----- Original Message ----- From: "Marvin Long, Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 12:36 PM Subject: Re: war and peace > > What I hear coming through Bush is a belief on the part of the > Republican leadership and his administration that the US is God's > instrument for cleansing the world of evil.
No hard feelings, but I think that your lack of familiarity with the concept of being called is evident here. Many people can be God's instrument. It depends on who answers the call. Ideally, many countries would answer. It appears that the world is relying on the US to be the only one that answers, and reserves the right to tell us when to answer and when not to. >The implication is that the > US deserves to have enormous latitude in the means it chooses to do so, > and nobody else really has a right to protest or moderate or to push > alternatives to the means chosen by this administration in particular. I think the answer is that only folks who are also willing to pay the price to answer the call have a right to protest or moderate or push alternatives. I had great hopes that the US could have stepped down some in the '90s, and let Europe handle the Balkans. It appears that Europe was unwilling to do anything of significance. Indeed the Dutchbat report faulted the US for asking for a consensus instead of telling Europe what it would do. > Because the US is "chosen," so to speak, and they aren't. If we humor and > listen to the POV's and interests of other nations, it's just because > we're gracious, not because we ought to or need to. > Manifest destiny seems the appropriate historical analogy to such an attitude. I think a more appropriate analogy is that workers don't appreciate sidewalk superintendents. > > Spiderman is a closer comparison: with great power comes great > > responsibility. > > Spider-Man accepted that he was a lucky/unlucky (depending on his mood) > guy and constantly questions the use of the power he's privileged to have. > Such humility on the part of Bush & Co. would be refreshing. Maybe I'm > just a fan of existential crisis. I think that a public existential crisis followed by action is only in the movies. > The core of my discomfort is my feeling that this administration embraces > and encourages the belief that the US has been chosen to be a unique > instrument of objective morality by the Objective Moralizer. I agree it's > something of an American tradition to do so. But I fear the consequences > of hubris. So do a lot of people, including Gautam. But, IMHO, the answer is for others to also claim the call, instead of mocking the call. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
