Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to The mote in your eye

Rhetoric versus Reality
SDAI-Tech1 — (archived)

That was a nice bit of rhetoric. I really enjoyed it. In a perfect world, or just even somewhat less barbaric world, that role model bit works perfectly. Wars are unnecessary unless attacked and via mimickry all nations evolve into higher states of cultural evolution.

That philosophy applies very well to individual actions and relationships as well. Stand tall, don't beat up on others weaker than you just because you can. All in all its a great philosophy.

Unfortunately...

...the world is a bit more complicated and governments have unique responsibilities.

A policeman and Mr. Upright Citizen have to have different reactions when a crime occurs. A policeman must move to apprehend the perpetrator for the public good. That is his job.

Mr. Upright Citizen can walk past the riff-raff stealing a car and pretend not to see whats going on. This has two benefits. It prevents the criminals from attacking or assaulting Mr. Upright Citizen and Mr. Citizen doesn't have to lower himself to engage and interact with such riff-raff. Mr. Upright Citizen can go home to Mrs. Upright Citizen and they can chat about the positively horrid goings on in the world.

When dealing with Al Qaeda, Dictators, Evil Empires and such things, Europe has always behaved like Mr. Upright Citizen.

This is perfectly fine, in certain instances, as often they have been completely overwhelmed by the size of this challenge. When dealing with the Soviet Union is what much handier to let the US deal with it.

So nations like France flirt with degrees of communism sort of like a middle class white kid dressing up like a gangsta/rapper to fit in da hood. Both hope it will keep them from getting negative attention.

Now with Islamofascism we see that these nations are still not up to the task. France can't even quell disorder in its many Muslim slums after months - how can one expect them to take on any nation? They can't. French history is the history of big talk and immediate surrender or withdrawal. So France, Belgium, Denmark, etcetera are forced into the perpetual role of Mr. Upright Citizen.

Mr. Upright Citizen criticizes the incompetence of the police, even though they couldn't begin to do what the police are doing.

This leaves us with Russia, UK, USA, Germany and China as being the police force for the world. Not surprisingly these are also permanent members of the UN Security Council. (France is too, but only because they have nuclear weapons not because of their military ability)

So these nations have different responsibilities than other nations. They can't just sit and watch the world fall apart.

The USA is the richest, most powerful and most noble of all these nations. It is Sir Lancelot to Russia's Sir Mordred. Of these policing nations the USA has more responsibilities to interact and when necessary interfere in global affairs than any other nation.

When one sees the world clearly, one realizes the US has to wage war and prevent small barbaric nations from posing a threat to the global welfare.

The US is involved in Global policing. We may wish we could go around oblivious like Mr. Upright Citizen sheltered in his abode, but we can't.

Some nations, often the criminal ones, call the US imperialist.

Imperialism is something else entirely. Imperialism is conquest and exploitation to expand empire. We have no profits or lands to show for our actions in Yugoslavia, Haiti, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, WWI & WWII, etcetera. Lots of left-type folks insist any nation's military action outside its borders is imperialism. Unfortunately they are simply indoctrinated and know not of what they speak.

The US merely polices the riff-raff, then leaves. All the while it endures the insults of many Mr. Upright Citizens -yet never fails to answer their calls for help.

Whether it be the Berlin airlift, fighting communist mass murderers, or national tyrants - the US is on the job 24/7.

Israel has a different role to play. It is not a policeman. It is just another Mr. Upright Citizen with a bit of a vigilante personality after being mugged too many times. He is the guy who buys tickets to the policemen's ball every year.

That's why the US has the perogative to get rid of criminals/tyrants like Kaiser Wilhelm, Hitler, Noriega, Saddam....or Kim il Jung...or anyone who threatens the global common welfare.

The rest of the world will divide itself up among those that cheer us on and others who throw tomatoes, but the US will go ahead and do what IT thinks is best. All the words of all the Mr. Upright Citizens are merely suggestions in the suggestion box.

That makes a lot of Mr. Upright Citizens feel impotent and powerless - but they don't want/can't handle the job.

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