SELF-DELUDED America Will Pay a Mighty Price If It Keeps Pretending Its the Superpower It Used to Be

[kpete]

Consortium News / By Lawrence Davidson


America Will Pay a Mighty Price If It Keeps Pretending It's the Superpower It Used to Be
The United States has built a self-deluding narrative of global domination which the world increasingly rejects.
December 28, 2010 |


Editor’s Note: In 1984, as the U.S. national elite was embracing “American exceptionalism” as a core philosophy, Ronald Reagan’s UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick branded those who still dared disagree with U.S. foreign policy as disloyal citizens who would “blame America first,” a clever turn of phrase widely applauded by Washington’s courtier press.

Yet, the consequences of that assault on meaningful self-criticism are now painfully apparent, as the United States stumbles around the world increasingly viewed as a destructive behemoth blind to its own shortcomings and deceptions, as Lawrence Davidson notes in this guest essay:

...................................

If the United States seeks stability in the Middle East so that region may be a reliable source of oil, should it not be concerned with Israel as well as Iran? So, what does Washington have to say about the loaded warheads in Israel? Nada. And the EU, well, they plan to admit Israel into the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

................

As the skepticism that can be found in Latin America, and now the Middle East too suggests, belief in this America really stops at the its borders. Beyond that point the ideal image is increasingly seen as masking a form of aggressive narcissism.

Yet inside the borders, most are still true believers. Our national self-image dominates to the point that we can apply Andre Gide’s adage, "the true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity." I think many of our politicians fall into this category. Why Is It So? Why are things this way? Well, as mentioned above, believing in a national image that is unhinged from reality has something to do with it.

American politicians know that identifying yourself with the idealized U.S. (democracy, stability and progress, etc.) is a winning political formula. But how do you bury the contradictions?


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[somone]

1. The death spiral continues as long as the MIC is in control

[RKP5637]

2. Yep, that's the root cause of a lot of this mess, but prying those on the

take away from all of that cash flow might well be impossible 'till they completely bankrupt the country, and that is very sad.

[BlueJac]

28. Bankrupt is already here...........

but people just can't admit it.

[The Wizard]

32. That's what took down the Soviet Union

as well as every empire in history. Foreign military adventures without accountability are the road to failure.

[KillCapitalism]

41. Very true.

The only real difference is that the Soviet Union didn't have a credit card with a seemingly unlimited credit limit.

[FreakinDJ]

20. What is the "MIC"

Money In Control?

[unhappycamper]

21. MIC = Military Industrial Complex

But I prefer to call it the Military Industrial Congressional Complex.

[FreakinDJ]

22. With the amount of Campaign Contributions they make

its almost the same thing

Military Industrial Complex = Money In Control

You were here during Bush's run up to the 2004 Presidential elections. I'll never forget the post that was made showing all his early BIG campaign donors were defense contractors. With the average American Citizen's access the "Black Budget" it was impossible to know which one were CIA front operations pouring Tax Payer Dollars into Bush's Campaign

[villager]

3. Those who snarled about "blaming America first" apparently forgot that in a democracy

...what you're supposed to do, as a citizen, is question your own country.

Well, I guess I speak rhetorically when I use the Republican right and "democracy" in the same sentence.

[eridani]

15. I think that a better approach to the "blame America first" meme is--

--"whatchu mean "America" Kemosabe?

Is "America" just the elite policy makers who profit from dominating natural resources and making the world safe for dollar a day labor? Or might the rest of us poor saps who just live here have some claim to the title?

The neocons and neolibs are not "America". The corporate ruling elite is not "America". The rest of us poor saps who just live here have a better claim on the designation "America," and we would likely not approve of all the elite shenanigans aimed at dominating the rest of the world and its resources, and making it safe for dollar a day labor. That is, if large numbers of us knew about stuff like that--but the general population doesn't.

If you want to identify with the sociopathic shitstains who visit daily disaster on the rest of the world, including the 98% of us "Americans" who aren't part of their club, then go for it. Just leave the rest of us out, 'K?

[PufPuf23]

16. Good description of reality. nt

[jwirr]

4. I wonder how long it took the British people to realize they were no

longer living in Elizabeth's era? The Russians seemed to learn rapidly that they were having problems.

[DavidDvorkin]

12. I assume you mean Victoria, not Elizabeth

The British people turned against empire very early in the 20th century, some time before the leaders did.

Maybe that's a common process in superpowers. The leaders keep deluding themselves or thinking that they can bluster their way to having the same sway over the world that the nation's leaders of a generation or two before them had, but the people are sick of it all by then.

[jwirr]

13. Yes, Victoria. Just got done reading about Elizabeth I and got them

mixed up. It does make sense that people would get sick of sacrificing for their dear leaders empire building. According the The Rise and Fall of Empire by Paul Kennedy they all expire from overstretch which means that money that should have been used on the people of the Empire is instead used on military adventures around the world.

[JCMach1]

5. America is nowhere close to failing as an empire... even worse, we are in the terrible teen years

I hate to break it to my fellow progressives, but we have a long way to go (not in our lifetime) before the U.S. is played-out as an empire.

We have a lot of political work to stop the fascistic bullshit.

[jtown1123]

6. I'm not so sure. A lot of what we are experiencing now is the same problems

that other empires face during its crash. Extreme income inequality, lower classes getting screwed for every penny. Maybe not in the next 100 years but probably pretty soon after.

[JCMach1]

7. History teaches us many things... one them is that the past is not necessarily repeating itself...

For example, as Democracy and social inequality lessened in Britain from the late 19th century into the 20th political while military and political power declined.

Some factors I think of:


-There are no serious threats to the U.S. hard power.
-There are few threats to U.S. soft power. If anything this is stronger under Obama.
-Despite facing an economic abyss damn near close to 1929, the U.S. economy is growing.

That doesn't mean there aren't threats (there are-- but certainly less than what Britain experienced from the 18th-20th centuries)... and I certainly don't hold to American exceptionalism.

My point is I don't think the empire will fall of its own accord.

We can get our Republic back... but it's going to take a lot more than even a handful of elections and presidents.

[DCKit]

9. Over $11 trillion in debt for a country with a negative trade balance.

Like Rome, when we begin pulling back and abandoning our outposts to the barbarians, we'll know even the deluded (mentioned at length in the OP) finally get it.

[JCMach1]

10. The obvious answer is the U.S. is not Rome, or to undercut my own argument, Britain

Debt alone does not signal an end to Empire.

Rome for a good part of its history was heavily in debt. Some rulers, like Julius Caesar managed to bring it down (but didn't end it).

There is no doubt America faces huge problems. All empires do... it's their nation.

I still say we are an Empire with growing pains. Just entering our teens, we are still in the process of deciding what we want to be.

[bhikkhu]

35. I think its more up to our factors, rather than ourselves

Which is another way of saying we are finished - the reins are no longer in our own hands. We stand or fall at the whim of China and Europe.

[Selatius]

17. The US will fail as an empire when it can no longer sustain its military garrisons overseas.

At a certain point, the amount of money spent maintaining those garrisons will outweigh any possible benefit they may have brought in the past to the US economy. Great Britain had to give up control of its world-wide colonial holdings after bankrupting itself on two major foreign world wars with rival world powers. Granted, the United States likely won't bankrupt itself on a massive win-or-die-style world war, but it likely will succumb to something similar to what brought down Rome: Over-extension of military force. It simply became too difficult to control such vast tracts of land in the face of stubborn indigenous resistance.

All I can say is if the elites who run the country continue to push the idea of Reaganomics or Supply-Side Theory, the US will sooner find itself giving up garrisons than later. One doesn't wage a major war and cut taxes at the same time on those who can most afford such a war, nor does one cut taxes during an attempt to administer an occupational army over someone else's land.

[Bragi]

26. Sounds like something the Soviets said just before the wall came down

As the collapse of the Soviet empire showed, major shakeups don't always happpen these days in a linear and gradual manner. Change can now happen convulsively.

[nadinbrzezinski]

40. Most empires collapse that way...

Rome was the exception to the rule

And we are well on our way...

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. 'xeot experts are increasingly sounding the alarm

And the collapse will be in my lifetime, the next ten years in-fact, if not sooner.

It will catch most imperial citizens by surprise either due to denial, or lack of attention.

[Kaleva]

8. The US, since its creation, has always been an empire.

[Selatius]

18. Correct. One need only consult the Native Americans nt

[Kaleva]

42. People tend to forget about the Native American nations and Mexico.

[DeSwiss]

11. K&R

"Democracy is a con game. It's a word that was invented to placate people. To make them accept a given institution. All institutions sing "we are free." The minute that you hear "freedom and democracy" watch out. Because in a truly free nation, no one has to tell you, you're free." ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qlgzTlAvOo&feature=player_embedded">Jacques Fresco

[Catherina]

14. Rec'd. n/t

[JohnyCanuck]

19. K&R n/t

[quaker bill]

23. We already have paid a mighty price

Only a portion of the deficit we have run up is noted, the cash part, the rest is hidden. Check out the infrastructure deficit. Basically through deferred maintenance and a failure to replace and update infrastructure, we have run up many trillions in unaccounted deficit. The bridges and roads are in increasingly poor shape. My kids went to school in buildings that were built in the 50's and 60's, in poor shape and not significantly upgraded or repaired since the 70's, yet I moved here because they are some of the best in town. Sewers and water lines pop because they have been there for ages without repair or replacement. This deficit is huge and the list too long to recount here. But "we can't afford it" has become a mantra in service of defense spending, which is the only thing "we can afford", and "can't do without".

The first thing republicans do when wanting to cut the deficit, is to take defense spending off the table. Enough said.

[swilton]

24. Should be required reading for every eligible voter

[Bragi]

25. The collapse could be total and quick

I don't see America's decline as a gradual, almost organic thing. I think it will hang in through brutaliy and war as long as possible, and then collapse suddenly and deeply.

Peak oil and environmental degradation will be triggers, along with the fast-reacting global finance system, the lack of social cohesion in America, and the fact that the next empire -- the Indu-China axis -- is waiting in the wings.

I think America has at most another decade of folly believing it rules the world. After that, the collapse will be quick, as Americans devote themselves to fighting each other for the few scraps of wealth left that the rich haven't seized and taken with them as they leave.

[NickB79]

29. +100. nt

[roamer65]

36. A currency crisis is coming, IMHO.

The first world rejection of America will be its currency. It will be quick and painful.

[roamer65]

37. The US is very similar to Britain after WW1.

Econonmic malaise and currency devaluations.

[Kaleko]

44. An increasingly likely scenario in my view.

Though I fear that the collapse will come much sooner than within the next ten years. The fact that Obama has lost his base irretrievably in just the last 2 months also speaks volumes about the speed with which information travels these days, and information is what begets bank runs, stock market crashes and so on.

[Jakes Progress]

27. France paid it. Britain paid it. Our turn.

[defendandprotect]

30. We need to be rejecting this imperialism here at home ....

meanwhile, we certainly have weapons galore -- and when you have them

you're usually looking for a way to use them and replace them!!

[The Wizard]

31. And all the right wing propagandists

will yak about is American exceptionalisn and how we were God's choice to exploit the rest of the world.

[RKP5637]

34. And I'm sure quite a few of them view our soldiers as missionaries bringing

Christianity to the savages, all in God's name, because "we were God's choice to exploit the rest of the world." (for profit!) We've gotten so far off track... these wars are sheer ridiculousness.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

33. We've become a dependent of our empire and must go bankrupt to defend it.

Until we can't. Hopefully, someone in a position to relieve us of it will finally tell us that the good old days of living off the resources and labor of the rest of the world are over and it's time to be a bit humble.

[L0oniX]

38. "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense,

...a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children." - Dwight Eisenhower

That worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor . . . This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism–how passionately I hate them! – Albert Einstein

[krabigirl]

43. it already is. it is collapsing and has been for years.

[Mosaic]

45. The sooner the better

Exploitation, destruction of the earth, ignorance, racism, and bullshit belief in "exceptionalism" and "white man's burden" all must end.

[Mosaic]

46. Excellent quote from the article.

"American politicians know that identifying yourself with the idealized U.S. (democracy, stability and progress, etc.) is a winning political formula. But how do you bury the contradictions?

You either hide your hypocrisy behind a thick cloud of secrecy (a la the WikiLeaks affair) or you obscure your double standards with mass propaganda. Washington uses both strategies.

If you pursue these strategies long enough and consistently enough you build yourself a "thought collective" – groupthink on a national level. Within the thought collective self-deception and rationalization become high arts and soon both the leaders and the followers no longer notice the underlying hypocrisy.

It also helps that most of the public is indifferent toward the world beyond their local sphere. Indifference results in ignorance and the void left by ignorance is readily filled with manipulative misinformation."