Americans believe in democracy. Their government has overthrown democracies.
Here is what I would genuinely like Americans to grapple with.
The gap between the values Americans hold and the policies their governments pursue abroad is not incidental.
Americans believe in democracy.
Their government has overthrown democracies.
Americans believe in sovereignty.
Their government has violated sovereignty consistently.
Americans believe in self-determination.
Their government has crushed self-determination when it produced the wrong outcomes.
This is documented. Declassified. Officially acknowledged in many cases.
The gap between the domestic belief and the foreign policy reality is not a bug.
It is what happens when a country's stated values and its material interests conflict, and the material interests win.
The contradiction is not unique. The mythology surrounding it is.
The specific problem with American exceptionalism is not that America has interests.
It is the belief that American interests and human values are the same thing.
They are not the same thing.
Acknowledging that doesn't make you anti-American.
It makes you honest.
posted by Satish Sharma at
05:19
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