10 Commandments of U.S. Foreign Policy

One of the supposed virtues of democracy is the idea that free speech fosters a “marketplace for ideas.”  In theory, free and open discussion of vital public issues is supposed to winnow out ill-conceived notions and produce more sensible policy outcomes.  This benefit will be compromised when certain topics become taboo, however, or when specific institutions or dogmas become so well-entrenched in the political mainstream that anyone who questions them is easily marginalized.  When that happens, skeptics who would like to rise within the establishment will be deterred from raising their voices, and public debate will become truncated.  What John Kenneth Galbraith dubbed the “conventional wisdom” will tend to go unchallenged, and mistakes may get repeated instead of corrected.