Podstrony

• Index
• Saylor Steven Roma sub rosa t Morderstwo na Via Appia
• Saylor Steven Roma sub rosa t Ostatnio widziany w Massilii
• Saylor Steven Roma sub rosa t Zagadka Katyliny
• [4 1]Erikson Steven Dom Lancu Dawne Dni
• Brust Steven Vald Taltos 02 Yendi
• Erikson Steven Bramy Domu Umarlych
• [4 2]Erikson Steven Dom Lancu Konwergencja
• Nurowska Maria Wiek samotnosci
• Bialolecka Ewa Kamien na szczycie (2)
• Woods Stuart Propozycja nie do odrzucenia
• zanotowane.pl
• doc.pisz.pl
• pdf.pisz.pl
• radioclubhit.keep.pl

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.P1: FCW0521857449c07Printer: cupusbwCUNY475B/Rosefielde0 521 85744 9November 3, 200612:23We’re Different Now129Most nations have strengths that can be turned against them; inconsis-tencies that are large enough to become fatal flaws; America does.This iswhy thoughtful, logical analyses of defense and foreign policy is so impor-tant, why it is not merely an academic exercise but deserves the most carefulattention – because it keeps us from defeating ourselves.Bin Laden is a peculiarly dangerous adversary for America because heseems to understand our flaws and how they can be turned against us (Sad-dam did not).Bin Laden knows that our military strength is great enough toprevent him from seizing control of major countries in the Islamic world byovert aggression; just as we prevented Saddam from seizing Kuwait.But healso knows that we have a messianic element in our personality that causesus to overreach – to want to create our own image in the wake of our troops;so we try to change other societies in the wake of military victory.This cre-ates an enormous political opportunity for radicals – who find their greatestopportunity in the chaos that follows the collapse of a regime.What seemsa great triumph for America, therefore – the military overthrow of a hostileregime – can be its point of greatest vulnerability.The fatal flaw of America is an inability to distinguish between the worldas it is and the world as we wish it to be, and therefore to overestimatewhat we can achieve – it’s a flaw of perception that prevents us being fullyobjective about situations in which we find ourselves.Its expression is ourpublic culture.Americans are becoming more and more realistic in trying to find anaccommodation between the two sides of our nature with which we canlive.We are becoming more interventionist, unilateralist, and militaristicwhile remaining excitable, self-centered, only sometimes sensitive to otherssuffering, prideful, arrogant, without proportion in judgment and reactionbut still with a heady dose of idealism and generosity.We are less hypocriticalthan in our past, not because we are more idealistic, but because we are lessso, leaving our idealists more isolated today than in the past.We are tryingto come to grips with our role in the world by being more realistic and lessidealistic about it, as benefits a country which is now in the action – ratherthan standing aside in an isolationist position observing and commentingon other powers which are doing most of the acting (which is the posturein which we spent the entire nineteenth century and the first half of thetwentieth).The American people are likely mature enough now to adopt the postureof a mature superpower in the world.Whether or not our political leadershipis sufficiently trusting of our people to take us in that direction is a keyconcern of this book.P1: FCW0521857449c07Printer: cupusbwCUNY475B/Rosefielde0 521 85744 9November 3, 200612:23130American Public Culture and OurselvesCHAPTER 7: KEY POINTS1.Americans are different since September 11, 2001; there is a loss ofinnocence and a new maturity forged in terrorist attack and preemptivewar.2.Even before the attack on the World Trade Center we had been shiftingdramatically our relation to the world – from isolationism to militarystrength and deep engagement.3.The Bush administration is carrying us further – toward military dom-inance, preemptive war, and the installation of democratic freedomaround the world.4.Our country’s public culture has always had a potentially fatal flaw inour approach to the world – a conviction that our system is the best,that it fits anywhere, that we have an obligation to extend it, and that ifwe extend it successfully, there will be peace and prosperity thereafter.This conviction causes us to overreach periodically – it is likely doingso again.5.We should instead aim to become a mature superpower, protecting ourcountry, helping others who want to go in our direction, but avoidingoverreach.To do this American politicians have to recognize the greatermaturity of our people, and be more honest about both our objectivesand the limitations of our reach.P1: FCW0521857449c08Printer: cupusbwCUNY475B/Rosefielde0 521 85744 9November 3, 200613:9part fourTHE RECONFIGURATION OF NATIONALWEALTH AND POWER131P1: FCW0521857449c08Printer: cupusbwCUNY475B/Rosefielde0 521 85744 9November 3, 200613:9132P1: FCW0521857449c08Printer: cupusbwCUNY475B/Rosefielde0 521 85744 9November 3, 200613:9eightThe Economic Roots of American PowerThe American economy provides the sinews of American power in the world.It’s not only the world’s largest economy, but also the fastest growing amongthe developed countries.The secret of the American economy’s success isnot only free enterprise and markets, which could be copied abroad, but aneconomic culture derived from our history – something it is very hard if notimpossible to replicate abroad.In 1875 the great English economist Alfred Marshall visited the UnitedStates for four months, and when he returned to England said that he hadbeen enabled by his trip to “expect the coming supremacy of the UnitedStates, to know its causes and the directions it would take.”1 His mission is of no less significance for us now, one hundred and thirty years later, as it wasthen.During all the discussions, year after year, of the decline of Americanpower, the opposite has been happening and continues to happen.Like any people we find ourselves where we are because of what hashappened in our past [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]