From: prabhak@giga.cs.umn.edu (Satya Prabhakar)
Subject: Re: Naive Foreigners (Re: Nitya/abortion rights/s.s.chawathe)
Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, CSci dept.
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 12:16:23 GMT

In article <92253.115144RIPBC@CUNYVM.BITNET> <RIPBC@CUNYVM.BITNET> writes:
>-        "Machiavelli was more daring; when he served the devil
>-         he disdained going about his business in the livery of
>-         heaven.."
>-
>-Republicans have mastered the art of codeword propaganda. Lest the
>-naive foreigners were to miss the point, the word 'family values"
>-is the Republican codeword for heterosexual, white anglo saxon, two parent
>-family which disdains abortion and perhaps even contraception. Are
>-we there yet? Nope. To really belong to the core of the Republican
>-party you must be in the upper reaches of social position. Call that
>-'rich.' Oh, I forgot, you gotta believe in Judeo-Christian God, for
>-as President Bush said once that atheists should not probably be
>-considered good citizens of good ol' USA!
>-
>-Satya Prabhakar
>
>Satya Pabhakar has some good points, but I think (s)he makes too much of them.
>
>In the fifties, Emmett Till, who whistled at a white woman was taken by her
>husband and a friend and killed. Last year, a black man, married to a white
>woman, was proposed for the US supreme court, lionised by southern senators and
>attacked by liberals.  But we still have people insisting that republicans
>still are wolves in sheep's clothing.   Have we, unconsciously raised our
>standards for `sheepishness' and lowered our standards for `wolfishness'?
>Because things do LOOK like they have changed.  If Bush is defeated, it is
>
Absolutely! In my humble opinion, Americans are the most gracious people
in the world. Period. They take pride in the tolerance and encouragement
they exhibit towards foreigners. Ironically, outside my friends and
family circle, I get treated better in US than in India. The problem
I have is with the bigoted Republican stance towards people they find
different.

The open-mindedness of Americans is the very source of their strength.
Alvin Toffler, in his great book POWERSHIFT, says that future power
of nations will arise from Military, Wealth and Knowledge. 

Since the demise of communism and the evaporation of the Soviet threat 
and with the scope of precedent of negotiated multilateral military action 
set by the Gulf War, America has lost the leverage its military once had.
As Emerson put it "A has power over B to the extent B is dependent on A"
Europe and Japan are decreasingly dependent on their big brother for
protection from ghosts and demons.

With respect to wealth, Japan and, incrasingly, the united Europe are
fighting US to gain financial preeminence, and there is every indication
that US is not winning the battle. 

According to Toffler, the dominant American edge lies in its Knowledge. 
Knowledge comprises in scientific and cultural dominance. America dominates 
the world in science and techology research. More importantly, America 
dominates the world (perhaps there is no second) in spreading its culture 
around. This rather intangible ability comes mostly from the 'lingua franca' 
status of the English language and America's ability to assimilate foreigners 
and their cultures so easily while others thrive on their insularity. 

Against this broad canvas, I find blatant diffusion of hate by a mainstream 
party to be counterproductive. Not to speak of dividing people along 
manufactured fault lines.

Satya Prabhakar
(satya@ssdc.honeywell.com)