And if that means fails, then other means, unilateral action if necessary, are tools in our bag.
Of course. We need all the tools we can get and we need to use them when appropriate.
The issue at hand is whether those who prefer moderate diplomacy prefer moderate diplomacy for its own sake, or as a means to an end.
I am long of the Ayn Rand school of self interest. She spoke of enlightened self interest. Enlightened in this case means that we support the autonomy of friendly states and work collaboratively with them to the greatest extent that we can. We do that not for them but because it is in our best interests to have strong, self-sufficient partners. Carrying the flag of unilateralism isn't in our best interests.
When this discussion got started, what we had on the table were statements from Bush and about Rice. Bush made the valid point in the SOU that the US didn't need anyone else's permission to act in its own interests. But if you put that in context with statements by Rice...
<<When the United States acts in its own interests, Ms. Rice claimed, as would many Americans, it necessarily serves the interests of everyone.
"To be sure," she argued, "there is nothing wrong with doing something that benefits all humanity, but that is, in a sense, a second-order effect."
But could even America's closest friends ever be persuaded that an America always pursuing its self-interest could be relied upon to serve their interests, too, as some kind of "second-order effect"?>>
...what you get is the US declining to abrogate any of its autonomy while expecting other countries to do so. To me that is an arrogant, cavalier, and far from enlightened. It is in that context that I spoke of unilateralism--the unilateralist attitude, not an individual unilateral act when necessary.
I don't think that it is "typical" for Americans to want to express US hegemony in such a haughty and ultimately self-defeating (IMO) way. While it is true that a rising tide lifts all boats, it is not reasonable to expect the dingy owners and the yacht owners not to chafe at the carrier's owner's turning the spigot on and off and hot and cold as it sees fit. If we're going to express US hegemony as the benevolent despot, we need to be a lot smarter than we are and a lot more diplomatic. |
