In an otherwise excellent piece, Jeffrey Simpson repeats what he considers a classic truism: democrats everywhere should believe "that the United States, at its best, is a force for good in the world."

Of course, as some blogger said, "Freedom is a force for good AND evil. When you have teenagers, you'll understand." But what is a "force for good?"

Every parent and teacher knows you can't force children to be good. You have to lead the good out of them by example and explanation. It's called education, from the Latin root "to lead out." Being forceful is usually counterproductive.

You can't "force" peoples or countries to be good either. The attempt is just as counterproductive.

Of course, the phrase "force for good" is part of the militarization of the language.

quote:

---

politicians all seem to like to use military language; look at the task forces they launch. . . Another military term in frequent use is mission, and in these days everyone it seems has a mission statement . . . Looking over some of the mission statements of the better known companies, one learns that oil company B aims to 'be a force for good in everything it does.'

---

The true religious perspective knows this too:

quote:

---

We believe in superior firepower, in a righteous violence that wins out over bad violence. Like in Star Wars, we believe that the Force of good wins out over the "dark side of the force." But this is precisely the first step of what Jesus came to show us, that this thinking is all wrong. It is the human way of thinking under the deception of Satan . . .

First, we need to understand what heaven means here. It's not just some nice place where good people go after they die. No, the biblical idea of heaven is the realm of superhuman powers, the things we believe in, like the forces of good that can vanquish the forces of evil. We normally, under the deception of Satan, believe in superior firepower as a force for good. We accuse the bad guys and blow them to smithereens. That's a heavenly victory to us. But in the cross of Christ that Satanic power of righteous violence falls to earth. It is shown for what it is, evil, not good. We are able to see our powers of violence precisely as ours, and never as God's, never good. Violence is always of earthly origin, never heavenly.

---