Choosing Decline

There is a legitimate debate to be had about a willful decline of American power.

But I also think we ought to be clear about it...

But the liberal internationalism of today is different. It is not center-left, but left-liberal. And the new left-liberal internationalism goes far beyond its earlier Clintonian incarnation in its distrust of and distaste for American dominance. For what might be called the New Liberalism, the renunciation of power is rooted not in the fear that we are essentially good but subject to the corruptions of power--the old Clintonian view--but rooted in the conviction that America is so intrinsically flawed, so inherently and congenitally sinful that it cannot be trusted with, and does not merit, the possession of overarching world power.

For the New Liberalism, it is not just that power corrupts. It is that America itself is corrupt--in the sense of being deeply flawed, and with the history to prove it. An imperfect union, the theme of Obama's famous Philadelphia race speech, has been carried to and amplified in his every major foreign-policy address, particularly those delivered on foreign soil. (Not surprisingly, since it earns greater applause over there.)

I'm not sure I'm ready to swallow this pill. I don't trust the world or the UN or international institutions - their record is a whole lot worse than ours. But then again, I'm sick of taking a beating from the rest of the world, paying to be the world policeman, paying to develop new health technologies only to be copied and used elsewhere, the same for movies and software, and just generally allowing much of the world to piggyback our stability in commerce and money, etc.