America's Foreign Policy Bubble

I was on Wisconsin public radio last week, being interviewed on the state of U.S. foreign policy. All the callers were in perfect harmony. We all agreed that the last eight years have been a disaster for the United States, that we must move away from militarism and toward diplomacy, that we must, well, you get the drift. I commented to the host that the country would be in better shape if Wisconsin were in charge.

Then a fellow called and said, "What kind of bubble do you all live in? We face a threat in Iran just as dangerous as Nazi Germany. Talking with the Iranian leader isn't going to do squat."

I was happy that he called. It's no fun just talking with folks who agree with you. I spent a couple minutes discussing the false analogy between Iran and Nazi Germany. But in retrospect, I should also have talked about the bubble.

We've seen a lot of bubbles in recent years. There's been the Dot Com bubble. The real estate bubble. The stock market bubble. But no one has talked about the foreign policy bubble.

Let me define the foreign policy bubble this way. We Americans think we live in the greatest country on earth. We think this because we never go anywhere else to test this proposition, except to places like Club Med or on cruises to the Caribbean (talk about bubbles!). Because we're the greatest country on earth, we have the right to disregard the opinions of other countries, which aren't as great as we are. And we can impose our values on everyone else -- after all, why should anyone complain about having greatness thrust upon them? In this perfect bubble, our self-regard builds on itself, higher and higher, until the estimate of our worth far outstrips its real-world value. Then, all it takes is a little pinprick for the bubble to pop.

The Vietnam War was one such pinprick (oops, we lost, how could that happen to such a great and powerful country?!). The Iraq War is shaping up to be another bubble-burster.

What I should have said to that fellow on the radio is: America is a big bubble right now. If you can, try to listen to what people outside this bubble are saying to us. I know it's difficult. During the real estate bubble, it was hard to resist the urgent recommendations to buy, buy, buy. It's not just that the world is fed up with U.S. foreign policy. We have become blind here in the United States to our relative decline. Check out the public transportation system in Japan. Consider the health care on offer in Canada. Sample the schools in Finland. They put us to shame. According to the latest UN Human Development index, we're number 12, down four slots since 2006. It's hard to see all this inside our foreign policy bubble.

The caller was right, of course. Many of us currently inhabit a different bubble: a bubble of hope. We think that it is still possible to change the course of American foreign policy. We think that we can tame the rogue elephant that the United States has become and make it cooperate with the rest of the world. We think we can turn around the persistent no's of Washington -- no to Kyoto, no to arms control, no to negotiations - -and finally get to yes.

In that spirit, I published a piece in YES! Magazine on how we can transform the way America relates to the world. "Social movements have in the past mobilized the American public behind dramatic shifts in U.S. policy," I write in The Way to a Just Foreign Policy. "The civil rights movement and the women's movement have both remade U.S. society. The successes of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would have been inconceivable a mere generation ago. They are remarkable people, but they also stand on the shoulders of powerful social movements. Today, we need a different kind of social movement -- one that focuses on U.S. foreign policy. Such a movement, drawing heavily on the peace and global justice efforts, would aim for nothing less than a transformation of the U.S. role in the world. This would be no mere change of politicians or adjustments to a few policies. It would be a change of truly global proportions."

Comments

[rudiy]

I believe we need to revise our way of dealing with the world. However I read many European, Middle East and Far East publications. Most writers there are just as ignorant about the US as Americans are about there countries. To say Europeans are more knowledgeable is a broad sweep. I spent much time in Europe and old prejudices exist to an extent and depth not understandable to most Americans. I guess these prejudices come with education and curiosity. I also deal in ME and Far East. If you think Americans are xenophobia read what is published and broadcast and speak to the people.

[Spinobobot]

The point you raise here, also raised by a number of others below, is a sound one. Pride in one's nation, ethnicity, clan, tribe, subculture, or whatever is probably a human universal. To assume that all of Europe is enlightened, cosmopolitan, and progressive is a monolithic error.

The ignorance of fellow Americans stands out to those of us who regard ourselves as more enlightened (not always a fair attribution; the sense of moral superiority among many leftists is not different in kind from other group-affirming prejudices) because it is what we are familiar with. We don't regularly encounter the nationalism and xenophobia of other populations.

That said, the problem is again one of ignorance of other cultures. We should recognize both the good and the bad aspects of other parts of the world. What Europeans or Canadians or Japanese people actually know is beside the point.

Here is the point: it really doesn't matter how enlightened other developed nations' citizens are. Even if they were more prejudiced than we are, that wouldn't make it right for US citizens to remain ignorant. It's not a competition. Forget the comparisons. We should hold ourselves to a higher standard, especially if we think we're so great.

[babylonandon]

part 2

Anyone who thinks that folks living in just about every other country on earth don't know in their hearts that they are absoiutely the best people on earth is without a clue. I've heard people from many lands calmly and happily explain about how much better they are than we are and this even before the 2000 election.

We are about the only people on earth who are ashamed of ourselves and our reasons for thinking this are utterly ignored (as applied to themselves) by most others.

[babylonandon]

One more thing...there are 2 really huge reasons why we aren't so aware of what the rest of the world thinks (at least as much as they think we should be).

First, there are so many informational things going on right here in the good old USA that just trying to keep track of them is pretty much a full time occupation. When you put a perspective on all of the "footprint perspectives" (carbon, energy, food, material production, etc.) you also have to count news and information footprint...its a really busy country. Local issues, national issues, politics, entertainment. Just think about how much daily info occurs here in the US!!

Second, most of us are too busy just trying to make ends meet to have time to keep up with knowing what is happening here the news. Work, family, social events, freinds, and then you have to have time to educate yourself, too. Sometimes its just too much. Hell, if I didn't read about a thousand words a minute, I certainly wouldn't have any idea at all what was happening. I just wish I typed that fast!!!

[babylonandon]

What a glob of gloom and garbage.

Oh woe, the US is the so bad, the so worst, the so needing to be scrubbed from the face of the earth.

Gimme a break.

I've traveled around much of the world. I've lived in Europe and Asia, and spent quite a bit of time in the Middle East. While each of these places has wonderful things and people, NONE of them have the whole package of freedom, opportunity, ability, imagination, and wealth (not to mention the incredible number of self-hating naysayers that we have here.

Sure the trains in Japan are great (as are the people!), but its easy to see the need when you have 160 million people living on a bunch of mountanous islands the size of California. There is no room for a car-based culture like ours. Nor are they even close to being self-sufficent in resources.

Wow, Canada is so nice and clean and progressive. Which is pretty easy to do when you have the same number of people as California living in an area 3-4 times the size of the whole US with enormous natural resources of all kinds. Not to mention when you basically live as an financial and military appendage to the US.

The Middle East sits on oceans of oil and the cities they are building are incredible beyond belief but they will quietly tell anyone of us who asks that one day we will all submit to Allah.

[Serfie]

I agree with much of your post. My experience is similar to yours.

One correction: Canada has 1/10th population of the US.

[babylonandon]

Serfie, California has about 1/10th of the US population.

[NewAmericanCenturySucks]

3-4 TIMES the size of the whole US? Do you even own a globe?

On behalf of my country, though, I'd like you to pass on our undying gratitude to America for protecting us from the vast, frothing hordes of anti-Canadians throughout the world. Also, our soldiers serving in Afghanistan are tickled to hear how little their contribution means to you and your country.

And thanks also for supplying us with such essential commodities as reality TV and gasbag punditry, in exchange for the meagre baubles we offer you in return: oil, natural gas, lumber, fresh water...

[NewAmericanCenturySucks]

Great article.

I have long railed against your foreign policy. My revulsion increasingly spills over into disdain for Americans themselves (you're supposed to be a democracy; you should, at some point, be held responsible for your government's actions). However, in the spirit of the article, I will try to escape the bonds of negativity implied by my handle, and focus on the positive.

We don't begrudge Americans their self-adulation; national pride is just fine. It's your tendancy to disdain international institutions and laws that rankles. For having the temerity to suggest that invading Iraq was illegal, immoral, and ill-advised, the U.N. was mocked and summarily dismissed by a large majority of Americans. How would you feel if a state representing 4% of your population (think Illinois) adopted this attitude towards your federal government?

Serfie's was the only dissenting view (don't kick dissent out of discussions; I post to both TownHall and HuffPo (and Americans wonder why reds and blues are polarizing...)). Unfortunately, Serfie proves the author's point, by appearing to think that things like stronger environmental protections are an invention of the American Left. Serfie, the planet is baking, and the entire world has come together in support of concerted action. Until a few years ago, there were two primary hold-outs: the American Right, and the American Left. Increasing U.S. support of these initiatives wold mean you JOIN us, not push us.

In short: don't demonize nationalism; just make a little room for internationalism.

[Serfie]

Again, absolute rubbish, at least the comments directed at me.

The notion that the entire world, except the US, came together in support of a Green Planet is a lie on your part. Even though the federal government has a lousy environmental record, individual states have policies in place that exceed federal standards.

Further, even if the US doesn't abide or sign international treaties on the environment, that doesn't mean other countries can't live by their own environmental standards, individually or collectively.

The US wasn't the only holdout in the Kyoto Protocol, as well.

You obviously haven't been to Africa, or Asia(notably China and India), Eastern Europe, Latin America or anywhere else that could give two shites about the environment.

And Western Europe isn't actually noble and pure, especially when it outsources many of its polluting industries to developing countries.

[NewAmericanCenturySucks]

Countries who've ratified Kyoto:

 Fiji
 Antigua and Barbuda
 Tuvalu
 Maldives
 Turkmenistan
 Trinidad and Tobago
 Panama
 Bahamas
 Georgia
 Federated States of Micronesia
 Jamaica
 Cyprus
 Paraguay
 Guatemala
 Uzbekistan
 Nicaragua
 Bolivia
 Palau
 Mongolia
 Ecuador
 El Salvador
 Honduras
 Barbados
 Equatorial Guinea
 Lesotho
 Guinea
 Kiribati
 Mexico
 Azerbaijan
 Samoa
 Uruguay
 Romania
 Mauritius
 Gambia
 Vanuatu
 Senegal
 Nauru
 Argentina
 Burundi
 Bangladesh
 Malawi
 Malta
 Czech Republic
 Colombia
 Morocco
 Dominican Republic
 Benin
 Djibouti
 Uganda
 Mali
 Papua New Guinea
 Cuba
 Iceland
 Norway
 European Union
 Austria
 Belgium
 Denmark
 Finland
 France
 Germany
 Greece
 Ireland
 Italy
 Luxembourg
 Netherlands
 Portugal
 Spain
 Sweden
 United Kingdom
 Slovakia
 Japan
 Latvia
 Seychelles
 South Africa
 Slovenia
 Grenada
 Costa Rica
 Bulgaria
 Hungary
 Cambodia
 Brazil
 Bhutan
 Chile
 India
 Tanzania
 Cameroon
 Thailand
 China
 Sri Lanka
 Malaysia
 Peru
 Vietnam
 Estonia
 Liberia
 South Korea
 Poland
 Canada
 New Zealand
 Lithuania
 Jordan
 Tunisia
 Laos
 Solomon Islands
 Moldova
 Armenia
 Kyrgyzstan
 Ghana
 Switzerland
 Guyana
 Botswana
 Marshall Islands
 Burma
 Saint Lucia
 Namibia
 Madagascar
 Belize
 Philippines
 Israel
 Ukraine
 Togo
 Rwanda
 Yemen
 Niger
 Sudan
 Russia
 Republic of Macedonia
 Indonesia
 Liechtenstein
 Nigeria
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
 Pakistan
 Qatar
 Egypt
 Mozambique
 Oman
 Dominica
 United Arab Emirates
 Saudi Arabia
 Algeria
 Venezuela
 Kenya
 Kuwait
 Democratic Republic of the Congo
 Burkina Faso
 Albania
 Ethiopia
 North Korea
 Haiti
 Mauritania
 Eritrea
 Iran
 Belarus
 Nepal
 Guinea-Bissau
 Swaziland
 Syria
 Bahrain
 Cape Verde
 Monaco
 Singapore
 Zambia
 Libya
 Suriname
 Sierra Leone
 Lebanon
 Gabon
 Congo
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Côte d'Ivoire
 Croatia
 Angola
 Montenegro
 Serbia
 Australia
 Tonga
 Central African Republic
 Saint Kitts and Nevis
 Comoros

This list isn't comprehensive enough for you to refrain from calling me a liar...?.

[seawolf77]

Pride goeth before the fall. And ours is going quick. America, Americans are broke. That is a fact, other than the top 1%. It is so ironic that cheap oil destroyed the Soviet Union but expensive oil will destroy America. Talk about karmic justice. And maybe finally we can put away the Reagan won the cold war hooey. Americans will soon experience something they never thought possible : hunger.

[nlb]

Part of the problem, I think, is that many Americans are just not intellectually curious about the world, science, history etc. which, perhaps, explains why they identified so easily with our Idiot in Chief. Add to that the non-stop rah-rah from both political parties and, of course, the religo-loonies about how great and unique America is and no wonder you end up with a populace steeped in an unrealistic nationalistic patriotism.

Europe is older, wiser and more jaded in its societies as it has seen the problems and adversity (and defeats) that too much patriotism, nationalism, and religion bring about. America is only now beginning to learn this the hard way. I foresee much more education coming in the future as well if we do not get our national hubris under control.

[Serfie]

What evidence do you have the Europe is much more wiser than the US.

Is that reflected in their political leadership? No

Is that reflected in their universities and research? No

Is that reflected in their foreign policies? No

You think Europeans are any less nationalistic than Americans? They aren't. Most European countries still have fascist and Communist political parties. They may not gain enough representatives to rule, but they exist and they get MPs sent to the their national and EU parliaments.

You think they are more culturally sensitive? No, they are not. This is a continent that still has race riots and has football hoolligans who go from country to country to cause destruction and mayhem.

You want to see European enlightenment, go to a beach in the South of Spain, or Greece. Go to Bali or Bangkok or Surfer's Paradise in Australia. You will see all the European enlightenment that you want.

[squander123]

No-one with any sense would argue that European countries (to give just one example) are flawless: that would be the equivalent of Americans claiming that the US is the 'best country in the world'.

Some of the points you raise here are correct: soccer violence, ongoing social problems, etc. European countries have many (and different) problems to solve.

On the other hand, some of your other points are quite strange. For all their flaws, few European political leaders of recent decades could rival the current US government for sheer awfulness. And there are truly great universities, doing great research, all over the world.

As for political parties in Europe, the electoral systems in most European countries means that there isn't the 2-party state that the US has, and there are therefore more diverse political standpoints (good and bad!) represented in their parliaments. Despite the fact that some deeply objectionable people get elected sometimes, most Europeans prefer to have that diversity: the 2-party system practiced in the US doesn't look like much of a role model to us either.

As for the remarks about what can be seen on the beaches, I don't know what you were referring to! It couldn't be prudishness about topless sunbathing by any chance, could it?!

[nlb]

The UN Human Development Index cited in the story above has the US listed as no. 12. http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/ The top performers in the Index are all European countries except for Japan(8), Canada(4), and Australia(3).

In regard to the specific topic of diplomacy, what I implied is that Europe acts through multilateral and global organizations and does not unilaterally invade other countries in wars of aggression or invidually decide to take their marbles and go pouting home from some organization that they no longer like (like the US withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Commission).

Yes, Europe still has its nationalism, but I don't think (and have not seen) that Europeans display their nationalism as fervently and non-stop and without self-reflection as in the good ol' USofA (at least not since the Nazis' Nurembourg rallies).

I would agree that Europe has horrible race and minority problems, but riots and very racist acts occur here all the time: the Philly and LA police departments seem very prone to beating up minorities at least once a year or so.

So in short: Their political leadership is generally better as their decisions are based in reality and not overly influenced by an ideology that does not account for history and culture, so too, their foreign policy decisions are better. Judging by the number of Nobel awards and patents that Europeans produce, I would say their education and research facilities are not greatly inferior to ours.

[NewAmericanCenturySucks]

An indignant American asks: "What evidence do you have the Europe is much more wiser than the US."

It gets better every time you read it.

[researcher]

we are toast

vietnam was our wake up call but we failed to listen now we have iraq

the problem is iraq will put us into complete bankruptcy ie has already

most americans in their hearts are imperialists ie mega military budget at the cost of social programs for its people

many about 40% are war mongers ie mc war supporters

watch us self destruct under our existing imperialistic paradigm and mega military budget

the decline of a great nation due to greed and self rightousness and arrogance and imperialism

now we have corp and media and educational fascism ie stanford hiring rummy and condi and fox noise hiring rove etc.

ike warned us but no one listened

go figure it was a repub that warned us

[earthwealth]

During the last 30+ years that I have been elligible to vote in presidential ellections. I always been told to “vote for the less evil one”. I am astonished that in a country which is believed to be the leader in free world, with 300+ million population, we never have a good and well suited person to vote as president. So we don’t have to vote for the less evil one!

[PADDYWHACK]

Good post,what would we do without Hitler and Nazi Germany.That was our last hit in geopolitical terms and we compare every tinpot leader and his often reluctant countrymen to that high standard.It belittles the brand.World wars 1&2 were profitable enterprises for the US but now defending the title is a losing proposition in military,financial,and diplomatic terms.Using massive force on helpless populations will bring retribution and has already sickened anyone with a brain.It also makes everyone resistant to our wretched diplomacy.

[Sundialsvc4]

Consider how the United States might be viewed by, say, any -other- country on this planet...

We torture our prisoners in direct violation of the International law that our own forefathers helped to write, and which they enforced at Nuremberg.

We actively engage in aggressive war around the world, with troops and thousands of mercenaries, while selling materiels-of-war to both(!) sides of the conflicts.

We literally print more than $1 million of "magically borrowed" money every MINUTE, and yet insist that all the world's oil-transactions must be denominated in that currency.

We are bristling with nuclear weapons and itching to use them. "Bunker busters" are "pocket nukes."

In other words: the country that stomped-out World Wars I and II is now itching to start World War III in which it will be the aggressive enemy.

Or at least... a few thousand well-placed and well-heeled sociopaths, sitting in the top positions of power in the United States Government, are doing so. They are quite-calmly declaring that "impeachment is off the table," and playing a media shell-game for a public that is (so we are to be lead to believe) demurely accepting it.

"Uncle Sam? Where ARE you?! Wake up, Uncle Sam! That cappuccino was poisoned! WAKE UP!!"

[moreupnorth]

Thanks for the great article. Some of us in other parts of the world agree with you. And just to be clear most of "us" in the rest of the world are Anti US Foriegn Policy and not Anti-American. And again we are not against all US foriegn policy, just most of the recent policy.

Just an offhand question! I have heard some US economists refer to the current oil price surge as a bubble as well. Could this be an offshoot of the Foriegn policy bubble you speak of. They both appear to coincide in start dates?

[blueshield]

My experience is that bubbles always benefit someone, and to understand any bubble it's necessary to see who benefits. Follow the money. If you do that, there appears to be a very large coincidence in both the sequence of "bubbles" and the US oligarchy that has been their greatest beneficiary.

Unfortunately, American's turned the country over to Bushco, and the greedmeisters have had their way in every possible respect.

[sustainable]

Foreign policy failure under pretty much every administration since JFK. It doesn't seem as though any of it was to our benefit.

[squander123]

Some very good points indeed here.

The rhetoric of America being the 'best country in the world' is one of the things about US life which most of the rest of the world finds really puzzling. It's a fine country, with some excellent qualities, which many of us admire very much. But the idea that ANYWHERE is just the flat-out 'best country in the world' is incomprehensible to anyone who is familiar with more than one country, and can see both its pros and cons. Equally, no other western government/media gets to make those kind of claims to its citizens, because those citizens are well-travelled and would give a collective snort of derision to the idea that nowhere else does some things better.

So here's my question: why DON'T more Americans travel more? Everywhere I go in the world, I see other Europeans, Australians, New Zealanders etc, but hardly any Americans. Where are they? This far pre-dates the current economic downturn, and America is a rich country, so why don't its citizens travel like those of other rich countries? This is a genuine question, it's always puzzled me.

[Spinobobot]

A partial answer to your question: our country is itself quite large and diverse. A lot of people just travel to different parts of the country. There are a lot of states! Also, unless you're going to Mexico or Canada or the Caribbean, you have quite a way to go to reach foreign soil, and will probably have to cross an ocean to do so.

It's a lot easier for Europeans to see foreign countries and cultures not only because the Continent is full of them, but also because it's relatively close to parts of Asia and Africa. Although I don't know what to say about Australia and New Zealand, because they're in worse shape geographically than we are. I wonder if there have been studies on how well traveled citizens of different nations are.

Outside of the developed world, I imagine travel is an extreme luxury for the vast majority of people. I'm sure they have their own nationalistic or ethnic or religious prejudices resulting from relative insulation.

[Kahawa]

Australians and New Zealanders prove the point. If you want to travel outside your own country, you can. Unfortunately, our whole US culture encourages us to look within, not without.

This is something that's bothered me my whole life. I was born in Africa of US parents, and have lived most of my life in the US but a good portion in Africa and Europe. And more importantly, I was brought up with a global worldview. I never understood why anyone would not want to explore the world and learn about other cultures.

You know, it is possible to love your country and still be frustrated by its faults and limitations. Let's hope that's one way in which Obama will at least initiate some change in this country: by helping us see the points of view of others, and deflating our swollen heads enough to see that for a long time, though especially in the last 7 years, we have systematically abused our power and degraded our standing in the world.

[CaptainObvious]

Because we already live in the Greatest Country in the World (tm)! What point is there in going to see your backwards little countries?

[earthwealth]

So we can appreciate more of what we have and what we don't have!

[Serfie]

What a load of rubbish!

Quite frankly. the left is just as ignorant as the right in America about foreign countries.

We have yet to have Democratic president in the last hundred years who wasn't a interventionist.

And the progressive Left is filled with hypocrites.

They want to impose their environmental and labor standards on foreign countries, which is considered imperialism by those who we wish to impose our values upon.

The Left loves to harp on and on about diplomacy, yet how has diplomacy worked out for Europe outside of Europe? What good has all that European diplomacy done for Africa?

The Left loves to complain about globalization and free trade agreements and the evils of multi-national corporations, yet is silent when foreign multi-nationals and sovereign wealth funds practice imperialism in the US.

The Left loves to scream about racist wars that the US commits on foreign countries, yet this is the same Left that wants open borders in the US, disregarding the wage depression of working class people, crime caused by illegals, and the costs of educating and paying for health care for tens of millions of illegals.

The Left is ignorant of the histories of Persia and China, which have been powerful nations for thousands of years. They may not be a threat to the US directly, but if you think for one moment that they don't mean to exert their historical influence on neighboring countries, then the Left is certainly self-deluded.

[HypocrisyAlarm]

Where didn't you learn to avoid generalizations? Was it a "Left" administration that invaded a country in the ME, overthrew an admittedly oppressive, yet functioning government, and had so little idea of the culture and history of that country that it could not foresee civil strife as a probability?

Who is ignorant and ignoring of history and culture? Why do I read so many writings that include descriptions such as "The Left" or "Liberals" that exhibit only binary thinking (all questions having yes or no, right or wrong, good or bad, righteous or evil as answers)?

[mcole]

the Left...the Left...the Left....its almost laughable how Americans cant even see...America suffers from inherent national narcissism...you can't see beyond yourselves...have you taken a good look around lately?

in the immortal words of Tupac Shakur...." it aint about you.."

[Serfie]

Your self-deluded hypocrisy is ridiculous.

What is it that Europe and the rest of the so-called enlightened peoples know what America doesn't know?

Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia certainly haven't been at the forefront of enlightenment the last century.

And they certainly haven't taken a lead in solving any international problems.

[jhamm1]

Ahem!

The Townhall Magazine is thataway.

www.townhall.com

[earthwealth]

You should have asked the caller that if we with over 6000 atomic warheads or Israel with over 150 atomic warheads still being afraid of a small country that was under sever international sanction for almost 30 years, why do we have such a huge collection of atomic military weopans in the first place? Is that becaue of having too much extra funds and no other purpose to spend it for?