General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What is the "hard left"? [View all]Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)No use of U.S. force since that conflict has been about anything but projection of power for the sake of projection of power.
We don't have to have a perpetually massive war machine to avoid war, and the war machine we have doesn't prevent any wars.
And I'm not a neoisolationist-it's not as though the only way we can be part of the world is to either be killing people or threatening to kill people. It's not a choice of eternal warfare in Afghanistan or Chamberlain in Munich. There are many other options than that.
We can engage the world through dialog-through actually making a real effort to set up international dispute resolution mechanisms, through being willing to negotiate and compromise with other nations rather than making our approach to diplomacy always be "surrender to us without a fight or we'll invade".
We need to start accepting that our country isn't always right, that countries in disputes with us aren't always wrong, and that the Fp wealth of the world doesn't exist solely or even primarily for THIS country's benefit.
We should stop insisting on being "the world's only superpower" or referring to ourselves that way. To be a superpower is to be institutionally arrogant-to work on the assumption that the world is ours to shape and, essentially, ours to command.
For once, let's reach out to the world, instead of trying to effectively rule it. Let's be of the world, not above it.