The Case For Democracy was, in Bush's words, part of his "€œpresidential DNA,"€ a work which the leader of the free world recommended as required reading for anyone who desired to make sense of his foreign policy. It is well-nigh impossible to take this rhetoric seriously anymore, particularly in light of the failure to build democracy in nations like Iraq or Afghanistan, where undemocratic traditions so far seem to have won the battle against liberal universalism. Yet Sharansky is undaunted by these failures. In his new book, Defending Identity, he does not abandon his position, in light of these fiascos. Rather, he believes that democracies fail because they do not take account the necessity of identity." /> The Case For Democracy was, in Bush's words, part of his "€œpresidential DNA,"€ a work which the leader of the free world recommended as required reading for anyone who desired to make sense of his foreign policy. It is well-nigh impossible to take this rhetoric seriously anymore, particularly in light of the failure to build democracy in nations like Iraq or Afghanistan, where undemocratic traditions so far seem to have won the battle against liberal universalism. Yet Sharansky is undaunted by these failures. In his new book, Defending Identity, he does not abandon his position, in light of these fiascos. Rather, he believes that democracies fail because they do not take account the necessity of identity." />

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Grant Havers

Grant Havers
Dr. Grant Havers teaches philosophy and politics at Trinity Western University (Canada).

Israel and Identity

After Jesus Christ, Natan Sharansky is George Bush's favorite philosopher. In early 2005, around the time of his second inaugural, the president praised Sharansky"€”ex-prisoner of the Soviet Gulag, former Israeli cabinet minister, and crusader for human rights"€”in effusive terms. Sharansky's ...

Rear-View Mirror Conservatism

Rear-view Mirror Conservatism We look at the present through a rear-view mirror.  We march backwards into the future.                                      ...

The Limits of Lincoln Bashing

Between the warring camps vying for ownership of the true "€œAmerican conservatism,"€ a remarkable consensus has emerged around the status of Abraham Lincoln and his legacy. In the conservative house divided, almost everyone agrees that the president was the prophet of democratic imperialism ...

Is There Conservatism Beyond Christianity? (or how to book a mental vacation in Athens or Valhalla)

Christians on the right are used to witnessing attacks on their faith from atheistic leftists. Ever since the highly influential "€œcultural Marxists"€ of the Frankfurt School, it has become de rigeur for the chattering classes in the media and academe to tear down the historic faith of ...

A Chosen People without God”€”The Rise of the Neocons

The fact that neoconservatives have thought and acted in terms of secularized Judaism places them in the larger company of many other atheistic ideologues who were more than willing to bring heaven down to earth through political action. In the post-Holocaust age, it is not terribly shocking to ...

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