Unified National Will as an Instrument of National Power

[marct]

Hi Steve,

Do the American people lack national will? I really don't think so. What we lack is the required cultural arrogance to project that will onto others. Before I get lynched by others for that statement, let me explain what I mean by cultural arrogance. Americans may believe that we have the best system on the planet, but there is also a strong undercurrent within the body public that others should just recognize this and adapt our system to their own needs. What we lack is the Imperial conviction that our system is naturally better than others and should be imposed on them.

I would certainly agree with that. I think that there was a fairly strong "Imperial conviction" from, say, 1800 to, maybe 1850 or so. I'm thinking mainly of Jefferson's program of expansion, and the run ins with both first nations and Mexico. Then again, that could easily have been a situation deriving from settlement / immigration pressures. The same thing seems to show up again in the wars against the disintegrating Spanish Empire.

At the end of the day, I think it comes down to political reluctance to mobilize any sort of national will and the ingrained American preference to "conquer through kindness, Coke, and MTV" as opposed to military force. It is this level of political cowardice and complacence that has led to the ideological side of the conflict being buried.

I've often wondered if Imperial adventures aren't the product of a social order with a fairly strongly established aristocracy that is loosing power in the central state. That certainly seems to be the case with most of Britains adventures. I wonder if the Northern victory in your civil war didn't transform American imperial drive into an economic / TNC format.

Marc