In the DC propaganda regarding foreign affairs we often see the line our “national interest.” What are the interests of the country? To what are the media referring? I imagine that the interests of the average citizen are quite different from those of the ruling class that create policies for their own benefit.
Most ordinary citizens are trying to work to provide food and shelter for their family. They have no time or interest in foreign affairs or the affairs of people across the country or even down the block. The concept of our nation avoiding foreign entanglements elucidated by Washington was destroyed Willy McKinley when we were launched onto the world stage over a Spanish colonial conundrum in Cuba.
It happened 125 years ago far beyond the memories of our citizens and interest of our “historians.” The shouting at the time raised in the Hearst newspapers to “Remember the Maine” revealed a natural reaction of outrage from many citizens. Revenge was necessary. That was the line that endured in the history books. Another question was bandied about that has been forgotten. Why were we attempting to get involved in another countries’ colonial wars even before the explosion?
The era of the holier than thou religion of the intellectual ruling class had been regurgitated in the Northeast for a decade. This was the first opportunity to implement that vision but when the do-gooders wanted to “civilize” the primitives in the Philippines quite a blowback occurred both in Manila and in the US. Several years later we were still stuck fighting and killing the natives so that we could teach them about freedom. That sounds a bit odd. Suddenly we had a plate full of foreign colonial commitments including the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. It was certainly trendy but was the first step towards a century of wasted blood and treasure.
The concept of expanding rule by the intellectual elite which involved ignoring the Constitution was a political program launched by Woody Wilson and other academics when he was president of the Princeton Seminary. The international money lenders realized this was a huge opportunity to become totally integrated with the largest economy in the world and supported it behind the scenes. This toehold gradually morphed into the US being the largest empire in history. Actually, the policy is quite simple as always, “I want your Money”! Everything else is camouflage to hide the taxpayers subsidizing the business interests of Wall Street.
What are the other “interests” of our nation? Are they dispensing cultural, historical, religious or self proclaimed moral and intellectual superiority? Not yet, but it has only been 125 years so I am optimistic. The western colonial organizations have never been a positive financial or moral advantage to the ordinary taxpaying citizen of any country. The system initially began with a simple trading program of a Portuguese model. A privately owned boat pulled up to a dock in Africa or India and local leaders traded their goods for Portuguese gold. Money was made by all and everyone was happy especially the home government and their tax collector. The Dutch and British followed along which began the expansion of their own economies continuing through industrialization in later centuries.
The idea of controlling the countryside around the trading port began a new model of needing troops to enforce the whim of the trading company. This was the beginning of economic interest based foreign policies. The colonial tax money was great but the evil country next door in Europe must be kept from the rival colonial money pot. Ships and troops were sent to keep things flowing. Unfortunately it cost more to support the colony than it produced, but five hundred years of overseas warfare had begun.
Our “interests” based policies of today and inherited from Europe have not evolved at all in that 500 years. This type of adaptation would require a level of intellectualism not available in DC or any other capital. The only real goal is to extend the bank accounts of the large companies involved in trade thereby allowing nice contributions to the governments concerned. Again “making the world safe for democracy” sounded nice to our propagandized populace for a while but has now begun to grow quite stale as we are able to see its’ end results in Ukraine and Russia.
The naive belief that our government is a force for good has been shaken and illuminated by two major imaginary scenarios. One is the current Euro-peon border war and the other is the China threat. These poorly designed policies are quite leaky and have begun to unravel in a way not anticipated causing questions to be raised about all DC programs and initiatives previously designated as interests. Citizens thinking for themselves is definitely not in the model. It will be difficult to put the toothpaste back in the tube.
The Madame