1327 LOCATING THE ENEMY: Myth vs. Reality in U.S. Foreign Policy ‘Moris BERMAN Tue GRACE A. TANNER LEC” py Human VALUES 2007 XXVII Delivered at Southern Utah University March 6, 2007‘therefore, may be dra trom ative ars, nd vious ares of statesmanship and leadership. ure isu recognition of exceptional seholarship or teheverent in one or more of re, Moris Berman United States’ plac in he ly of nations an athe word of Abraham Lincoln 9“ sal! curselves.” Berman begins by proposing tha the U seltimage by meanssy. We did’ ay what Soeges thet rach of our bistory since then has been an ater to il hu void. tht alteratve voles ae seldom hearin ou ‘as moved us to involve ourselves in questionable inthe past, such asthe Vietaan War. Berman quotes ‘Retue Slesinger who when alin aboot his ua and which arises tom his elonschawung under-gided Felson predisposes our culture to see things in black and white, ‘when, in ft, the word sa complex ple fled with nuance Having sated tis thesis, Berman next analyzes how i basMORRIS BERMAN “Morris Berman is wellknown 2 a inovative cular isto- sin and autor specializing in Wester civilization. is ecieve tenis encompass numerous published works aswell as diverse teaching appoinmens He eamed BA io mathe and a PAD. inthe history of University. Dr, Bera has 1 ‘Landsdowne Profesor in the History of Science a the University ‘of Veta, Bish Cohumbis. ‘Dr Bermaa won the Govemors Witers Award for ‘washington State in 1990, was the fas recipient of the anal Rollo May Center Grant for Humarise Soi rector of the Seste Writes’ Guild rom 193 "Hes the autor of sx books, including 82, and was ~ icoporant statemeisto me and represented problems Tbeleve we need toy to solve. Perso 1g Profesor in Sociology atthe Catholic University of Areva in Washington, DC.‘THE GRACE ADAMS TANNER LECTURE IN HUMAN VALUES would in which the oppomaity fer advance. Amecicans iniallyexeeped, ofcourse, bur Whe finally did srg sa bauer) The Olé Word eprese one rejected, and thus the Repub begining, onthe premise o he the German philosopher He a[S. was producing 50% ofthe ens w cods—a very impressive accomplishment. The downsie, hox- ey as Hagel noted, is that his way of generating ai ver tell you who you actully ae, in the afirmatve saves in shor, an empines tthe cater, seh hat yu ‘be or womething in order to fel rs “Tals dynamics of denity by opposition eaves ur with a cus: ‘tof questions we might ask of Americas history: H ‘een hate chose to oppose? And nally, what is the end product allthis opposition? nly seemed 1 be at oppesing en of he political spectra, and ve media definitely endorsed this perception, poreaying the nesgeticlly duking it et for alt ses, when push eae to Conventions. The choice was never pu before the American peo ple a o whether America ought to follow an imperiel agends or was a charade pre-cooked" as Patric Buchanan. subsgoods—a very impressive aseomplishment, The downside, how media questioner ineuded—ase the words "oe refered tothe US -bycked Israeli oc ‘Americans filled thes nner void over the lst 230 years (or ‘more)? How geouinely threatening have the nations or ideologies ‘een that we chose to oppose? And finally, wha isthe end preduet of al this opposition? tainly seemed tobe at opposing ends ofthe pola specu, sad the media defintely endorsed this perception, pormying te ving roo fundamentally ciferest vasa charade—"pe-cooked" as Patrick Buthanan subsequentsur it_was The Nation, whose cigculation amounts 1 about e absence of skeptical prewar reporting lois Seymour Marts Lipset wrest both the United Sates and Wester Burope iizens ae fre tie the government or its polices, it sony inthe United ‘States that hey get brzded as “un-American” for doing #0, have thee loyalty thrown open to question. A European ere he notes, ‘would never be labeled by his or her opponents as “un-Swedis” alin,” fr example; but in the US. tis smearing of dis- seme is quite common, and it goes back along wa. “These who {62 spring of 2004, walking wp Connecticut Avenue in ‘Washington, DC. witha fiend of mine, Sar, an extreme!y bright oman in he ealy tines who worked as an editor for a noareation of the American pu ‘Abu Ghai, 1 doubted wheter the American‘ould apis with tha ssessment, whereupon my “interviewer” the phone As she historian Loren Bart tats in his 8d ant study of Vietnam (Backfire), “Myths do nt yield to ‘touly, The presence of what be termed 2 “ivi religion” in smeriea was frst pointed ou by the sociologist Rabert Bella ‘unding Fathers atked alo in these terms, though they were cot fering to any paren relia, ‘ions havea sese of themselves derive from a eemmon histo sat snd practises. A jority even tll pollsters that Got is the moral guiding force of Americanhe word” All his gos back tothe frst governor ofthe ‘assachusets Bay Colony, John Winthrop, While sling om the Irabels fom England to American 1630, Withop fasoualy ‘culated te religious objective ofthe Puritans tour ‘ew land: "We shall find tat the God of | hall mnke us praise and glory. ..For we * writes Loren Basa, "American know in vat we have been Chosen to oud the wold in public ‘nd t instruct itn polial virue:" Tait means that tose who disagree or oppose ws ace by efiniion enemies of lnnye—and of God. That we ae the lg, and wa i ou day to 3 10 oer, to these supposedly living in dakness, eas the Soviet Union was the Evil Empire. This zl self-definition inevitably compele us ta intervene inthe suenial Americans of the lat forty yo ‘gins ofthe American Sef, Bercoviteh docuertIneffer, Kagan argues that aggression is encoded inthe national DNA, Hashingon Pas reviewer David Kennedy sucietly sum- ‘But Americar cant seem to gasp tis, The ery eat es, when ‘ober Keasedy auiouned is end foe presides he ecaes hat wht was pane Pee ‘Vietnam, Theres smply no topping hit Bari’ view) compels Arercans to ha ‘uri, hat ehe people ly wan tobe oF what eyo ae ade A ‘American assumption is that the wid is populates by potential ‘Americans. Non-Amercans often ten to regard ths whole belief system as bizare—as something skin tote demons posession his inaugura “i ‘Amerians have ha of nepaive‘eligious basis is that inrospetion and se coretion which is ‘to say, emotional maturity and growth-—become almost impos Kissinger had good reson 1 remas sn American to grasp a different point of view. Forte “American exceptionalism that we “American budget, Amecieans tic ise, 25%. The point is that we prefer nth oreaiy, an Americanism is out myth, our religion. “It hasbeen our fite asa rnin,” wrote she eminent hstrian Richard Hofstadter, "not © ave ies be one: “The filtering ofall of his mythology ino our foreign policy ~ fas had disastous consequences. If you se youselas good end‘mse ater recognize (or he was nothing if mat s very sophie ‘ed thinker) that hit characterization ofthe Soviet Union was sneraly applicable to the United Sates! In ft, he expiily ste, yeas ltr, that we were wsing our opposition to the Soviet lon fl avoid within ourselves. In his mamois, Kennan med chat what he had in ming way back a 1946 was political ‘het than miltary containment, sn tat in etrspect, he felt he 'levncheds movement he later care to rere, He changed bie ind regaving te so-called pevierer defease, arguing, by 1949, American avant, and at we couldnt oppose communism wherever it appeared or be terwening in other countries’ eter ais, The process of ry reary behind the sane contuinent Was defined in mil ‘ans an "negotinon” ould only tmean Soviet emit DDowglas MacArthur ltr putt the goal of the govermen ‘ep the American people in a perpetual ste‘Thos wen Truman made the decison to put the Seventh Fst ‘een Formosa and China on 27 Jane 1950, he explained the tion in ters ofan absact and undifereanted “Communism.” sc thore was vor lite unity between Rasa and Ching and sep e Rivera The Pool Dimension o Foreign to have had mare fith ional communism thn the Chinese or fever had” Because Truman and his advisers China took its marching orders fom the na wor, the City on s Hill was supposedly under sieges td more toops" was the obvious answer The result as the ‘he United States got involved in the foie ovenhrow of one emocratially elected regi ser another: aa in 1953, Guatemala in 1984, and Chil in 15 book Overt, New York Tine repo rent the bloody record ofthe Unite Stats regimes during the twensots century, poiming out ‘es in which America has icervened were ‘Bei sight ose deterination, Uorunathe Cold War, we faced “riskaverse advesary"—an adision that could never have bees made during the Cold War itselt, KGB suchives opened for public sratiny in 1991 reveal hat he Individuals, ineluding generals in the Pentagon, knew alls, bu ‘hey could’t make a difference becbuse once again, myth does ‘ot yield easily to facts, The Amerson psyche badly needs founding myth, and is concomitant oppositional struc, ‘idea sense of meaning inthe world, was for this eason thatthe fal ofthe USSR. lets iy disoriented, When Mikhail Gosbachev declare tat the Cold War was over, we a no place stad, We had been playing the game of City on a il vs, Evil Empteforso long that ts collapse of eur negative identity revealed the lack of clase side‘Bill Clintons eoaton tothe sudden loss of negative ietty the historia ltrative to What might be called the Crusader te; let's all make money. Now there’ vision for you! In tea sary abandoning te imperatives ofthe Crusader State and ‘hing aoquisivense ae our national purpose, Clinton was unly reviving avery old Ametican theme. Iwill nt here Filly 4, most Americans were apparety just failing around. Many dol he void in or collective identity by shopping or by ‘esting in the overheated stock matket—: bubble hat burs with dhe dotcom cllBlood for Oi,” gotit sight either Aferall, we wore getting ere 10% of our ol impor from Iraq prior 19 2003, much es than we ‘ere going fom, say, Venemela, But al ofthat ie not my point 2ec8. My point is tht given tbe whole configura snytology and nopative entity, and the meanings hich America Doated berseen 991 sue 2001, 911, horsble sit ‘as, was from snoter angle trl manna from heaven, ‘he nation Meaning again witha capital M, Overnight, Bush, ‘vas using words ike "evildoers" nad "crusade"; his sheers was the Nason Security Swategy of slready rfoned, declare hat we That was pechops inspiring and ‘euchinalyssve a Putan New Englard now has he fs “hited Sates doesnot haves unique mera ole 0 ply yori." The corollary ofthis, of cours, is that no pol sun endorse asyting that smacks of daft PAT concludes by ‘syn that none of our current foeign policy debates rise «che ngs to the nodon ofthe United State as having special naion-Improved mono, with anew set of cliches such a “elabaist lla” and “slamofesism,” buzzwords hat obscure any posible suunee or complexity. In other words, we have oace agin mani