Where we're headed

"It may be said with rough accuracy that there are three stages in the life of a strong people. First, it is a small power, and fights small powers. Then it is a great power, and fights great powers. Then it is a great power, and fights small powers, but pretends that they are great powers, in order to rekindle the ashes of its ancient emotion and vanity. After that, the next step is to become a small power itself."

-G.K. Chesterton, Heretics

"The next American president will inherit many foreign policy challenges, but surely one of the biggest will be the cold war. Yes, the next president is going to be a cold-war president -- but this cold war is with Iran."

-Thomas "Suck-On-That" Friedman (via Glenn Greenwald)

I personally would have no problem with the United States becoming a "small power." One thing I have never understood about the particular species of patriotism most common in America is that it's so dominance-based. It's "my daddy can beat up your daddy." My country can beat up your country. And for a certain kind of patriot, the U.S. has to go around proving that, every once in a while, so they can go on feeling good about themselves.

But, of course, they don't want to mix it up with a country that would actually put up a tough fight. they want to pick on little countries (Iran, Iraq) that won't put up much of a fight, all the while loudly proclaiming they've vanquished the Next Hitler. (Also they don't want to do it themselves; they want to send other people to do it.)

Of course, when we fought the actual Hitler, we did so not because we needed to do it to feel big and tough, but because there was an actual need to stop Hitler. I guess, having done so, we felt really really good about ourselves. It was like we suddenly noticed we were the toughest kid on the block. Maybe we got addicted to that rush. And decades of nuclear standoff with an equally imposing Soviet Union didn't help either.

Of course, toward the end, the Soviet Union was a creaky has-been of an empire that eventually just fell apart under its own weight. And rather than change our thinking, we've been running around like a junkie of a country, ever since, desperately looking for a fix, for a big scary enemy we can vanquish. And it really is pathetic how much we seem to need to elevate the likes of Saddam Hussein or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to that level.

American patriotism is so macho, aggressive, and ultimately insecure. We could learn a lesson from Canada. In my experience, Canadians are very patriotic, too--if you don't believe me, attend a concert of the band The Tragically Hip, and watch the Canadian flags wave--but it's not about "my country can kick your country's ass! Boo yah!" It's about "Canada is a very nice place to live! We like being here!"

I'd have to say that right now the idea of just admitting we're a "small power" and adjusting to the idea and concentrating on making this country a nice place to live, too, sounds pretty appealing. I really really don't care whose ass my country can or can't kick.