Conservatives can't come to grips with the problem.
Reader comment on item: Can Hezbollah and Hamas Be Democratic?

Submitted by Jason Pappas (United States), Mar 22, 2005 at 20:34

It's just not conservatives but Americans in general that have a hard time understanding the dangers of an ideological movement. I talk about it in detail on my blog ( http://libertyandculture.blogspot.com/2005/03/ideology-vs-pragmatism-again.html ) where I note: "Today, we face a similar problem. The ideology of Islam [or Islamism] is dismissed as irrelevant. Our foreign policy is governed by the parliamentary dialectic. 'If only they had a legislature, even Hamas and Hezbollah would morph into civil clubs!' The idea that ideas matter is dismissed. Institutions and an innate drive for liberty will change the Middle East, we are told."

Of course, the administration's record of welcoming Islamists to ecumenical gatherings and having CAIR advise the FBI is symptomatic of the blindness. However, with your continual prodding, I think our conservative friends will wake up. Keep up the good work.

Jason Pappas

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