It returns to the statement, "What you do speaks so loud I can't hear what you are saying." Well, I can hear it, and balancing actions against words, the actions carry infinitely more weight than the jingoism and rhetoric of exceptionalism. And again, democracy and freedom are great ideals, but without a clear definition, one that is garbled by military occupation, economic dominance and subjugation, the ideals are somewhat irrelevant to what you do.
The greatest criminal excuse of all time is that while my intentions have always been noble and honourable, I simply can't seem to do things correctly (criminally insane?)--but that's okay 'cause we're doing our best. The underlying motive for all this fine sounding self-promoting rhetoric--and the U.S. is most "exceptional" at that-- is greed for the accumulation of power and wealth regardless of the human pain and suffering imposed on others. Dangerous nation indeed.
Some odds and an end
Kagan dips into other topics, other countries along the way. He discusses Japan and India in particular as rising powers. He uses the terms "postmodern" and "liberal" quite frequently, both terms with assumed meanings but without true definition. Postmodern is one of those undefined terms that really means nothing, more jargon added to the political scientists lexicon to make it more rarefied and obtuse--and supposedly of a higher order of learning that the masses cannot access.
Liberal carries several meanings: a general broadening of the mind; generous; and favourable to democratic reform. The mind of the U.S. politician has hardly broadened since its inception, demonstrated by those constantly revisited "errors and commissions" over its history. The only thing generous about it is the amount of money it provides to its supporters in various forms and in the amount of military hardware and ordinance it spreads around the globe. As for being favourable to democratic reform, I think that has already been put into serious doubt. Any true democratic reform that goes against the interest of U.S. politicians/economists/corporate leaders is quickly upset by U.S. intervention.
Kagan arrives at a conclusion that is suspect, mainly because his whole thesis is suspect, but given that, his proposal is not very well thought out. He offers the world a "concert of democracies" citing problems with the United Nations--without recognizing that two of the biggest problems concern the United States: first, the U.S. has consistently gone against many UN Security Council resolutions that deal with one of the main sparks of Middle East trouble, the Israel/Palestine question; beyond that the U.S. typically flaunts its unilateral position using the UN only as convenient and only if it works in its favour while abrogating many international treaties. If the UN were truly democratic, there would be no Security Council and no veto power, but instead some form of UN cabinet selected from a variety of countries representative of global populations. The big if is if the superpower would ever allow itself to abide by international regulations voted on and determined by the majority of the world's population. The arrogance and ignorance prevalent in most aspects of U.S. life would make that seem impossible.
Kagan's conclusion does not deserve much space. When the initial thesis is so badly flawed, with a simplistic dichotomy between "democracies" and "autocracies" followed by arguments that are circular, repetitive and self-contradictory ("what you do...") his solution can have no validity either. His final statement is a reminder of Pax Americana that "the future international order will be shaped by those who have the power and collective will to shape it." Straight out of the pages of the neocon playbook. We have lived through that over the past half century, somehow it did not quite work out the way it was supposed to. Dangerous? Yes. Indispensable? Only in the legend in its own mind.
[1] The Return of History and the End of Dreams. Robert Kagan. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2008.
[2] in support of these references are many texts and articles that are reviewed critically and can be found at www.palestinechronicle.com or at www.jim.secretcove.ca/index.Publications.html
[3] as noted by a critical and correct editor "Americans" refers to everyone in the Western Hemisphere, which tends to be an insult to many true Americans that do not live in the United States. However, in a quote, the word can stand as reminder of U.S. political presumption.
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