On August 6, and again on August 9 1945, US Navy bombers unleashed our newest weapon on the strategic targets of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In seconds, we killed 100,000 people and sentenced 100,000 more to die slow, agonizing deaths from radiation poisoning over the next 4 months. There are excellent arguments to be made both for and against this action, but that debate is not the purpose of this diary. A good primer can be found here: Wikipedia
What I want to delve into is the idea that having wrought these forces upon the world, the United States has a special responsibility to prevent Nuclear War from ever happening again.
(This is my first diary so it is a bit unfocused and I wasn't really sure how to wrap it up. My goal was to start a discussion as well as to solicit input from more established members as to how I can make my next diary better.)
American Exceptionalism is a key point for almost all GOP politicians as well as many Democratic politicians. Ronald Reagan famously quoted John Winthrop when he referred to us as "The Shining City on the Hill." Our Democracy and diplomacy are supposed to be examples for all the world to follow. So why is it that Gov. Romney's team has a problem with the idea that America has a responsibility to ensure that we never again have to see the horrors of nuclear war?
Last night, while watching the foreign policy debate, this link popped up so I followed the click (I like to click GOP ads and drive up their click-thru price. Call me petty) We Can't Afford Four More Years of Apologizing for America. In addition to the standard "Apology" arguments that have been debunked time and time again Factcheck.org: "Obama never apologized" I found this stunning quote:
In Prague, President Obama Said That The U.S. Had “A Moral Responsibility” To Prevent Nuclear Proliferation Because We Were The Only Nation That Had Used Nuclear Weapons. OBAMA: “Just as we stood for freedom in the 20th century, we must stand together for the right of people everywhere to live free from fear in the 21st century. And as nuclear power –- as a nuclear power, as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks, Prague, Czech Republic, 4/5/09)
This is the second quote listed on the page, and the quotes are in no specific order according to date. The next logical interpretation is that the quotes are listed in order of importance. I mean, if you're writing to an audience you know might get bored and stop reading at any time, you put the good stuff up front, right? To me, this is the weakest part of my assertion, but this is why this diary is written as a question and not as a statement. As I noted elsewhere on this site, this whole page could be just another example of Romney's campaign slapping words on a page without considering their meaning, but I think it's important to take a deeper look. With more information surfacing about the Cuban Missile Crisis, it's becoming clear that we had a close call with a Global Thermonuclear War (After the U21 was shot down over Cuban airspace, US set it's Strategic Missile Defense to DefCon 2 which is one step away from missiles extended and ready to fire).
Skybird, Skybird. This is Looking Glass with a Red Dot Two message
What I'm not finding on the internet is other reliable conservative voices saying anything other than exactly what is quoted. There is some BS on the Tom Tancredo website and a couple of other small blogs but none of the heavy hitters are weighing in in public places.
Is this a serious theme among conservatives? Is there a group who really thinks that extended proliferation and the increasing odds of Nuclear devices falling into the hands of non-conventional actors (terrorists) is an effective deterrent? To whom? Russia? Pakistan?
We have seen the destruction that the atom has wrought. We know more than ever about Radiation Sickness and how it ruins the entire ecosystem of a blast region. After the Fukishima disaster, we are approaching a consensus against expanding nuclear power capability without increasing safeguards. Why is it that we have the self-appointed responsibility to bring the world Capitalism and Democracy but not to keep the world safe from nuclear winter?
Politics often makes me discouraged, but I've been especially down since I saw this webpage last night. Is this seriously a policy issue for the second most likely man to become the leader of the free world?
Bonus link: Novelist Kenzaburo Oe questions whether Japan is obliged to exist under the American Nuclear Umbrella