Reply #54: That's only because other countries don't have the resources we have [View All]

[rockymountaindem]

Arguments like this are the flip side of the "American exceptionalism" argument. On the one hand, nearly everybody here would reject the idea that the US has certain qualities that make us exceptionally better than other countries or a lone force for good that stands above the fray of other states.

On the other hand, a lot of people around this website seem to ascribe to the idea that the US is exceptionally greedy, sinister or power-hungry. That isn't the case. I contend that our involvement all over the globe (whether your think it's for good, ill, or somewhere in the middle), is merely a function of our preponderant level of power; our hegemonic status. I think that any other country with the same level of wealth and hard power would pursue similar activities. Plenty of countries do, just on a smaller scale commensurate with their abilities.