be erected and was not impossible.  Moreover, Keith, it should
always be kept in mind that Plato was NOT a modern ideologist.  Even when
democracy ran rampant the lot of the masses wasn't THAT wonderful and if one
sees as clearly as Plato saw the coming destruction of the polis either by
some future Xerxes or Alexander the Great then drastic measures might be
called for even though Plato himself had made the decision not to be involved
in the actually affairs of State.
  As Socrates is made to say in _the Republic_ "By the dog there IS such a
polis even if it is only a paradigm laid up in heaven and the philosopher 
ill
live in that polis and none other....."
Sincerely, 
                                     Frank
                                                                              
                                                       
--- PPoint 2.05
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