Gods I'm Slow
Sheesh, I'm just full of political type postings today.
Okay, so sometimes it takes me a little bit to actually get things through my skull.
I think I just figured out why America's actions are bugging me.
I did know part of it: I hate fake, and I would rather America admitted that it wanted oil, etc because it wanted them. I would rather they just admitted it openly. It'll never happen, but still.
But what I just thought of was: America is acting just like Europe during the colonial era. Its not that we want colonies, its that we have our own modern version of "The White Man's Burden."
We assume that our culture/government is the best and that other countries and groups would understand that if they weren't "savages." And so America is okay with "educating" other parts of the world. I hated hearing about "The White Man's Burden" in history class because it sounded so arrogant and because it destroyed perfectly good viable cultures that just needed room to grow on their own.
Why is democracy better? Americans certainly aren't "free." Don't believe me, look around at all the things you legally cannot do. Drive on the left side of the road, engage in prostitution, smoke a joint, form monopolies, work with other people in your industry to set prices (price fixing), drive over the "speed limit", not pay taxes, etc, etc.
And I know people will say that its much worse in other countries, and yes, in some it is. But in some its better. Nothing to date has ever been perfect. But if we never try anything else, then we can never get better than what we have now. If we don't try anything other than a "free-market" democratic republic, then we'll never get "better" than what we have now.
Can't imagine anything better? Then I would say that is more of a failing on your part than a particularly good rational FOR our government.
So yeah, all you people who laughed at the whole "White Man's Burden" thing from history: you're doing it right now.
Okay, so sometimes it takes me a little bit to actually get things through my skull.
I think I just figured out why America's actions are bugging me.
I did know part of it: I hate fake, and I would rather America admitted that it wanted oil, etc because it wanted them. I would rather they just admitted it openly. It'll never happen, but still.
But what I just thought of was: America is acting just like Europe during the colonial era. Its not that we want colonies, its that we have our own modern version of "The White Man's Burden."
We assume that our culture/government is the best and that other countries and groups would understand that if they weren't "savages." And so America is okay with "educating" other parts of the world. I hated hearing about "The White Man's Burden" in history class because it sounded so arrogant and because it destroyed perfectly good viable cultures that just needed room to grow on their own.
Why is democracy better? Americans certainly aren't "free." Don't believe me, look around at all the things you legally cannot do. Drive on the left side of the road, engage in prostitution, smoke a joint, form monopolies, work with other people in your industry to set prices (price fixing), drive over the "speed limit", not pay taxes, etc, etc.
And I know people will say that its much worse in other countries, and yes, in some it is. But in some its better. Nothing to date has ever been perfect. But if we never try anything else, then we can never get better than what we have now. If we don't try anything other than a "free-market" democratic republic, then we'll never get "better" than what we have now.
Can't imagine anything better? Then I would say that is more of a failing on your part than a particularly good rational FOR our government.
So yeah, all you people who laughed at the whole "White Man's Burden" thing from history: you're doing it right now.