Because of my oft-vehement critique of US foreign policy, it is often assumed that I must be anti-American. While that is simply untrue - the allegation always elicits a chuckle from the many close friends I have in the US - there needs to be a clear distinction made between a society and those who find, or put, themselves in positions of authority in the context of that society.
Where I am critical of America, it is not explicit individuals or groups I have in my sights but the talent of those in charge to use their power in the corrosion of an ideal once held sacrosanct. My annoyance arises from how corporate and state institutions of power are conceived, who they really benefit, what precepts are used to organize and lead them, and why propaganda is so shamelessly used to prop them up when they have become an impediment to something better.
Few will argue that the image of the US as an emblem of liberty, freedom and entrepreneurial drive was inspiring to many, especially the many hundreds of thousands of immigrants who, at the birth of the 20th century, took their adopted country to be a beacon of hope for the future of humanity. The concept of America was extraordinary enough, while the vitality of US culture was envied and emulated around the world.
The founding fathers had imagined republicanism as an antidote to greed and the lust for personal prosperity. They fully expected elected politicians, drawn from a principled elite, to act as fair-minded guardians of the public good. And that was how it was, or appeared to be, up to and including the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. But then the mood changed. As with many previous civilizations, deterioration set in with a convergence of military, financial and cultural power exercised by self-serving plutocrats.
Following the end of the second world war the US began to cultivate a sense of supremacy in its mythology of national identity. Hollywood helped cement the new narrative. A volatile mix of self-righteous xenophobia, of might in the face of evil, morphed into a narcissistic desire to control others for their own sake even when those “others” were thousands of miles distant from American shores.
A thriving industrial-military sector, riding high on victory, saw immediate strategic advantage in promoting the US as incomparable within the global community of nations. An ingenuous public, always eager to absorb government propaganda, began to understand their nation’s most exalted role as that of protecting those under threat of autocratic despots that had no love of American culture nor any desire to emulate the American way of life.
As US mores became conflated with universally-desirable virtues, a new enemy materialized in front of our eyes. Communism! Never a resolution taken by one administration, but a gradual metamorphosis of mind, the claim for unipolar hegemony took shape against the perceived threat of socialist rule in the Soviet Union, China, and South East Asia.
Declaring its true colours, the US brazenly became the playground bully on the world stage. It gave shelter to the Shah of Iran, tamed Fidel Castro after several failed assassination attempts, took out Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein, executed Qassem Suleimani and Osama bin Laden, imposed sanctions on every poor country that refused to bow to its command, and allowed the CIA to run riot in the destabilization of so-called enemies of the US state, wherever they happened to be.
Today US imperialism stands defiantly against any alternative to US supremacy. It espouses freedom but only that determined and endorsed by the US. It argues for free trade, but only if it benefits the US. And it advocates peace, but not for the countries that flout US demands or threaten its exceptional self-belief.
Because of that stance the United States needs to constantly be at war. It is the only country in the world that has been at war for over six decades. It has become essential to the economy. Notwithstanding the recent closure of hundreds of bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US still maintains around 800 military bases in 70 countries and territories abroad, spending around $686 billion annually on preparing for or prosecuting wars.
The proposition that encouraging America to step back from ruling the world would allow China or Russia to step into the void is baseless conjecture. Indeed, the common Western conviction that China aspires to such a role is an illusion based on nothing more than Western neocolonial norms, projected onto a nation that has never held those values. The fear that this could happen, however, means we continuously turn a blind eye to the bullying, surveilling, bombing, torturing and war mongering carried out in our name by the American state.
The manipulators of US foreign policy understand this only too well. They grasp the fact that the field of foreign policy is too abstract, too remote and vast a topic, for the average citizen to comprehend. Unless, that is, the public is shown how their taxes are squandered to pay for military aggression. US wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Pakistan have cost US taxpayers $6.4 trillion since they began in 2001. That is money not spent on urgently needed domestic programs such as education and healthcare.
One only has to glance at the disunited states of America - the crumbling infrastructure, the revolving door between Capitol Hill and Wall Street, inadequate healthcare and education, corrupt politicians, voter fraud, the unsustainable gap between the wealthy and the poor, the opioid crisis, long-term unemployment, insane gun laws, a parlous welfare safety net, violent crime, homelessness, the weaponization of the US dollar, and the raw pursuit of money, to see that this is an empire in a state of physical and moral decay. While the stars and stripes fade, the cries for help grow louder every day. The US is close to becoming a failed state by its own definition of that term. And the only response those in charge can muster is to blame others.
To rant and rail over China’s economic progress while bewailing its record on human rights is nothing short of hypocrisy. China is a nation that has created a middle class of over 600 million in the space of 30 years. A country whose citizens are unusually united behind the government and its long-term vision. A society growing in confidence, where everything works, and crime rates are much lower than in the US.
Is it too late for America? Although we have long spoken about the Asian century, it is only now that the reality is beginning to sink in. The West lost any sense of moral authority years ago. China, along with other countries in Asia, has a progressive vision of the future which is very different from that in the US and Europe. In many respects Eastern countries have already begun to set new standards of moral courage, social respect, and entrepreneurial activity, that are likely to eclipse the past glories of old empires.
The death spasms are likely to be both slow and agonizing in a country as divided and as prejudiced as the US is today. My hope is that at some stage America will be able to move past its psychoses in order to rise like a phoenix from the ashes of misplaced imperialism. But only when it has abandoned its rough outer skin of terror and brutality, only when it can find renewed solace in the ethos of the founding fathers to embrace humility and compassion once more, will it be capable of taking its true place as an equal partner, rather than a dominant aggressor, in a just and fair society of nations. Whether such a transformation is even possible remains unknown. Only time will tell.
Comments