The World’s Cop
At one time, in an earlier age called the “Space Age,” it was common to hear American Republicans complain that America was being used as the World’s Policeman. As usual, the Republicans were being disingenuous; we weren’t being used by other nations; rather, the rest of the world came to us. They came to us because they looked to America for leadership; but the question that needs to be answered is this: Do the nations of the world really need a policeman?
In a world that sprouts dictators from any tiny crack in a long sidewalk, the current crop of brutal dictators around the world is a Rogues Gallery of Bond villains. Do they bring enough mass murder, genocide, anguish and terror to the field to warrant a policeman?
Well yes, but just not us. But the next question is, “If not us, then who?”
Our relatively egalitarian, relatively idealistic society was once well thought of by many other nations — their citizens liked our liberal democracy concept and looked to us to provide a direction, a moral compass, and leadership. That’s how we became the “World’s Policeman,” and it worked fairly well …if not us, then who? A politically stable two-party America took the job seriously until Eisenhower’s “Military Industrial Complex” caught up with America’s tolerance for greedy, corrupt people. We started policing the wrong people, in the wrong places, and for self-serving reasons. We went from the “World’s Policeman” to the “World’s Hypocrite.” Now we just need to work our way back
