Evidently - for realpolitikers and their semi spiritual isolationist wishful thinkers - American Exceptionalism is as provocatively dangerous as parking an M1 panzer in the courtyard of the Golden dome thingy in N'Jaf, while the crew stops to pop the top and take a leak.
The obvious flaw in the ointment is the ancient pre911 idea that everything is equal. Moral equivilance or moral relativism - thus nothing is truly worth indepth analysis or stalwart defense or ruthless offense.
In the diplopolititary - nation states like Australia and Pyramidland are considered exactly the same, and should be regarded as equals. Nothing is truly good or bad - all depends.
Americans do not regard everything as equal - Americans use the old tried and true "Which one of these things is not like the other"
Simple - but not simplistic - this understanding annihilates every 'problem' with American Exceptionalism Dr P pontificates about.
"...American Exceptionalism encourages the mistaken belief that American values and political institutions, because they are deemed superior to anyone else's, will be readily accepted and understood by non-Americans.
LOLZ! Uh, yessir, well see - Great Satan's values and polity ARE superior - by any measure of endeavor. Non Americans totally get it - indeed - Great Satan is still the destination of choice for millions, if not billions of ppl suffering under autocrazies, despotries and intolerant, illegit, unelected 'leaders' that lose every war they start and deliver ZERO services for their citizens. "Oh, if I could only get to America"
The 'Weenie Hut Juniors' style boring asseted 'worrying about the wrong thing' meme - aimed at the 'indespensible' cool kids - does have several funintended consequences though!
"...It makes it difficult for Americans to see the negative sides of what many non-Americans see, fairly or unfairly, in the United States. It thus is difficult for Americans to understand anti-Americanism.
Whoa - carebeful Doc! - Kinda making the old daemoneoncon point about propping up despots in the world in search of the ancient Corrupt cult of Stability? Sweet!
Thug hugging should ideally be sweetly hooked up with unbridled democrazy promotion - unyeilding and constant - until pitiful client states make the move to a fully functional democrazy. A fair point - though it's doubtful Dr P meant it as such.
Americans totally understand foreign antiAmericanism. And, as best understood - Americans simply do not give a flying flak what other nations think.
Americans can hardly be held responsible for the failure of nation states in unfree lands - where literacy rates are underwhelming and infant mortality rates soar, where Mother's Day is considered as unGodly as St Valentine's day - all led by corrupt Royalty in Ray Bans or military Presidents For Life - fully crunk with censored media, secret police, secret courts, secret trials and secret executions.
Or Europa dementia in remembering stuff like Stukas, Sickleschnitt or Sturmsoldat.
Great Satan's inclination to do right has been virtually unique among the nations of the world - and for this reason has often been totally misunderstood. After all - how can a country so hot, so rich and so successful actually be so unselfish and caring?
Great Satan must have darker plots, she must be prepping to destroy m"Hammedism, seeking to create an empire, to dominate everyone else, to gobble all the oil or trade, xform all the world's girls into hoochies or whatever for our own selfish purposes.
More grasping, less idealistic (unexceptional - nicht wahr?) societies simply find it impossible to accept the happy fact that Great Satan honestly believes in free choice. That giving everyone opportunity is THE recipe for abundance and happiness everywhere - not just for us.
Americans also believe what Uncle Tony codified as ensuring everyone's freedom is the best guarantee that Americans can keep theirs. Great Satan does not want to dominate the world, she only ventures out to redress errors, stop unacceptable behavior, challenge threats to our nation and our liberty. When she settles the issue - Americans want only to get home and continue to build this awesome City on a Hill.
"...All of these tendencies have gotten the United States into trouble—sometimes deep, very expensive trouble—and could do so again.
Au contraire herr doktor! All of Great Satan's tenacious tendencies have actually gotten other nation states and unelected regimes into trouble! Deep, very expensive trouble indeed! Like Imperial Nippon, NSDAP time Deutschland, Fascist Italia, Soviet Union, Taliban Afghanistan and Ba'Athist Iraq.
Pic - "Great Satan is magically delicious!" with Miley
9 comments:
You know, I've been waiting for this post ever since I saw your comments in Prof Walt's FPM post. And it's not really... exceptional.
"Great Satan does not want to dominate the world, she only ventures out to redress errors, stop unacceptable behavior, challenge threats to our nation and our liberty. When she settles the issue - Americans want only to get home and continue to build this awesome City on a Hill."\
Really? We have roughly 300-400 OCONUS military bases and facilities, we've been in a 10-year war that shows no signs of ending, been in Germany and Korea for 50 years, but hey, it's not because we are trying to impose our values on other countries, oh, no.
Our kid's education has slipped to #17 among the world's nations, our economy is being bypassed by Asian nations, our health care was long ago eclipsed by Europe, we have no energy plan other than "more fossil fuels please", and a third of the country is in love with a rabid, myopic half-term governor who says Africa is a country and North Korea is our ally. But hey, we still have nukes and a kick-ass military, so really, we're exceptional. Kind of.
From Der Spiegel:
SPIEGEL: Yet the American right is still convinced of American exceptionalism.
Brzezinski: That is a reaction to the inability of people to understand global complexity or important issues like American energy dependency. Therefore, they search for simplistic sources of comfort and clarity. And the people that they are now selecting to be, so to speak, the spokespersons of their anxieties are, in most cases, stunningly ignorant.
"our health care was long ago eclipsed by Europe"
You might want to clarify that. It certainly depends on what you consider "Europe" is. It also depends on how you consider we have been 'Eclipsed'. For your purposes is it just one particular country you have in mind that you feel eclipses US health care? Because you know, that would be a little misleading. Europe is not one big happy family all hugs and kisses and equal with each other by any means. In fact most of 'Europa' is pretty much falling apart economically. Greece + Ireland anyone? Or are Greece and Ireland not part of your Europe?
Perhaps your vaunted Europe can't actually pay for all the fantastic health care it supposedly has these days?
Wow socialism rocks no?
J, as best understood Great Satan hung out in Deutschland after the unconditional surrender not to impose anything - yet to preserve everything regained from liberating Western Europe. Soviet Union was a tremendous force in those days.
Surprised you didn't jump in the mix at Dr Walt's Weenie Hut Juniors.
You could have sent those fakebelieve realists flying!
J,
Have you ever been assigned overseas? When I was on a long tour in Germany, people would stop me in the street and thank me for being there. Even in the ME, people expressed gratitude. And no, we did not impose our values on others.
Yeah, the decaying Empire (see Tom Englehardt) believes in "choice", why HONESTLY even-- until Hamas wins an election.
A'mous - an electoral victory for the world's very 1st suicide regime does not mean anyone has to embrace it or help it. Indeed, HAMAS' Strip resembles NSDAP time Deutschland - voting in totalitarians who instantly delegit the election by starting wars of aggression and are too frightened to hold any subsequent elections.
"redress errors, stop unacceptable behavior, challenge threats to our nation and our liberty."
Look, I loves me some America. And here at home we do a pretty decent job of ruling ourselves with as much liberty and justice for all as we can. Not perfect, but as good as most.
But our most of our foreign adventures haven't had a damn thing to do with redressing errors, stopping unacceptable behavior, or challenging threats to our nation and our liberty. I'd say that WW2 counts as most of the above, although you note that we were happy to let Germany kick some freedom-lovin' ass until the Japanese forced our hand. Korea was pretty decent - we did the South a pretty big service.
But how the hell was the Mexican War anything but a land grab? The Spanish-American War anything but a little dabbling in the "let's colonize us some dusky native" game so popular in 1899? Panama, Haiti, Somalia...we may have had "good intentions", but how the hell did those little vacations help anybody, either there or here? Or at least in any measure of good for the blood and treasure spent? Panama is still an oligarchic mess, Somalia a worse anarchy than ever, Haiti just a basket case.
We do what we do overseas because it's in our best interests, and we do it best when we keep that in mind. That's what Great Powers do and there's no reason to be ashamed of that. George Washington, no fool at power politics, recommended just that; help your friends when you can, hurt your enemies when you must, but remember that your interests are your own, and you place them in jeopardy for someone else at your own risk.
So we occupied Germany not to save or help them; we occupied Germany to keep the damn Soviets as far from the Channel as we could. That's a good reason to use military force.
We occupied Iraq to...well, that's a good question. Saddam was a pain in the ass, but he was a local pain in the ass that we had successfully coralled. When we went in and knocked the top off that bottle...well, we still don't know what sort of genie will come out, right? The Russians thought that they had a pretty good deal when the Bolshies slotted the czar, back in 1917, remember?
If the U.S. proceeds as you recommend, running all around the globe getting involved in other people's civil wars, tyranny, stupidity, genocide, and all because we think they will be grateful for our help? Look at it this way - ever tried to get involved in a domestic dispute?
Hi FD Chief!
Well, nodobby's perfect! Seriously - isolationism and running away from the world Great Satan created is seemingly attractive - yet that could end up as in just asking for trouble.
Good example is Sudan - the upcoming elections could split the nation in halof - and the north under the cruel rule of Field Marshal President For Life Bashir (wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity right now - MAY act out with a Rwandan Hitlerian type response. Realy advocate sitting that out?
Instead - why not annihilate his entire regime and all their precious assets over a long weekend instead.
Or, why tolerate Slave trading Syria fiddling about with terrorists and WMD?
No one is advocating full scale invasions and occupations.
Taking the regimes in question out - all the way out - may be way more better for everyone.
In such a hap hap happy slash awesome event - in the ruins - someone much worse could rise up, seize the reigns of power.
That is actually a good thing.
Mainly cause someone much worse will have much to contemplate about modern statecraft, R2P clause and Great Satan's intolerance for state sponsored genocide as they police multiple smoking craters of their recently departed misguided ex leaders.
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