Statecraft as Soulcraft!?!

I finished reading George Will's Statecraft as Soulcraft: What Government Does. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1983). It was an interesting read I suppose. What I think his major claim is to reorient people's thinking what government does. He says that people and politicians act as if government has a low-view in the public's eyes especially according to conservatives (less government is a better government) and that government's concern is with the material, natural, and monetary. What he claims is that the government, hence the political theory (liberal, capitalist democracy) produces citizens. Therefore, the government should take more seriously what kind of citizen that it produces. I think that he does a fair job at describing what liberal, capitalist, democracy is, although I think his claims to what government should be will not work in america, and since the book was written 25 years ago and I do not really see his views being lived or spoken about, I think I figured right.

At least it helps me at least ask myself what I think government is doing or what it's purpose is. I sometimes suppose that americans just simply assume that liberal, capitalist democracy is good. I am not saying that it is bad. I may be saying that people should look at our politics with a little more imagination. It is as if the whole world would adopt democracy, then there would be world peace. Yet as I look within the united states, there is still violence, crime, poverty, evil.

From the white house website concerning the middle east: Today, Israelis and Palestinians each understand that the only way to realize their own goals is by helping one another. An independent, viable, democratic, and peaceful Palestinian state is more than the aspiration of Palestinians. It is also the best guarantee of peace for all its neighbors – and the Israelis understand this.