Agonizing Reappraisal

When I was a teenager (a few years ago) I knew everything. I couldn’t be wrong. If I was wrong about the worst song or the best shortstop, Dodgers vs Yankees, I might be wrong about everything. It took another decade to question the absolutes.

It’s alright to be wrong; not altogether but somewhat. In fact, rightness and wrongness may be incremental. My dogma hasn’t entirely died; only mostly dead. It is a long deathbed scene.

By 1956 with the Hungarian uprising, it was clear that defense of the Soviet Union was wrongheaded. Suppression of dissent by a maniacal head of state was indefensible. The government gave socialism a bad name.

In no way did this shift justify our domestic right-wing anti-labor agenda or their racist, misogynist and hawkish platform. Contrary to my youthful paradigm it was possible for both sides to be misguided. Fortunately, there was a third force pushing for mutual disarmament and peaceful coexistence.

Today I am again interrogating myself. It is hard to fault the Democratic Party’s foreign policy with its lofty ideals in defense of a free sovereign state but I find myself wavering. Count me among those who cannot support the continuing military build-up in Ukraine.

Important to note we are not a model for liberal democracy; not since Trump has uncaged the beast which has long festered as a pernicious force in our blemished history. We have never come to terms with the genocide and slavery upon which we are founded. The beacon we once were has proven to be a flickering match.

More importantly, we are far too confrontational abroad. We seem to act out of a messianic zeal with little tolerance for differences. Without condoning illiberal regimes, we must figure out a way to coexist with them. They do not necessarily threaten us in their wanton ways. This is not the eve of WWII but it could be the eve of a nuclear war. Our ultimatum to China and even the unyielding demands regarding a ceasefire in Ukraine are not conducive to a negotiated settlement in this unwinnable war.

Furthermore, the global consequences are catastophic for developing countries with energy supplies disrupted causing hardship along with the threat of famine. What happens on the Black Sea has ripples in the sands of the Sahara. 

The question is not who is right. Of course, Putin is a deranged criminal with no regard for human life. I say that is irrelevant. With eight million refugees and mindless destruction, the toll is far too great and too dangerous moving ahead. Someday borders will be justly regarded as folly. But for now, our thrust must be for a cessation of this unconscionable war. 

As an aside, it should be noted that Lockheed, Raytheon and Boeing et al are salivating with the bonanza of Pentagon weaponry contracts and no end in sight. 

A reappraisal may be agonizing but the American empire is in decline. We cannot police the planet nand we must be more mindful of perceived provocations.

Authoritarian regimes, antithetical to our way of life, have sprung up on every continent. Our task is to resist proto-fascism at home and find détente with foreign states through diplomtic initiatives. Let the repressive states fall by their own weight. As for the best shortstop, forget about it.