First, I believe that "rough concensus and running code" is an incredible organizing principle. In the spirit of that, I'm willing to join in the discussion and knock together some designs and implementations.
+1 for listing the rule of law first. Special interests chap my butt, as is evidenced by the amount of invective I heap upon the people who decide they're super-important enough not to have to find a parking spot but can just abandon their SUV right in front of the door to the school. Kathy can attest to the number of times I've wanted to get back out of the car and go share some pointed feelings with self-selecting aristocracy.
+1 for getting "not waiting for the gummint" up high on the list. Yes, I understand Hurricane Katrina was devastating. So was Hurricane Hugo, but I'm pretty sure that Mcclellanville rebuilt themselves rather than waiting for FEMA to dole out debit cards. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure Homestead did mostly the same thing when Andrew waded ashore there. "What's the difference" I pretend to hear you ask? South Carolinians and Floridans went about rebuilding their stuff because they didn't believe that all goodness flows from the government, while an awful lot of NOLA residents seem to believe it; this belief seems to be reinforced by the MSM in their quest to prove that President Bush "doesn't like black people".
I'm actually +1 on all the statements of principles here in the document. The only place I have serious complaints about is
The unsuccessful nation-building exercise in Iraq has debilitated our spirit. It would be wonderful if the new strategy in Iraq succeeds, so that the President's enemies, foreign and domestic, are confounded. But I question whether the various religious and secular leaders in Iraq have what it takes to live in an open society. In any case, I would like to see this issue raised before we undertake nation-building exercises in the future.
I note that, right here in the USA, people are killing each other all over the place. For example, Chicago, Illinois. They're shooting at the police! They're shooting at each other! It's a quaqmire! We should withdraw immediately and apologize to the UN! Let the Indians ("Native Americans"? "Amerinds"? insert whatever PC term you'd like here) sort out their own problems!
Sectarian violence is in Los Angeles, too! They're shooting each other! Shooting at the police! We should withdraw immediately and let the Mexicans ("Hispanics"? "Spanish-Americans"? "Little brown people"?) sort out their own problems! Beg the UN to send some scathing memos and blue-helmeted pedophilic panderers!
There are lots of points of discussion about our strategy and tactics in Iraq, but "failed nation building"? I'm lumping this in with all the other goalpost-moving vis-a-vis Iraq that's taking place in current political discussion. "It's been six years," you say? "We've still got troops in Germany, and it's been sixty years since we 'won the war' there," I reply.
In short, I don't think this belongs in the document at all since it will, sooner or later, be an outdated appendix of a reference.
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