In another fine post of historical conjunctions, D over at Lawyers, Guns & Money points us to this quote from Senator William Fulbright:
"Power tends to confuse itself with virtue and a great nation is particularly susceptible to the idea that its power is a sign of God's favor, conferring upon it a special responsibility for other nations — to make them richer and happier and wiser, to remake them, that is, in its own shining image. Power confuses itself with virtue and tends also to take itself for omnipotence. Once imbued with the idea of a mission, a great nation easily assumes that it has the means as well as the duty to do God's work."
If only we had senators like this today (or presidents who listened to and were aware of the importance of such notions as those above).
Is this some sort of justification for your government-funded boondoggle?
ReplyDeleteI would argue that might does not make right, but it does bring the interests of the most ambitious into priority, like it or not. We must understand that in historical context, that the US today is still one of the most democratic and meritocratic countries in the world. I can think of less ideal regimes to disproportionately influence the world.
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe it has nothing to do with a country but an idea of freedom that was capitalized on among the Greeks thousands of years ago.
Fulbright had a lot of good things to say but he was a staunch supporter of segregation and quite a racist. While his support for multilateralism is admirable, his record is marred by his constant defense of southern segregation.
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