For starters, though Americans watching Saving Private Ryan or Patton may conclude that the United States played the central role in vanquishing Nazi Germany, most of the fighting was in Eastern Europe and the main burden of defeating Hitler's war machine was borne by the Soviet Union. Similarly, though the Marshall Plan and NATO played important roles in Europe's postWorld War II success, Europeans deserve at least as much credit for rebuilding their economies, constructing a novel economic and political union, and moving beyond four centuries of sometimes bitter rivalry. [...] Moreover, [...] the spread of liberal ideals is a global phenomenon with roots in the Enlightenment, and European Philosophers and political leaders did much to advance the democratic ideal. Similarly, the abolition of slavery and the long effort to improve the status of women owe more to Britain and other democracies than to the United States, where progress in both areas trailed many other countries. [...]
Unit II. US: from Democracy to Empire?
Unit II. US: from Democracy to Empire?
Finally, any honest accounting of the past half-century must acknowledge the downside of American primacy. The United States has been the major producer of greenhouse gases for most of the last hundred years and thus a principal cause of the adverse changes that are altering the global environment. The United States stood on the wrong side of the long struggle against apartheid in South Africa and backed plenty of unsavory dictatorships — including Saddam Hussein's — when short-term strategic interests dictated. [...]
Bottom line: Americans take too much credit for global progress and accept too little blame for areas where US policy has in fact been counterproductive. Americans are blind to their weak spots, and in ways that have real-world consequences. [...]
Myth 5
God Is on Our Side
A crucial component of American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States has a divinely ordained mission to lead the rest of the world. Ronald Reagan told audiences that there was “some divine plan" that placed America here [...]. The same idea was expressed, albeit less nobly, in Otto von Bismarck's alleged quip that “God has a special providence for fools, drunks, and the United States."
Confidence is a valuable commodity for any country. But when a nation starts to think it enjoys the mandate of heaven and becomes convinced that it cannot fail or be led astray by scoundrels or incompetents, then reality is likely to deliver a swift rebuke. [.]
