[Keith_Hixson]

What you are talking about is cultural change. How you were raised and the way of thinking established by your cultural is very, very, very, hard to change. To believe that we can show people from other cultures the benefits of Democracy and the American way of life is just right down foolish. Culture is so firmly established in a person's way of life by the time they are five or six it is almost impossible to change their way of thinking and living. Yet our government, past and present, has foolishly felt they could. Russia's adjustment to Democracy has been a hard, long draw out process. And, when we really think about, it was a long hard drawn out process to develop democracy in the United States. We had the Civil War which still causes poles of division in our culture. The founding fathers and those coming to America were predisposed toward independence and independant thinking (that is the reason they came to America). To have started a Democracy in Europe at that time would have been a complete disaster (it still is for the most part). Yet, our government (past and present) naively still believe that if you expose folks to our culture they'll want what we have. Well, these folks can also see the faults in our form of government and culture. They see the moral decay that democracy allows, they see that if you want political power you must have money (just like in their cultures). They see the poor manipulating the government for food and money, (just like in their culture). And they ask themselves what is it that makes United States so great. So, if they have religious clerics who tell them the USA is corrupt and needs to be destroy it is easy for them to agree.

They often fail to see that it is our wonderful freedoms established in the Constitution that still makes the USA the greatest country and the greatest place to live in this entire world.

The point being, bringing in these folks to observe us does little to convince them that United States is all we believe it to be.

Keith