Senator Ron Johnson of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee fears that Putin wants to reconstruct the Soviet Union. This is his argument for protecting Europe. More broadly, this is the fear that some foreign empire will grow so large that it threatens America.
These fears are unfounded and I am inclined to say they are totally unfounded. There are no such empires and none with aggressive designs on America. Decades of propaganda, fears of Nazi Germany, and the lengthy Cold War have made it very hard for many Americans to erase such fears. Even during those times, the fears were unfounded. It was and still is in the interest of those in power and certain other interests to exaggerate these fears.
Furthermore, no foreign government wants to see its country destroyed by nuclear weapons.
America could be much, much stronger than it now is if it moved toward a free market economy and a defensive non-interventionist stance. This would also encourage the rest of the world to do the same.
If America unravels, it will be because of its own government’s mismanagement more than any foreign empire attacking. If America is subverted and becomes easy prey, it will be its own government’s mismanagement that causes it.
Americans have been paranoid about this foreign empire possibility ever since they managed to get rid of the British, the French, the Spanish and the Indians, leaving America for themselves. But they did get rid of them, didn’t they? Napoleon signed off on the Louisiana Purchase. Russia signed off on Alaska. The U.S. in its own expansionary quests was unable and/or chose not to conquer Canada and Mexico.
Europe has been invaded a number of times from outside Europe and survived without American help. When its own Napoleons and Hitlers arose, Europe survived. That invariable bogeyman, Nazi Germany, could not mount an attack to take Great Britain. Nazi Germany initially had no designs on Great Britain anyway, viewing that country as a potential ally against the Communists. The Russians left eastern Europe alone until World War II.
9:07 am on April 4, 2014
