There is a famous saying that goes: "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
When changes seemed t be everywhere in evidence back in the late 1980's and early 1990's, it seemed to many Americans that the only place where things were not changing was right here. Now that the world is changing again, we are, once again, the bulwark of conservatism and continuity, although not necessarily in the positive sense.
Yesterday, there was an important vote on Capitol Hill. This is not unique.
The final vote had a majority in favor of the proposed bill, yet this bill did not pass, because it did not have the necessary degree of a majority to secure it's passage. This, too, is not unique.
The inability of Congress to effectively pass this proposed bill served as a great disappointment to many Americans, who vowed to continue the fight. This, as well, is not unique.
The proposed bill was defeated by what is frequently, and increasingly, being referred to as the politics of paranoia. This, unfortunately, is also not unique.
The bill was a United Nations treaty on rights for the handicapped, and it was defeated by five votes in the Senate. The measure had already been passed by 126 nations, but the United States refuses to be one of them, to join ranks with the rest of the world.
For the most part, the measure was defeated because of fears of the world organization that was pushing for it. Resistance to this bill was not that different than those who claimed that the United Nations was "taking over", because they had a few people in Texas observing our nation's election last month.
There has been a backlash recently against the United Nations, with many Americans voicing skepticism towards it, and desiring a pull out from the United Nations, which they seem to feel is about to take over the world, and particularly here in the United States.
It seems to me such a strange belief, but it is held by many who do believe in what has come to be known as "American exceptionalism".
The fact of the matter is this: that what has come to be known as "American exceptionalism" is tantamount to American dominance over the world. It is a pseudonym for American supremacy, and an extension of the largely discredited (although unfortunately, not totally discredited by enough Americans to no longer be relevant) neocon philosophy that got us into the war in Iraq, and would (and perhaps will) get us into other illegal and unjustifiable wars in the future. American exceptionalists hardly make a secret of their stated belief that the United States is the greatest nation in the world, and that it not only should do as it sees fit around the world, but that, moreover, it has a moral obligation to do so. Such thinking, if it leads to policy making, will surely have tragic consequences for the nation.
That paranoia of some vague, half-baked, notions of a United Nations takeover of the world has taken hold over many Americans who favor notions of exceptionalism, which itself would have it that the United States can do whatever the hell it wants, wherever the hell it wants, whenever the hell it wants. It is such an obviously unfair, cynical, and deceitful way of thinking, and it seems that you have to be an American these days not to see it that way.
Most Americans believe that Ronald Reagan was right in greatly increasing the military budget, in order to keep an enemy, the Soviet Union, in check, and to entice them to keep up with us in an arms race that eventually bankrupted them. They, too, were involved in a war in Afghanistan, a war that they did not win. A war that, according to many, proved the main impetus for the decline and fall of the Soviet Empire. That Reagan's supporters credit him with having "won the Cold War" was, according to them proof of the success of increased military expenditures.
Yet, even if we assume this to be entirely correct and truthful, it does not justify the increased military expenditures in the post-Cold War era. Military spending increased on the watch of Reagan's successor, President George H. W. Bush. It also increased during the tenure of George W. Bush, and that even before the September 11th attacks. Terrorism simply became the latest rationale to justify the increased military budget under the second Bush administration.
Once the policy of engaging in seemingly endless wars without proper cause, and with no clear exit strategies, became discredited, then perhaps another reason was needed to justify this militaristic mindset.
Seeing as though the United States still essentially stands alone as the world's leading superpower, then the weight of potential enemies has to be greatly exaggerated in order to justify the fixation on the already bloated military budget, supposedly to keep all of these enemies in check.
This latest popular argument, which seems to be gaining ground, that the United Nations poses such a huge and imminent threat, is really nothing new. It is the politics of fear, and it has existed before. But it is the level of power that these voices of paranoia have that is proving so costly.
The rest of the world is watching, whether we like it or not. It is watching us, as it watched a decade ago, when the United States aggressively pursued a war that it would eventually launch, against the world's wishes, and also against the United Nations, which was vehemently opposed to the war. The world watches us now, as it watched when we refused to attend the environmental conference in Rio in 1992, or refused to take part in the Kyoto accord. The world watched when internal opposition to a healthcare program- a program that would have at least begun to address the issue that far too many Americans have chosen to ignore or find excuses for, that being the tens of millions of people that are uninsured because they cannot afford it (to say nothing of those who actually have plans that still leave them uninsured in a very real sense, because medical care is far too costly, even for millions who have some health insurance that proves inadequate) - had those opponents slap the Hitler moustache on pictures of Obama.
We can claim that there are things about us that the rest of the world simply does not understand, and use this as an excuse for our collective political behavior. But sometimes the truth is simpler than we make it out to be. We muddy the waters unnecessarily, but these actions of ours are unjustifiable, and yes the world is watching. And judging us as harshly as we judge them.
Yes, the world is watching, and the world continues to watch. Increasingly, the world is taking initiative to move forward with, or increasingly without, the United States. Europe increasingly is it's own sphere of influence. China is a growing power as well. In Latin America, Several nations, most notably Brazil, have sought to join alliances with one another, as well as other nations throughout the world, to counter what they increasingly see as counterproductive American influence.
More and more, our political stance sees us on the outside of the world community, looking in, and perhaps scratching our heads. This happened with the vote for Palestine last week, when we were on the wrong side of a decisive vote in the United Nations. It has happened again yesterday, when we essentially voted to give that global community, and in effect, the rest of the world, the shaft, and once again, to go our own way.
Our paternalistic approach to the rest of the world tends to rub people the wrong way, and really, how could it not? The global community accepted American leadership for decades and decades, particularly following World War II. There was always a political divide that existed, but as time goes by, these difference are not only growing increasingly glaring, but increasingly polarizing, as well. Why? Because the rest of the world understands what most Americans do not. They know only too well what American exceptionalism truly means: that America will always seek to be the exception to every rule, so that it alone may seek to benefit from exemption to the rules that the rest of the world has to abide by. the price that we have already paid is quite high, yet it will likely only get higher. This is because the global community is no longer waiting for us to provide leadership, or even to comer around to see their side of things, anymore. If we are to be an obstacle towards progress, as we seem intent on being too often, than the rest of the world will do what they must to overcome that obstacle. We see them at work doing it already. That is why it so often seems that the rest of the world is changing rapidly, while here in the United States, nothing ever seems to change. This is an illusion, of course. But it provides the delusion for millions of Americans who believe that we can continue to do what we have always done.
With our every move, the rest of the world watches, and judges. More and more, the rest of the world sees how we pat ourselves in the back as the "world's superpower", and our proclamations of being the leading power "in the free world", and our claims of being "the shining city on the hill", and they are rejecting these self-serving and overly righteous boasts. To many in the rest of the world, America is a politically irresponsible place where leadership is lacking, even if we want to believe that we are, in fact, what the rest of the world should be.
"We Americans have no commission from God to police the world."
~ President Benjamin Harrison
"We are citizens of the world; and the tragedy of our times is that we do not know this."
~ President Woodrow Wilson
Here is a link to an article that I used in the writing of this piece:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/05/2527066/disabling-vote-on-rights-of-disabled.html
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