A previous commentary discussed America's lingering Wild West mentality, with special reference to how that may be influencing the extreme resistance the nation is battling in trying to enact reasonable gun control legistion to lessen the incidence of massive gun violence. A separate question is how that same Wild West mentality may have begun, and be continuing, to influence our nation's foreign policy after the domestic western frontier was tamed. It is interesting to note that shortly after the western plains were brought under government control in the late 1800's, American Indian resistence being subdued and lawless gunfighter elements largely defeated, the nation launched onto a much more aggressive foreign policy. In large part through the urging of the William Randolph Hearst News press (the equivalent of today's Fox News media?), a war was begun with Spain, Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders rode through Cuba, our troops invaded the Phillipines, and the US was on its way to establishing its own overseas colonial acquisitions. American adventurers and businessmen became active in Central and South American countries, seeking opportunities to set up friendly governments and develop proprietary business rights for the purpose of power or profit or both. Forts were no longer needed to defend against Indian uprisings or lawlessness in the Wild West, but the US now had bases overseas to defend recently claimed territory and interests there.
The first half of the 20th Century found our nation consumed in fighting two world wars, with a period of relative isolationism and a profound depression inbetween, and there was little energy available for adventurism or extra-legal governmental activities overseas. With the conclusion of World War II, the strength that the US developed and the world leadership role that it had assumed thrust it onto the world scene in a way never before imagined, and it rose to the situation in a highly impressive and responsible way. It's role in developing the UN, creating the Marshall Plan to facilitate recovery of allied nations most effected by the war's damage, dealing with the defeated AXIS nations in a responsible way to avoid the problems that followed World War I were all exceptional examples of constructive world leadership. The rising threat of communist expansionism from the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea almost immediately muddied the waters, and presented opportunities for continued responsible international leadership as well as for lawless provocateurs, political opportunists, and governmental overreach. Both occured during the ensuing four decades of the Cold War with communism.
North Korea's attack on South Korea was resisted and defeated responsibly, but it took a president who was unpopular at the time summarily firing a very popular general to insure that the war didn't spread into China and risk a greatly expanded war developing. The policy of containment was successful in limiting the Soviet Union's thrust to expand, but the issue was compounded by rising nationalist sentiment in many countries that had previously been under Western colonial domination
seeking to establish their independence free of western influence. This led to US overreach in trying to replace French influence in Vietnam, under the mantle of stopping the spread of communism. The fear of Domino Theory expansion of communism prevailed over recognizing the legitimacy of an inherently nationalistic movement in Vietnam, troops were sent, fighting was begun over false, contrived circumstances, and a tragic involvement ended in defeat many years later, and only after many major escalations, sabotaged peace possibilities, and a body-bag count too painful to mention. The war had spread, but through our own actions, not any domino theory. Fear-motivated, perhaps, but trigger-happy, irresponsible, deceitful nonetheless.
Fear of communism led to numerous surreptitious, illegal acts being committed by the government or government agents overseas during all the Cold War years. The overthrow of a democratically-elected leader in Iran and return to power of the Shah of Iran, attempts to overthrow elected leaders in numerous South and Central American nations that were leaning too leftist for US interests to accept, support for the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, even though our Congress had explicitly banned giving that support, the assassination of a democratically-elected president of Chile, all were clear examples of the US shooting from the hip, irresponsibly, illegally, with the highest levels of government granting tacit approval or support. These, and other actions, have all led to increased anti-US, anti-western feeling in Latin American nations and throughout the Middle East. Once the Soviet Union collapsed, these sentiments were to become especially prevalent, most notably in the Middle East and in Venezuela and other South and Central American nations. Arrogance and overreach had clearly damaged our standing, especially in many of the less developed nations of the world.
That brings us to the 21st Century, 9/ll, the neo-conservatives controlling the Bush administration foreign policy straining and misleading to find reasons to launch war against Iraq, and with it believing that they could remold the entire Middle East, that we would be greeted as heroes and democracy could readily spread, rather than limiting our fight to defeating the terrorists affliated with bin Laden and al Qaeda. The neocon mission came across as an extreme extension of the Manifest Destiny concept, unrealistically transplanted into a foreign region and culture. Terrorists threats are all too real, and must be resisted and defeated, but overkill will work against our interests in the long run, even turn entire cultures against us. As in the Wild West, there are many situations in which laws are uncertain and, if they exist, can readily and easily be broken. Drone use is a prime example. As the most powerful nation in the world, we should be on guard against over-confidence, arrogance, overreach. There is no question we have the most powerful military, the most powerful weapons, military bases spread throughout the world. But we can't handle the world as we did the Wild West. The challenge will be to use our strength and influence responsibly, honoring the free choice of independent peoples while at the same time assisting in their legitimate needs and preserving our own interests as best we can. Only a truly great nation could rise to the task. The test is ours.
