For the record.
Summation: The strategy of the US is founded not on geographical defense but rather on protecting and extending "Enlightenment values," that is, liberalism.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have no room for complacency, and history makes clear that America has no preordained right to victory on the battlefield. Simply, we must be the best if the values that grew out of the Enlightenment are to survive....Under Christendom it was "saving souls."
United States Department of Defense
Remarks by James Mattis on the National Defense Strategy
James Mattis | US Secretary of Defense
Delivered on January 19, 2018
“Under Christendom it was "saving souls."
ReplyDeleteWe were scrounging for gold and silver the brutalization of the natives (if necessary) was allowed under what was called “The doctrine of discovery”
http://www.doctrineofdiscovery.org
It’s still pretty much in place it’s never been rescinded by the Vatican...
That is NOT what is going on now...
And the cultural rationale was saving souls. There were always missionaries along.
ReplyDeleteThe doctrine of discovery was the political rationale.
What's going on now is the doctrine of might makes right politically.
The cultural justification is Western exceptionalism.
The missionary activity is spreading Western Enlightenment values.
It's just another iteration of the "white man's burden."
"the doctrine of discovery was the political rationale."
ReplyDeleteMore like religious...
so you had the economic needs (gold/silver) paired with the religious...
today we have economic needs (oil) paired with the political... where politics is like religion used to be... political philosophy is secular religion... you have the different political sects...
I'll go along with that.
ReplyDeleteMy point is that when scientific naturalism replaced theological supernaturalism as the cultural foundation, the rationale for Imperialism simply adapted to the new system much as when capitalism replaced feudalism, the basis of rent extraction shifted from land primarily to a combination of land and capital, with land subsequently folded into capital conceptually.
The US failed to impose enlightenment rules for liberal democracy and globalization on the world as authoritarian centrally planned socialist market governments outperformed and made the US appear obsolete, even undesirable and chaotic. Their institutions rapidly surpassed and dominated the US based system while promoting steady even levels of prosperity and peace. While many remnants of the US period remain around the globe they are no longer infused with the sense of power and inevitability in the same way as Chinese systems and institutions. Without the authority a hegemon, the US can not impose the globalist ideology effectively and little chance exists it will continue to expand and spread unless something major shifts, such as a post-industrial collapse that significantly alters perceptions of Chinese accomplishments while reducing their real reach into economies and politics around the globe. From Zimbabwe to France, political candidates are looking to Russia and China for leadership, not to the United States. Even the US adopted Xi's motto: Make China Great Again! Zimbabwe asked China for permission to overthrow Mugabe. French candidates traveled to China and Russia during their election to get an imprimatur of power. The US won the a few good battles but ultimately lost the cold war to the Reds.
ReplyDelete