I know. This is my third post this morning. What can I say? I'm running off at the keyboard. I can't help it. I was checking out a blog I found -- The EthioPundit -- and his post entitled "Do the Right Thing."

EthioPundit starts his post with a Tolstoy quote

"Leo Tolstoy wrote at the beginning of Anna Karenina, “All happy families resemble each other. Each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Not only does EP quote Tolstoy, but he actually does a great job of making work. The point of his article is that people should wake up and see that there are reasons that nations are prosperous. Among these reasons EthioPundit cites the following: 1. a rational world view, 2. the rule of law, 3. civil society, 4. limited government, and 5. trust and democracy. EP makes a great argument. The successes of the West can be emulated. In particular, EP urges the adoption of these critical success factors by his native Ethiopia.

Basically, the successes of the West and those who have emulated them worldwide are human successes that are no one's property. There is absolutely no reason that those victories over want and wrong can not be shared by Ethiopians.

And he's right. There is no reason why the United States, among others, shouldn't be exporting prosperity to those who need it most. I have long been an advocate of using the foreign policy of the U.S. to "promote the general welfare" in the world, as well as here at home in America. If I were President (a phrase my wife has heard more than once), I would establish an office within the State Department that would provide training and support to nations whose people wish to pursue democratization and the benefits of the Western ideals that EthioPundit has elucidated. There are some who would say that I am dreamy-eyed and not a true conservative. But I would contest that the goal of a conservative is to dream heroic dreams and use the best conservative ideals to achieve them.

Go check out EthioPundit. A well-reasoned thinker.