Does the United States have the resolve to shape a new century favorable to American principles and interests? ". We seem to have forgotten the essential elements of the Reagan Administrations success: a military that is strong and ready to meet both present and future challenges; a foreign policy that boldly and purposefully promotes American principles abroad; and national leadership that accepts the United States global responsibilities.

• we need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future;
• we need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values;
• we need to promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad;
• we need to accept responsibility for Americas unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles.

Elliott Abrams - Gary Bauer - William J. Bennett - Jeb Bush - Dick Cheney - Eliot A. Cohen - Midge Decter - Paula Dobriansky - Steve Forbes - Aaron Friedberg - Francis Fukuyama - Frank Gaffney - Fred C. Ikle - Donald Kagan - Zalmay Khalilzad - I. Lewis Libby - Norman Podhoretz - Dan Quayle - Peter W. Rodman - Stephen P. Rosen - Henry S. Rowen - Donald Rumsfeld - Vin Weber - George Weigel - Paul Wolfowitz

Well, thats not all bad, is it? Its nice that they mention "political and economic freedom abroad." Unfortunately they have shown us what they mean by that phrase - it means they will bring you the freedom to do what the US government wants you to do. Theyve also made it clear that they attach strange meanings to "strengthen our ties to democratic allies." And they have selective memory (or perhaps "corrective memory") of recent US history (the Reagan-Bush and Clinton administrations). Still, their professed intention to defend American interests seems to be a sensible enough goal.

The key here lies in what is missing. There are two hugely important streams of thought in American life that this document does not relate well to.

I.  AMERICAN LIBERAL (Representative!) DEMOCRACY

There are hundreds of documents and speeches in this stream of American ideals and commitment. Four wonderful ones are

• The Declaration of Independence
  "All men are created equal" does not mean that wealthy American Republican leaders are innately more deserving of power and of all good things than everyone else on the planet.
• The Constitution
  This document is devoted precisely to the idea that yes, we need power, but it is desperately urgent that we put limits around and watchers over that power. This is a document whose purpose is to "establish justice and promote the general welfare", not to increase the absolute power of the sovereign group.
• Lincolns Gettysburg Address ("that government of the people, BY the people, FOR the PEOPLE shall not perish from the earth")
• Lincolns Second Inaugural ("with malice toward none, with charity for all " to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan")

PNAC is not much bothered about such things. Their statement is concerned with one trump value: power, control, domination.

Human history proves the deadliness of allowing only one partys interests to dominate. We dont need PNAC or anyone else re-establishing that folly in national or international life.