Maurice Saatchi urges America to rediscover its practical idealism

Lord Saatchi, former Chairman of Britain's Conservative Party and executive director of the M&C Saatchi advertising agency, has written for today's Financial Times about anti-Americanism and how it might be addressed.  The FT article is itself a summary of a paper that he has written for Sheila Lawlor's Politeia think tank.

Lord Saatchi, speaking in London's Carlton Club in front of a painting of Margaret Thatcher, lists some of the common criticisms of America:

• It is too much in love with money – worshipping the god of the marketplace, the golden calf.
• It has too much money, seven of the top 10 banks, eight of the top 10 companies etc.
• It is too stingy, giving away less of its wealth than other countries.
• It is vulgar, a rich barbarian.
• It has a lowly culture yet practises cultural imperialism.
• It is arrogant and condescending to “the little monkeys” from other cultures.
• It is too religious, saying “God bless America” once too often.
• It has too much power, spending more on arms than the rest of the world put together.
• It is a hypocrite, disguising its wars of self-interest as humanitarian interventions and exporting democracy at the point of a bayonet.
• It is inconsistent – agitating for “regime change” with some “un-democratic” countries, but with others giving arms, aid and trade.
• It has an incoherent foreign policy – it abandoned the “no first strike” principle which kept the peace for decades; “pre-emption” replaced “deterrence” but has no basis in international law.
• It is too close to Israel.
• It resists multilateral solutions, preferring unilateralism, hegemony, a sheriff strategy – In Guns We Trust.

Many examples of anti-Americanism are contradictory, of course.   Some hate America for its Hollywood-led decadence - others for the traditional morality of the religious right.  Some think America is too interventionist - others want it to be much more involved in policing the world.

Lord Saatchi notes that isolationism was theoretically possible in pre-globalisation America but that is not a credible option anymore.  Lord Saatchi's solution to anti-Americanism is a restoration of its practical idealism:

"True Americanism is practical idealism. Its aims, instead of being materialistic and mechanical, are idealistic to the point of being Utopian. In this way, the US can provide and express ideals that strike a chord in humans everywhere – a declaration of independence on behalf of all the peoples of the world.  To disarm its enemies and defeat its rivals, America only has to focus its intellectual energy and its vast econ omic resources on the policies that would help the world follow its lead, to rediscover the language to project its founding ideology beyond its own shores and to remind the world of its ultimate belief – in self-determination, individuality, independence – and in democracy only as a means to that great end."

THE FULL FT ARTICLE IS HERE.

Comments

[Denise]

Excellent idea, Da Coyote. I'm from Georgia. Another southerner.

It's something I would really like to do. I'm not going to make any promises about it yet because I'll need to talk it over with my husband and family. At the moment, I have the impression that they think I'm joking and aren't taking me seriously. But I would really like to get their support if I can. It might be difficult, too, since I have a very small child who takes up much of my time. He won't be small forever and I want to make certain that I don't spend too much time away from him. And by 2012, I might have another little one. I sympathize with those in the military who've gone to Iraq or Afghanistan and had to leave their little ones behind. I know how heartbreaking that must be.

[Faye]

I had to stop right here.

"It is too stingy, giving away less of its wealth than other countries."

IIRC, we give more foriegn aid than anyone else in the world.

[mamapajamas]

Simon: "That part certainly didn't die in GW Bush's heart, since he both opposes 'racial profiling' of likely terrorists and supports uncontrolled Mexican immigration."

True. But look what happened when the Senate and the President tried to force through that preposterous immigration bill before anyone could read the thing... we melted down the phones lines at the Senate Office buildings. And killed the bill.

THAT was the part of American that died on 9/11... the voice of the people set the Senate straight about our lack of trust of illegal immigrants.

[Denise]

You're so right, mamapajamas. I'm happy to say I was a part of that! :-)

[Simon Newman]

"we melted down the phones lines at the Senate Office buildings. And killed the bill."

mamapajamas - I take your point. Unlike 1965 or 1986, the American people no longer seem willing to take their leaders' promises on trust. I don't know if 9/11 caused it, but there certainly seems to have been a sea change.