Politics & Power Quote by James Inhofe

Patriotism is doing double duty here: it’s both a moral posture and a policy brief. Inhofe frames American rights as “privileges and freedoms” that can’t be taken for granted, then quietly converts that anxiety into a mandate for action abroad. The line “If we are to continue enjoying” is the hinge. It suggests domestic liberty depends on exporting a particular political model overseas, turning democracy promotion from altruism into self-defense.

The rhetoric is calibrated to make intervention feel like insurance. “Many around the globe are denied the basic rights we enjoy” establishes an ethical contrast (the fortunate “we” versus the oppressed “they”), but the next sentence collapses the humanitarian impulse into national interest. The phrase “accept our mission” borrows from the language of destiny and obligation; it’s not “a policy choice,” it’s a calling. That move is strategic: missions are harder to debate than programs, because questioning them sounds like moral backsliding.

Context matters. Inhofe’s era in Republican politics spans the post-Cold War moment when “democracy” became a versatile justification for American power, especially after 9/11. The quote participates in that tradition: democracy is treated less as a messy, locally built practice and more as a transferable product the U.S. can “expand.” The subtext is that American security and virtue are intertwined with American reach - and that restraint isn’t prudence, it’s negligence.