Yet More Free Advice
As part of a continuing series, let me offer some more advice to the candidates:
Every now and then I see an article where the Europeans are letting us know how important this election is in regaining their trust. If I were working for John McCain, I would try to figure out how these pieces can be broadcast across the U.S. on a regular basis.
If Obama, who's already stated his desire to ensure that Americans traveling abroad don't feel embarrassed, is seen as Europe's candidate, then it's pretty clear who America's candidate is.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:47 AM
5 Comments:
While I understand the thought that our basic interests cannot be subjugated to getting the approval of other countries, I don't get the idea that it is unimportant or irrelevant when we antagonize people around the world. Even more inexplicable in what I think of as "emotional libertarianism," is the sense that it should make us feel good when we antagonize the world -- "They're not going to tell us what to do."
When people ask whether we are safer now due to protective measures taken, I always wonder -- are you safer when you have security at the front desk and lots of people wishing to blow you up, or no security at the front desk, but also no one planning to blow you up?
Agreed. This attitude of "if the Europeans like it, we reject it out of hand," has always struck me as remarkably adolescent. Folks, they're not our parents. Doing the opposite of what they want (regardless of the merits) doesn't prove how independent our judgment is.
Leaving aside the political advice, which works anywhere at any time in any country (no country wants to feel they're being run by the wishes of outsiders), I'm certainly not for going against foreigners' wishes just to be perverse, but that's not the issue.
1) As I've written before, we should do what's right by our lights, and hope we can explain to the rest of the world why. How foreigners feel is a consideration, but a very minor one. If their complaints have substance, it's because we're doing something wrong to begin with and shouldn't want to do it regardless of what they say. (But Obama's actually talked about feeling proud in front of foreigners. This says a lot about how he thinks. The proper way to put it is we should act such that we can hold our hold our heads high in front of each other, whether other countries like it or not.)
2) Nations naturally have different interests, so the "advice" they give us is always heavily questionable to begin with.
3) For various reasons, there's been a long history of anti-American feeling in Europe, at least among a certain percentage and certain type. And when I look at this type, I can say I'm proud we did things they didn't like, because their judgment is and has been wrong on a regular basis.
4) To put it very simply, without getting into particulars, the U.S., being the world's greatest superpower, is in a very different position from any other nation, even other industrialized free nations, so having situations where many or all other nations line up against us isn't really surprising and should not cause undue alarm.
5) I certainly agree it's best not to have people wishing to blow us up. That's why it's so important we change our strategy from the pre-9/11 days that got us into this mess.
LAG, your points are well taken, especially 5). The point is when we behaved in a more acceptable manner by European measures, during the 90s, our country, here and abroad, and our allies were attacked repeatedly.
Did you see Martha Nussbaum's tirade at the U. of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog, blaming American puritanism for Spitzer's downfall? She wrote it from Belgium, where she was struggling to explain to her European friends why such a noble politician as Spitzer was forced to resign. Luckily, there were some pretty powerful comments in response.
It's funny to hear that Nussbaum is so opposed to laws against prostitution when in the past she's shown such sympathy for the anti-pornography movement. If you think the latter leads to the subjugation of women, aren't you just about compelled to think the same of the former?
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