This is a crosspost from www.neo-prog.com.
In 1630 John Winthrop gave a sermon entitled "A Model of Christian Charity." In this speech he said these (now fairly well known) lines:
For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.
Though his application of these lines was explicitly religious in nature, they can be applied to America as a nation instead. Indeed they have been by many people (including at least two Presidents - Kennedy and Reagan). The argument I will make has been made before. It will be made again. Nevertheless, I feel it is important to continually revisit this theory, especially as it serves as the backbone of my "Neo-Progressive" vision.
It is our duty to spread freedom. I'll repeat that for clarification: it is our duty to spread freedom. This claim is essential. It also worries many people, especially those (left or right) that feel that the United States should mind it's own business. This new isolationism has increased because of the foolish foreign policy of our current President. But please do not forget that while my goal may be the same as the stated goal of President Bush, our tactics are quite different.
The Bush Doctrine (Neo-Conservatism) is that the United States should use it's unprecedented position of power in the world to spread freedom. We should topple dictators and give freedom to the oppressed peoples of the world. Four years into the Iraq War we see clearly the disastrous consequences of such a ridiculous idea.
But there is another way to spread freedom. A better way. We lead by example. We become such a bright shining beacon of freedom and hope that others seek to emulate us. When people fight for their own freedom, we will help them. But we will not give freedom to anyone.
Ignoring the billions of oppressed people on this planet is as big a crime as killing them in order to free them and forcing upon them a society and government they are not ready for. We can help them, indeed we should help them. But first we must show them a better way, so that they are prepared to help themselves; they must know what it is that they are fighting for.
To become the "City upon a Hill" we have quite a bit of work to do. Sure, we are the most powerful country in the world, but are we the best? By many measurements the answer to that question is no. Our Health Care system is in terrible shape; millions of Americans do not even have access to it. Our schools need help; American children have fallen behind many of their foreign peers in Math and Science. The United States has more prisoners per capita than most other industrialized nations. The gap between the richest and the poorest Americans grows larger by the day; the middle class is disappearing. Our reputation in the world is in very poor shape. These are problems we can fix, but we must first be willing to fix them.
And someday, when these problems have been fixed, when America truly is (without question) the greatest nation on Earth, we will be that bright, shining beacon of hope. We will have the moral authority to lead the way into the future, sweeping away oppression and ushering in an age of freedom for all mankind.
So, what do you say? Shall we get started?