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Anyone on the forum read Andrew Bacevich's "The Limits of Power:The End of American Exceptionalism"? Mr. Bacevich is not only a talented political writer and self-described conservative, but also a veteran of the Vietnam war who lost a son in Iraq. I just finished reading "Limits of Power" over the holidays, and highly recommend it if you're interested in books about American foreign policy. I thought "The Limits of Power" was well written and thought provoking. Did you read it too? Comment(s)?
I'd never heard of it but I like the theme - the WaPo review quoted at Amazon summarizes the theme as "What is the sole superpower's proper role in the world?" I agree that we need to examine the true rationales for Pax Americana, and anything that takes exception to "American Exceptionalism" already has my interest.
The first comment at Amazon mentions a strong influence on the author, Reinhold Niebuhr's 1952 The Irony of American History. Both sound fascinating - I look forward to readers' comments (and comments on the Amazon comments, maybe?). Thanks!
I've heard of Andrew Bacevich before, but I didn't know his son was killed in Iraq recently - wow, sad.
Unfortunately the common definition of government power is limited, seems like if the government appears warm and fuzzy then it can be as powerful as it wants. It's sad that some religious dogma has stood the test of time better than the more (though not entirely) rational U.S. Constitution. Looking at thriving socialism-free places like Dubai (except for a tiny Koran-mandated 2.5% tax to a charity of your choice), that application of Islam certainly sounds far more rational than socialist Europe (Denmark: 60% income tax, 25% sales tax, and that's just the tip of the iceberg), or whatever will be left of America after Obama, who the aforementioned Mr Obama Republican helped put into power...
Last edited by Alex Libman; 12-28-2008 at 08:02 AM..
I bought it the day after he was on Charlie Rose, great book. My wife kept asking if I was back in college because I kept taking notes/outlining as I read it.
I don't normally buy books, as I live in a city with a great library. But on this one I made an exception and I'm glad I did.
Somehow I'd bet everyone on Obama's staff has read it.
That and "The Pentagon's New Map" by Thomas C.P. Barnett. A great abbreviated form of it was in Esquire a few years ago and I think is available online at esquire dot com.
Glenn Greenwald over at Salon has been talking about American exceptionalism as well.
"This is the Jack Goldsmith argument: while what Bush officials did may have been misguided and wrong, they did it out of a true fear of Islamic enemies, with the intent to protect us, perhaps even consistent with the citizenry's wishes. And while Douthat presents this view as some sort of candid and conflicted complexity, it isn't really anything more than standard American exceptionalism -- more accurately: blinding American narcissism -- masquerading as a difficult moral struggle.
The moral ambiguity Douthat thinks he finds is applicable to virtually every war crime. It's the extremely rare political leader who ends up engaging in tyrannical acts, or commits war crimes or other atrocities, simply for the fun of it, or for purely frivolous reasons. Every tyrant can point to real and legitimate threats that they feared.
Ask supporters of Fidel Castro why he imprisoned dissidents and created a police state and they'll tell you -- accurately -- that he was the head of a small, defenseless island situated 90 miles to the South of a huge, militaristic superpower that repeatedly tried to overthrow his government and replace it with something it preferred. Ask Hugo Chavez why he rails against the U.S. and has shut down opposition media stations and he'll point out -- truthfully -- that the U.S. participated to some extent in a coup attempt to overthrow his democratically elected government and that internal factions inside Venezuela have done the same.
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