A while back, I ranted about Alanis’ song “Utopia”. Waiting for the world to turn into a Utopia is a waste of time. Can we deal with what is really in front of us, please? That way, perhaps we can really make a damn difference!
Choice quotes:
There are the heirs of Woodrow Wilson, who ignore global power realities in favor of bringing the world to a “natural” state of democratic peace and harmony. They view history in much the same way as Marxists, substituting liberal democracy for the inevitability of a communist utopia. Peace and stability, Wilsonians claim, are not merely desirable but wholly natural; the butchery and rapine perpetrated throughout history are the result of socio-political pathologies that can be remedied just as a doctor can cure a sick patient.
And more:
Wilsonians prefer employing diplomatic tactics over using coercive power. By ignoring power realities, they are ill equipped to deal with those who do not respond to gentle pleas.
Finally:
In all the turbulence of a changing world order, one particular paradigm has been almost totally neglected. Ironically, we have abandoned realism – the one doctrine that can best navigate our role in the uni-multipolar world we find ourselves in. For if we hold that the attempt to remake our global history of conflict and chaos into a hopeful future of peaceful order is an illusion, then we must accept the anarchic nature of our world and attempt to live in it as best we can. Specifically, we must create policies that recognize and place our national interests above all other priorities–and not draw the wrong lessons from history in conceptualizing the future.
I prefer reality myself, as nasty and dangerous and depressing as it is.
