Political Views
Rummel is a strong supporter of spreading liberal democracy, although he claims that he doesn't support invasion of another country solely to replace a dictatorship. Rudolph Rummel talks about the "miracle" of liberty and peace, and is an outspoken critic of communism. However, he also criticizes right-wing dictatorships and the democides that occurred under colonialism. He has also been critical of past American foreign policy: for example, the Philippine War, the bombing of civilians during World War II and the involvement in the Sack of Peking. He believes that the U.S. under Woodrow Wilson was a domestic tyranny.
He strongly supports the current War on Terror and the Iraq War. There is a need, Rummel argues, for an intergovernmental organization of all democracies outside of the United Nations to deal with issues about which the UN cannot or will not act, but particularly to further the promotion of peace, human security, human rights, and democracy—an Alliance of Democracies.
He has also argued that there is a leftist bias in some parts of the academic world that selectively focus on problems in nations with high political and economic freedom and ignores much worse problems in other nations. Related to this, he has also criticized the tenure system.
Rummel has been very critical of Barack Obama, alleging that Obama is seeking to destroy liberal democracy in the United States. He believes that global warming is "a scam for power", and has opposed Obama's carbon-trading plan. He believes that Obama has killed off a democratic peace that Clinton and Bush had been pursuing.
Following the death of Edward Kennedy, Rummel condemned the media reaction as too benign and stated "the post-war blood of millions is on Kennedy's hands". Rummel believes that Kennedy's opposition to the Vietnam War helped to facilitate the state killings in Cambodia and Vietnam during the 1970s.
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