U.S. Deludes Itself as Being Indispensable

So now we’re the “indispensable nation.” The phrase is drummed into our heads by the Clinton administration as if it were a moniker granted by the gods.

The world can’t do without us and our works, which are necessary and sufficient for global order. The corollary is that we can do without any other nation. We’re indispensable; everyone else is dispensable, meaning expendable.

The phrase first appeared in Clinton’s speech at the 1996 Democratic Convention. He said it again in the presidential debates and at campaign stops. In this year’s State of the Union address, Clinton said we’re indispensable because we spread soldiers, spooks and moolah around the world.

The phrase has become a staple of administration testimony before Congress. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky says we’ve got to expand NAFTA to Chile because we’re the “indispensable nation.” Madeleine Albright has picked up on it. Will the head of HUD, yet another indispensable, be next in line?

The phrase is supposed to justify the projection of power around the world. It must therefore nauseate the patriots of every other country. Imagine if France, China, Cuba or Japan said this about themselves. We’d ridicule them and call them arrogant or dangerous.

Has any other regime in history so openly declared its eternal supremacy? Two come to mind, the Roman Empire and the Third Reich. We remember their absurd claims because of the irony.

Like a swaggering B-movie villain, we tell other countries: We made you what you are, and we can swat you down any time you get out of line. You need us so badly that you can’t defy us, so don’t kick our troops out, regardless of the crimes they commit or the havoc they wreak.

Meanwhile, the escapades of the Clinton crew are the butt of comedy routines around the globe. It’s only in this sense that the world can’t live without us.

Civilization, even freedom, existed and thrived long before the D.C. swamps were drained. If the U.S. government vanished today, civilization would go on, hard as that might be for the Clinton administration to believe.

The United States as “immortal imperium” has long been a staple of political legend. School kids learn that the U.S. had to conquer the Indians, parts of Mexico and the American South. Next came the kingdom of Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam and the other jewels of Manifest Destiny.

Woodrow Wilson expanded the doctrine to Europe. FDR dreamed up four welfare rights and declared them essential freedoms. Harry Truman erected a permanent war economy, and his successors added to the edifice.

The global-savior delusion reached its apex in the Reagan years, when the military-industrial complex declared itself the protector of the free world. Taxpayers funded foreign bandits against regimes we didn’t like and bought the loyalties of bandit governments we did like. The specter of international communism was supposed to make it all plausible.

With those days gone, in the midst of apparent peace and prosperity, never has the government been so dispensable. It’s no coincidence that this new phrase pops up just as big government clamors for self-justification. The Cold War’s end has led to a crisis of faith.

What’s our role in the world? Where are our dangerous enemies? We want to pick a fight to revive the glory days of global drama, but we can’t find any takers. In the meantime, we proceed with the vital task of erecting more monuments to war on capital lawns already littered with them.

What is the actual distinguishing mark of the United States? Many countries have freer economies than ours; most of them are in Asia. In New Zealand, Switzerland and Chile, the tax burden is lower, and in Australia and even Ireland, it’s easier to start and grow a business. Moreover, their public sectors are not burdened by absurd levels of unfunded liabilities or “defense.”

No, our unique trait is as host to history’s biggest government. This is not something to be proud of. As liberty, decentralism and peace are rediscovered all over the world, it’s a particular disgrace. The Clinton administration and its functionaries aren’t indispensable. At best, it’s forgettable, the moniker most of the American public puts on all these Olympian beings.