Alasdair Roberts, in Foreign Policy Magazine, tells the uncomfortable truth that Americans have been trying so hard to avoid for the last 4 years.
The War We Deserve
From the front page:
"It’s easy to blame the violence in Iraq and the pitfalls of the war on terror on a small cabal of neocons, a bumbling president, and an overstretched military. But real fault lies with the American people as well. Americans now ask more of their government but sacrifice less than ever before. It’s an unrealistic, even deadly, way to fight a global war. And, unfortunately, that’s just how the American people want it."
It is one of the most ironic, self-indulgent, dishonest facts of this repressive political period. Hillary Clinton is its most obvious champion. And it reflects the deep sense of entitlement and lack of responsibility, self-sacrafice, and service to others that animates this self-centered and power-hungry period of American politics.
Demand from, bully, and pressure others. Expect little of yourself. And, if all else fails, blame someone else.
It is the essence of the dysfunctional politics and cultural attitudes that animates this very strange and disturbingly dishonest political period. It is the consequence of a culture obsessed with power. And it has the nerve, as did Communism and Nazism, mind you, to call itself "progressive."
There is many things this period is. Progressive is clearly not one of them. Or, at best, progress happens despite our propensity to bully, pressure, leverage and otherwise try to overpower others as if it were more liberal or more democratic. And the most obvious demonstration of the lack of progress is its lack of progress. The big question that should be at the forefront of peoples' minds is "Why is so little getting accomplished?"
Much of the answer is found in this sad fact of 21st century American life that Alasdair Roberts considers in this article. Progress can only come once we face and come to terms with this ugly legacy.
