Quote Originally Posted by slapout9 View Post
Old Encyclopedia Britannica Movie on Despotism and how to measure it for yourself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmBFY...layer_embedded
We were a lot tougher on despotism back before we got into the business ourselves. 1900-WWII we could rationalize that we were "liberators"; perhaps even up to about 1950. After that the realities of containment along ideological lines and the competition for key terrain and resources sent us down the proverbial "slippery slope."

The business of America is business, and business loves stability, and Despots provide stability, so America has grown tolerant of such governments.

Today the nature of our alliances are such that any U.S. leader who dared to speak out on despotism would be heckled off of the stage (which is actually a good sign here at home, heckling is still allowed! It is our denial of that right to others where we get off track).