The American Empire Strikes Back

What is the reason?

It is obvious to me that President Barack Obama learned American history very well.  I suspect he was particularly impressed with the idea of “Manifest Destiny”.  Recall that the words were used in the July/August 1845 issue of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review in an article titled “Annexation.”  The contention was that God intended the United States to occupy all of America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.  It was a justification for the Mexican War and the insistence that the northern boundary of the United States be at 54-40.  I remember learning that there were those who said “54-40 or fight”.  In 1844, James K. Polk was elected president using that slogan.

Unfortunately Michael Medved, conservative radio talk show host, in one of his special holiday programs was espousing this same belief that God meant for America to be the world power that it has become.  I wrote about America’s Manifest Destiny and Rick Santorum’s belief that the United States is the hand of God.

I have always said that America only goes to war for one of two reasons.  They are economics and politics.  There is no economic justification for participating in a war in Libya so it must be politics.  The belief in an American mission to promote and defend democracy throughout the world, as expounded by Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson, continues to have an influence on American political ideology.

No report I have seen at this time explains the justification for interfering in Libya.  Politically, if the Libyan attack ends quickly and the world is better off then Obama will have one more feather in his cap for an easy re-election.  If this adventure fails the Republicans will have one more arrow to shoot. Worse yet, America’s reputation in the world will be seriously tarnished.