To American Conservatives, the other side is always the Devil Incarnate. Mean, evil, vicious, nasty, they hate America for the sake of hating America, they envy our way of life and despise us for having it.

They have no regard for life, limb, human or civil rights. Their prison systems are vast, filled with people for whom there is no mercy. Their populations are kept in control only by repressive laws and by snitches, informants and spys. Private property is unknown, people only exist for the benefit of the State.

They aren't trustworthy, do not keep their word or committments, and will take advantage of any effort to be reasonable with them to further their own nefarious agenda.

In those countries anyone who advocates the overthrow of the government is treated very harshly, thrown into jail without trials, without justice. Political prisoners. At the whim of their dictatorial leaders.

They do not believe in God.

In my lifetime that has included Japan and Germany. North Korea. Cuba. China. Soviet Union, the well-known "Evil Empire". Vietnam. Syria. Iraq. Iran.

And bigawd, we remade Japan and Germany. (Why does the US still have troops in Japan and Germany, I wonder?) North Korea is still evil, as is Cuba. Evil, evil, evil!

Well, China may not be so bad. See, China can make a fortune for Wal-Mart, so China may not be so evil. And the Soviet Union, well, we've looked into the souls of their leaders and seen some good. May want to work with them. And Vietnam, well, they beat the shit out of the US, the communists took over, evil won, but they can make cheap tennis shoes and those women can run sewing machines like nobody's business, so maybe they aren't all that bad.

And so on. The point is that Conservative sheep just follow along, demonizing until their political leadership decides a buck can be made and then, WITHOUT CHANGING, they become not so bad. The True Believers just follow these twists and turns with neither qualm nor question. It does not seem to bother them.

The only real criteria operating, the only real issue is whether large corporations can make some money from their resources and/or their markets. If so, they're good guys. If not, they're bad guys, mean, evil and nasty.

There is no sense talking to someone unless they can make your political supporters a buck. And sometimes many more bucks can be made by your political supporters by building guns, missiles, bombs, that sort of thing.

Peace on Earth comes at a price. Pay US and you might have a little peace.

Arf