Agreed, and I think it’s called the ‘American Century’ for good reason. However, the current situation isn’t as simple as patriotic right-wing militaristic types versus the ‘I hate America’ anti-war left-wing types. Talk about re-inventing Vietnam. We all filter life through the lens of our experiences.
Really, I think few of us have any issues with a muscular foreign policy when we are morally justified, and we all want to be strategically and operationally effective in achieving our ends. Indeed, 9/11 gave us enormous latitude to pursue an expansive foreign policy.
The most interesting aspect to me about the current situation is that our government has conducted itself in such a way as to have lost the support of the majority of the American public — and that’s post 9/11, which is saying something. Partisans can blame it on anti-America liberals with no stomach for battle. That sounds tough. It’s actually pretty gay. Whatever. The root problems are deeper than rhetoric.
The moral underpinnings of our foreign policy have been called into question through a series of questionable judgements, almost derelict in their incompetence: Iraq, torture, rendition, mercenaries, etc. The strategic and operational aspects have been an utter disaster (strengthening Iran, Bin Laden at large). And most troubling, our government has become synonomous with dishonesty among its own people (war propoganda, Plame, Tillman, etc.). We are at war, and a nation divided. What does that tell you?
Half of us are wimpy lefties? What a jackass response.
On the one hand, you decry the fascist tendencies of our current ‘regime’, and they are indeed there. And on the other hand, anyone who sees fundamental problems with our foreign policy, posture, plans and actions is an anti-American, anti-military lefty. The contraditions are abundant. Perhaps you’re not seeing things for what they are?
Respectfully, I believe it’s easier for my generation (X) to see the problems inherent in our position as we gratefully escaped the missteps and polarization of Vietnam. We have breathed life into some huge challenges in the years ahead, like fueling a brush fire when we should have suffocated it.
