Carrying Dead Bodies

Dear Mr. Wolf,

Thank you very much for today's (10/27) op-ed article in the Financial Times, but it was mistaken in two major ways both of which I would not expect you to understand from the more liberal side of the ocean.

Firstly, you say major divisions appeared at the 1968 Democratic Convention when in fact the divisions were permanently established when George Washington appointed both Jefferson and Hamilton to his Cabinet. Jefferson thought the American Revolution was against all gov't while Hamilton had no objection to the concept of a strong central gov't so long as it was a strong American gov't, which he presumably would set up and control. The Jefferson/Hamilton chasm became and remains the defining issue in American history. Incidentally, the Jeffersonian side won exclusively until the New Deal, and has done reasonably well thereafter. They then staked a natural claim to traditional American values, and always have been more willing to defend and promote those values internationally. The Hamiltonians, later heavily influenced by Karl Marx, never liked Jeffersonian freedom very much and therefore were/are much less inclined to defend freedom around the world.

Secondly, you say if Bush wins it is a declaration of indifference to militant exceptionialism or democratic imperialism. Actually, if Bush wins it is really just about preventing another sneak attack. His presidency has been a reaction to 9/11 not the development and implementation of some goofy academic philosophy. As Rumsfeld was carrying dead bodies out of the Pentagon on 9/11 he said to himself, "damn, we should have struck preemptively on 12/6/41 and 9/10/01; we didn't, thousands died, it won't happen again." He looked around the world and it occurred to him that we were already at war with one of the most evil regimes in history and said, "they are an incredibly obvious target; in fact 1000 times more obvious than Japan was on 12/6/41 or Afghanistan was on 9/10/01.

So please Mr.Wolf, let us defend ourselves without being accused of some silly academic philosophy. With the grace of God, Americans will return George Bush to the White House; not the Hamiltonian who never liked America freedom. Kerry would have to half heartedly try to defend a country he has never really defended on any level. In fact, if Kerry is even 1% less credible on defense, and God knows he is far more than that, he does not belong within 1000 miles of the White House, during a world war no less, where as Ronald Reagan famously said, "the last best hope for freedom on earth resides."