The current administration seems to not have a concept of what Federalism is, but the idea is becoming a major topic in the GOP race. Fred Thompson is a longstanding committed federalist, and Giuliani appears to be a convert. In fact the two are fighting over who is the better federalist.

Romney, on the other hand, seems less committed.

Asked if he backed the GOP convention platform from 2004 that states, “We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and we endorse legislation to make it clear that the 14th Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children,” Romney indicated that he did.

I think he’s making a mistake. Federalism has to potential to be the glue that can hold a vast national coalition together. There is no way to reconcile the values of Mississippi and Massachusetts. Why try?

But after co-sponsoring a measure with Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) in June 2005 calling for a time-certain troop withdrawal from Iraq, Jones began taking heat from many of those same supporters. His U-turn on war policy attracted some unusual publicity for a press-shy conservative: an appearance on ABC News with Kucinich, long considered an anti-war bogeyman by the right, and a cover story in the liberal Mother Jones magazine.

Now, the consequences look more threatening. For the first time in more than a decade, Jones faces a serious primary challenger in Onslow County Commissioner Joe McLaughlin, a former Army Ranger, and their race will test how opposition to the Iraq war plays out in conservative and pro-military America.

Politico

I am not a fan of the Iraq war and haven’t been since the day it started, but Jones is just wrong on this. Whether or not anyone agreed with it and regardless of how badly the Bush Administration has botched it, we invaded and that’s the way it is. To just pull out and leave the country in a less than stable conditions threatens of the lives of the people there who we were supposed to liberating.

Global political knowledge was miniscule, with just three percent of women and 14 percent of men saying they are extremely knowledgeable on world politics.One reason for the knowledge gap is lack of interest, according to the poll.”Well over half (57 percent) say they do not like learning about political issues in other countries,” and 32 percent expressed a lack of interest for homespun politics, the Harris Poll group said. (Breitbart)

It’s one thing to say that America should maintain its soverignty and not make decisions about national security based on what France says.  It’s another to say that we just don’t care what the rest of the world has to say or what is going on outside our borders.  It is frightening to think that so many of the same Americans - regardless of where they may fall on the political spectrum - can have strong opinions on matters of geopolitical interest while knowing so little about the complexities of the subject.

Having met countless Europeans and Latin Americans in my travels outside the US, I can say that we’re not alone here.  Most Europeans are not much better than Americans in this regard, though I’d say that more can see the validity of arguments with which they disagree.  Latin Americans often know a fair amount about other Latin American countries, but not much about things outside the region.

Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t think that every American should spend every waking hour learning about Darfur, global perspectives on global warming, or China’s progression/regression on human rights, but picking up a newspaper and reading about something other than American Idol might be nice.  Ignorance may be bliss, but it’s also unbecoming of a nation that values a liberal education at best and quite dangerous at worst.