Philadelphia — From the earliest days of American independence, our culture has included a tension between a laudable instinct to let this country be the bulwark of independence movements around the globe, and a sensible caution against getting into other people’s arguments.
In the 1790s, American politics was sharply divided between the proponents of Thomas Jefferson, who thought the U.S. should support the French Revolution, and the Federalists, who were more interested in good relations and commerce with Great Britain.
In the decades that followed, as the United States grew in size and power, that debate continued. The notion of American identification with an international democratic movement was not without its contradictions.
It was difficult, if not impossible, for the United States to pose as the avatar of democracy while human slavery existed within our borders. As the 19th century gave way to the 20th, our bona fides as freedom’s golden child were similarly besmirched by the nation’s imperialist phase, as the Spanish-American War gave us colonies in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
But America’s vision of itself as the “land of the free and the home of the brave” remained unsullied. English historian C. E. Carrington may have noted in his classic history of the British empire, “The British Overseas,” that there was good reason to question the story of the American revolution as one of resistance against tyranny; and to believe that America’s notion of itself as having been created by a glorious battle against oppression in the name of liberty was more legend than truth.
But Carrington understood that the idea Americans have of themselves is “not a sentimental trifle; it is the deeply rooted, almost instinctive foundation of the American national character .”
Writing after the Second World War, in which many Americans had died to extinguish the twin evils of German fascism and Japanese imperialism (and saving Britain for the second time in 30 years), Carrington saw the roots of this heroic sacrifice in the way Americans read their own history.
“What matters is that the Americans believe themselves to have come into existence fighting for liberty,” he wrote. That was, the historian continued, “no unworthy faith, and in that faith they stand for liberty today.”
After he wrote those words, the United States would weather a period of sustained cynicism about itself and American values after the Vietnam War that might have rendered Carrington’s judgment outdated. But our eventual recovery of self-confidence would vindicate his sentiment anew, as President Ronald Reagan’s courageous call for an end to the “evil empire” of the Soviet Union was soon answered by its destruction.
An uneven record
Nearly 12 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, America remains the only world superpower. But neither the administration of George Bush senior nor that of Bill Clinton was able to come up with a post-Cold War foreign policy that could articulate American values and use American power to spread freedom around the globe.
The first Bush defeated Iraq in the Persian Gulf War, but that victory was tarnished by his willingness to allow Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to remain in power. Nor could we take much satisfaction in the restoration of the monarchy in Kuwait.
Bush and Clinton struggled to figure out what to do about the Balkans as Yugoslavia split up. Though we initially chose to watch as Serbs and Croats massacred each other and Bosnian Muslims, eventually Clinton chose to intervene against the Serbs — and actually prosecuted a small war against Serbia in the name of the oppressed Kosovo Albanians.
Unfortunately, that supposed blow for liberty merely enabled the Kosovars to oppress local Serbs and fomented a needless, nationalist war in Macedonia that most Americans have ignored.
Equally dismal were the records of Bush and Clinton on China, the world’s largest remaining tyranny. The bloody suppression of the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in Beijing and the subsequent determination of the Communist Party to keep power were not seriously opposed by either president.
Instead, we witnessed the rise of a business-led movement in this country that sought to extinguish the idea that American foreign policy should be directed by our human-rights beliefs. This bipartisan coalition currently controls Congress and the White House. Last year’s vote to “normalize” trade relations with Beijing seemingly sounded the death-knell for a moral China policy.
But as we celebrated the 225th anniversary of the declaration of American independence last week, it is impossible not to wonder whether a revival of idealism in U.S. foreign policy is possible.
Bush’s opportunities
The administration of George W. Bush has enjoyed six months in office, but under the popular yet incoherent leadership of Secretary of State Colin Powell, there is little to indicate a direction or even a motivating ideology at work in Washington.
Yet opportunities for Bush to stand up for American values are not wanting. On China, the worsening human-rights situation — as well as the detainment of American citizens on trumped-up espionage charges — ought to push Bush to do better than his predecessors.
Another chance for Bush to advance the cause of democracy is in the Middle East. Bush rightly worries about repeating the hubristic mistakes of Clinton, who sought glory and wound up making things worse.
Instead, Bush could use the bully pulpit of the American presidency to call for democracy in the Middle East, which, outside of China, is the last part of the world to resist the tide of democratic reform that swept the globe in the last two decades. Indeed, the rise of fundamentalist Islam, which opposes American values, poses the greatest threat to the expansion of democracy today.
Americans should look to their own values to guide our policies. Israel is the region’s only democracy, while the Palestinian Authority is a stereotypical authoritarian tyranny that pursues terrorism.
If Bush is serious about supporting American values — which are exemplified by Israel’s rescue of Jewish hostages at Entebbe 25 years ago, on the American bicentennial — he must make it clear to the Arab world that it will not gain America’s friendship until it embraces peace and comes into the family of democratic nations.
In pursuing these policies, Bush has the chance to advance the cause of democracy. Doing so would also add new luster to a great tradition that is worth celebrating every day of the year.
Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia.
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