Radio Free Europe, Freedom of Speech, and Liberty: The strength of America is not economic, military, or diplomatic. The strength of America is an idea — an idea of a place where people have information, understanding, and control over their lives. Once, during the civil war in Lebanon, I was stopped at a Hezbollah checkpoint by a teenager with an AK-47. When the young man saw my American passport I was subjected, with a gun muzzle in my face, to a twenty minute tirade about “great American satan devil.” I was told that America had caused war, famine, injustice, Zionism, and poverty all over the world. Then, when the boy had finished his rant, he lowered his gun and said, “As soon as I get my Green Card I am going to Dearborn, Michigan, to study dentist school.”
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Indeed, in a sense, informed argument allows us to “fight without winning.” In a democracy no side wins — forever. The other side can always come back with a different argument. And maybe the next time the other side is right. Information keeps changing, therefore ideas keep changing, therefore minds keep changing. John Maynard Keynes was once tasked with inconsistency in his statements about economics. Keynes replied, “When my information changes, sir, I change my mind. What do you do?”
In a democracy we don’t call these changes war, we call them politics.