Just reading John Edwards’s contribution to Foreign Affairs this month. Each presidential candidate over the next year will set out his/her vision for American foreign policy under his/her presidency. Edwards says
…we can reclaim our historic role as a moral leader of the world…
We must do everything in our power to reclaim the United States’ historic role as a beacon for the world and become, once again, a shining example for other nations to follow.
One of the issues I examined in my MA dissertation was American identity and the fact that our Protestant forefathers had a messianic idea of America as a ‘city on a hill’ for all to admire and aspire to become. We were the democracy missionaries to the rest of the world. We are not so damn special! We didn’t actually have the first democracy nor did we invent it, but we sure like to act like it, don’t we?!
As for the moral leader bit: give me a break. I realise Edwards is talking mostly about our work in re-building Europe after WWII but look at our appalling record in Latin America. We sponsored coups that led to the death of so many people because we chose the wrong person. We ousted democratically-elected people and propped up dictators who ended up slaughtering or otherwise hurting their own people. That was some fantastic work, let me tell you. And don’t get me started on the Native American and African-American discrimination in our history. Moral authority my ass.
I find this whole uppity, we are the best in the world speak a load of bollocks. The US is not the only democracy and far from the best. Just because we have the military ability to ‘spread democracy’ does not give us the right or wherewithal to do it. And that’s my two cents for the day.