Dissolving the American Identity

“Historically American national identity has been defined culturally by the heritage of Western civilization and politically by the principles of the American Creed on which Americans overwhelmingly agree: liberty, democracy, individualism, equality before the law, constitutionalism, private property.  In the late twentieth century both components of American identity have come under concentrated and sustained onslaught from a small but influential number of intellectuals and publicists.  In the name of multiculturalism they have attacked the identification of the United States with Western civilization, denied the existence of a common American culture, and promoted racial, ethnic, and other subnational cultural identities and groupings.  They have denounced, in the words of one of their reports, the ’systematic bias toward European culture and its derivatives’ in education and ‘the dominance of the European-American monocultural perpective.’  The multiculturalists are, as Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., said, ‘very often ethnocentric separatists who see little in the Western heritage other than Western crimes.’  Their ‘mood is one of divesting Americans of the sinful European heritage and seeking redemptive infusions from non-Western cultures.’” — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, p.305.

Why Overthrow Saddam?

“Why did President Bush decide to overthrow Saddam Hussein?  In short, it was to end a range of threats.  No other contemporary leader–and a few in history–had a record of aggression to match Saddam’s.  He had started major wars of conquest.  He had brutalized his citizens and killed them in enormous numbers.  He had given aid and support to terrorists.  And, in violation of treaty obligations, he had not only pursued mass-destruction weapons, but used them, on his foreign enemies and on his own citizens. 

The problem of Saddam Hussein predated 9/11.  It had become a principle U.S. preoccupation when he seized Kuwait in 1990.  Saddam survived the Gulf War, and Iraq remained a danger throughout the 1990s–one the UN Security Council had tried to contain by imposing economic sanction and weapons inspections.  In August 1998 Saddam generated a crisis by shutting down the UN weapons inspections.  Two months later, the U.S. Congress–concerned that the Iraqi hreat was growing, while the world’s resolve to ‘contain’ Saddam was weakening–passed the Iraq Liberation Act, which called for regime change in Baghdad: 

‘It should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime.‘“ – Douglas Feith, War and Decision, p.181-182.

Not to Inaugurate the Kingdom of Heaven

“The Bible neither encourages nor discourages Christians from holding public office.  What does the Bible say about government?  The state is a divinely ordained institution that is to regulate relations within a secular society, not inaugurate the kingdom of heaven.  For…God has reserved that task for himself.  There are biblical principles that need to be applied to government, but the civil authorities will disappear when God’s Kingdom is fulfilled.” — Doug Bandow, Beyond Good Intentions, p.76.

Liberty Within Their Own Culture

“I hope the good people of Iraq will remember our history, and not pay attenton to the hateful propaganda of their government.  America has never sought to dominate, has never sought to conquer.  We’ve always sought to liberate and to free.  Our desire is to help Iraqi citizens find the blessings of liberty within their own culture and their own traditions.  The Iraqi people cannot flourish under a dictator that oppresses them and threatens them.  Gifted people of Iraq will flourish if and when oppression is lifted.” — Pres. George W. Bush, President Signs Iraqi Resolution, 2002.

America’s Retreat

“The end of the Cold War was…a unique moment in America’s relations with the world.  It was at the peak of its moral authority.  Almost all countries looked up at America.  And…America had accumulated enormous reservoirs of goodwill around the world.  With so much accumulated moral authority and political goodwill, America could have done so much more for the world.  Instead, it chose effectively to retreat and disengage from the world, especially from many of the burdensome commitments it made during the Cold War.” — Kishore Mahbubani, Beyond the Age of Innocence, p.28

“Only for Selfish Reasons!”

“But we are told, ‘America intervenes militarily only for selfish reasons!’  Apparently, these selfish reasons drive us to intervene in the world’s most disconnected and impoverished countries.  Then we are criticized for not converting a higher percentage of them into overnight democracies, which is like wondering why the oncologist lets so many of his patients die compared with the ear specialist.” — Thomas Barnett, The Pentagon’s New Map, p.359-360

The State Is a Subsidiary of Society

“In a free society, the state must be a subsidiary of society.  The state must be society’s servant, not its master.  It is equally wrong for either religious believers or secularists to try to master society through the state.  The more realistic mission should be to minimize the expansive power and role of the government in society, working to restore the institutions of civil society….

This concept reaffirms a basic principle of America’s founding political philosophy that the central government should be limited, the state should not encroach on the functions of civil society, and all should strive to preserve civil society.  To the extent that we succeed, individuals are then free to regulate their own affairs.  To the extent that we fail, government takes on responsibilities for which it has neither competence nor authority.” — Don Eberly, Restoring the Good Society, p.68-69.