Thursday, October 21, 2004

I'm sorry, I know that I come off as Harry Browne's biggest fan, but the guy really does cut through the bullshit. And his assessment of America's track record is stunning:

World War I

Objective: Bring democracy to all the countries of the world, self-determination for everyone, and a new world order that would end wars forever.

Result: American entry into the war prevented the two sides from negotiating a just end to the war. Instead, the Allies saw American entry as decisive, and so they rejected all peace overtures, fought the war to a bitter end, won the war, and imposed devastating, humiliating peace terms on Germany.

The result was an expansion of the British and French empires, subjecting millions more people worldwide to foreign rule. In addition, millions of Europeans were herded into foreign countries.

The U.S. entry into the European war prompted the Germans to finance and facilitate Lenin's takeover of Russia - creating the Soviet Union. And the oppressive peace terms imposed on the German people caused them to accept a thug named Adolf Hitler as their avenging angel. Thus U.S. entry into the war was responsible for what many call the two worst regimes in world history - and the cause of 52 years of wars from 1939 to 1991.

World War II

Objective: Liberate Europe and China, and impose peace upon the world.

Result: Half of Europe was controlled by the Soviet Union, and China was quickly taken over by the Communists.

On the one hand, yes, it is a simplistic assessment. It does not take into account the complexity of the situation. On the other hand, however, that is exactly Browne's point - trying to save the world is complex work. All he's doing is observing that our presumed objectives are not being accomplished. Once we stop making excuses and look at the results, our foreign policy objectives seem woefully unfulfilled. It's amazing that every politician up to and including Bush thinks it's their job to steer our attention away from that record and have faith in the productive power of American military force.

I wanna see Browne smack the shit out of Ann Coulter just once before I die, come to think of it.