Hi John,

Quote Originally Posted by John T. Fishel View Post
My initial reading of the WP and NYT commentary is that it will hark back to the Clinton NSS of engagement and enlargement.
Can you explain the enlargement part?

Going out on a minor limb, I think the new NSS will mention democracy but not give it the emphasis that his Republican and Democratic predecessors did.
One thing that always struck me as peculiar during the last several NSSs was the universal acceptance of the Democratic Peace Theory (Democracies tend to be less violent so if every state has a democracy then we'll have peace). Democracy is not a panacea, and it is very difficult to establish the ground work for a fully functional democratic gov't. There is no gov't in a box.

Personally, it is similar to if one's only investment strategy for purchasing stocks is to "buy low, sell high" thinking that all one has to do is buy a bunch of cheap stocks and they'll be rich without cause or concern over what type of business it is, quality of leadership, how well it operates, and future prospects for growth.