Hope from history on the lack of naturally aggressive nations

The best thing George Bush has ever done is to proclaim that all people -- especially Arabs -- want democracy. That's the noblest sentiment from his Administration.

That idea -- that all men and women are created equal -- contrasts with the notion that some people are just bad. They are war-mongering hateful monsters and always will be.

Some people believe that about some 'races' or nations or religions.

Of course, they are wrong. And the long view of history shows it.

Here's an excerpt from a listserv I'm on (www.delanceyplace.com) that captured the hope from history well:

"The first half of the twentieth century was drenched in the blood spilled by German and Japanese aggression, yet only a few decades later it is hard to think of two countries more pacific. Sweden spent the seventeenth century rampaging through Europe, yet it is now an icon of nurturing tranquility."

Robert M. Sapolsky, A Natural History of Peace, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2006, pp. 119-120.

Arabs and Muslims are just like the rest of us, and don't let anyway tell you differently.