How the World, and Liberals, View America

Be Nice and They Will Like You

One of the liberal theories on how the United States should behave in the world is that we ought to be nice to the rest of the world, and then the world will like us more and treat us better.

The first assumption is that we aren't already being nice. The second assumption is that the world operates on this level. If you are nice to a country, that country will like you and treat you well.

I would argue that there has never been a country in the history of the world who is nicer to other countries than the U.S. is. From helping save the world in WWI and WWII to the Marshall Plan, to disaster relief, to money for charity, America leads the way.

There have been times in our past when we have meddled in the affairs of other countries, even to the point of trying to sway elections and up to and including assassinations. Those days are over and we live in a different world. It is a mistake to judge previous generations using present-day standards. The world is always evolving and, hopefully, growing more mature.

America at War

Every war we have entered has had a noble cause, from Vietnam to Korea to Iraq. These three wars were less than conclusive in their results. Maybe tactics and strategies were wrong, but the intent always was to help these countries and their people. We were not there to take over their lands. This automatically makes the United States nicer than all of the superpowers in history. Can you imagine Rome not annexing a foe, or Napoleon's France giving money to a conquered Germany, or Hitler setting up an independent Austria?

Evil America

The left has a long laundry list of things the U.S. is doing now to harm the world. The problem with their list, again, is that each point they make relies on conspiracy theories, things that go on behind closed doors, and negative assumptions about intent.

The Iraq War

The truth and the verified facts about Iraq, for example, are;

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1. Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and the U.S. responded by invading Kuwait and expelling him. The U.S. did not take over Kuwait, but gave the country back to the Kuwaitis and helped put U.N. sanctions on Iraq, complete with weapons inspections for WMD.

2. The U.S. was attacked on 9/11 and responded by invading Afghanistan to remove the Taliban, which was the group directly responsible for the attacks.

3. Bush pledged to defeat the kind of terrorism that led to 9/11.

4. The U.S. was most alarmed by Saddam Hussein's unwillingness to cooperate with weapons inspectors. Plus, Saddam's anti-West rhetoric and ties to terrorist organizations created fear in America because of his proven willingness to use WMD's in the recent past. In addition, there were pleas from inside Iraq that Saddam was a butcher and that removing him would be a humanitarian gesture of immense proportions.

5. After Saddam's further repeated refusals to cooperate with weapons inspectors, the U.S. invaded Iraq and dethroned Saddam Hussein.

6. The U.S. again did not take over the country, but rather has tried to set up a functioning democracy there.

7. This attempt has failed so far, leading to a breakup into Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish factions and much bloodshed.

These are the facts: The U.S. has not taken over the oil fields. It has lost much treasure in fighting the wars on behalf of the Afghan and Iraqi people. A chaos might be brewing in these countries.

Still, the U.S. dethroned tyrants in both countries. It tried to set up functioning democracies in both. It has not taken over either country and does not intend to.

From all this, the left comes to the conclusion that the U.S. is not nice--in fact, that we are evil. I don't get it. Compare us to Rome, Napoleon's France, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini; or even to any other modern country--we stand out as being good, and nice, and generous. The only way, again, you can differ with this assessment is to ascribe evil motives and believe in conspiracy theories.

So, Does Being Nice Make You Popular?

Evidently not. Why not?

The world isn't fair. It operates much like a corporation. A company cares only about one thing--profit. A company doesn't have a conscience. It doesn't mind who gets hurt or who benefits; it just wants to make money. It wants the reputation of being good, but only if this helps it make money. This is why the left hates business. We'll get into this issue on another post.

What do countries want? Countries are similar to companies. Countries want mostly to survive, and to gain influence, power, and control. In the past, this took the form of imperialism and taking over land and treasure. Annexing land is no longer approved, so most countries now confine their imperialistic urges to gaining influence, power, control, and money.

In short, the world doesn't care if the United States is nice. The world sees the U.S. as the most powerful country in the world, and wants to compete with it; to bring it down to size; even to destroy it. Russia wants to get back its lost power. Europe wants to rise again to world dominance. The radical Muslim world sees the West as sinful, decadent, evil infidels, with the U.S. as the leader.

Karma Will Manifest

There are a thousand and one reasons that point to why the U.S. is one of the nicest countries in the world, but it all makes no difference to some people and countries. As in the liberal world, black is white and white is black. Good is evil and evil is good.

Yet, in reality, it does matter. We are a good country, and it matters with God, with our fellow human beings, and even, eventually, with the world. The truth eventually does get out. Karma eventually does manifest. The guys in the white hats eventually are seen as the good guys.

For now, let us continue doing good things in the world, and speaking the truth to our detractors.

Rock

(*Wikipedia is always my source unless indicated.)

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