Stardate 20020216.2317

(On Screen): I don't ordinarily vent expressions of emotion here; I try to stay rational. But I have some strong feelings now and I think it's important to let them out. They're not fully formulated so this may not be completely coherent.

I have no problem with individual Europeans. But I'm thoroughly fed up with Europe's leaders. I'm tired of their smugness; I'm tired of their condescension; I'm tired of having my nation be talked down to by those I consider to be its inferiors. (I'm particularly fed up with Chirac and Vedrine and Fischer and Patten.)

The word "arrogance" has been getting tossed around a lot lately. Quite frankly, I think that having someone like Chris Patten weigh in on how he thinks American foreign policy should be run is the height of arrogance, and indeed I think a lot of what I've been reading from Europe's leaders has sounded arrogant in the extreme, especially its general tone of "wait until you grow up, and then you'll see it our way."

I don't like being told that I'm simple. I don't like having someone look down their nose at me. I don't like getting told "We're more sophisticated than you, so you must be wrong."

When I was a kid, one of the stories my parents told me was that of the Little Red Hen. The lesson of that story was in tune with my Calvinist upbringing: those that do the work get the rewards. There's no free ride. There are no entitlements. And indeed, it is wrong to accept rewards without doing the work. (That's not in the story, but that is what I was taught.) Self-sufficiency is a virtue; dependence is a vice.

I think most Americans believe that; it runs deep in our culture. It's one of the reasons our attitude about welfare and support for the unemployed are so different from those in Europe.

I'm not Calvinist any longer, but I don't reject all the Calvinist teachings I grew up with. Some of them, but not that one. I still believe in a fair reward for fair work, and I dislike people who try for a free ride. I hate people who cut in line; I dislike people who cheat. When the checkout clerk at the store gives me too much change, I give the extra back. And I've always disliked people who put on airs, and try to pretend to be more than they are.

One of the reasons I have little respect for MacArthur is that he was a very fine general, but he thought he was even better than he was. No matter how good someone is, I have no use for them if their self-opinion is exaggerated. Other generals over the years have been better or worse than MacArthur, but few have had egos his size. One of them was Montgomery, however, and it's why I have little use for him. He may well have been the UK's best general of WWII, though I'm not certain of that. (For one thing, I've long thought that Wavell deserved better treatment than he got.) But there were none as cocky and overly-self-confident as Montgomery.

There is a big difference between being self-confident and being cocky. Bradley and Nimitz were self-confident. MacArthur and Patton were cocky. All were good, but I respect Nimitz and Bradley more.

Europe's leaders are trying to tell my leaders that my nation has gotten cocky. I don't think so. I believe my nation is better and more powerful than Europe's leaders give it credit for being, and I think that we are capable of going it alone. (And I think that they know it. When they say "No nation can go it alone" what they really mean is "We really wish you wouldn't do so, even though you can.")

So trying to tie this all together: First, I resent the fact that Europe's leaders seems to think that they deserve a say in how the US uses its military. They can't be bothered to spend the money to build one of their own (they won't help make the bread) but they sure want to help decide how to use it (they're willing to help eat the bread). I consider that out of line. It goes against the grain. Influence comes from sacrifice, and Europe hasn't made enough. If it's our military; if we spent the money and built the ships and bought the tanks and jets and trained the men and if it's our men who will do the fighting and dying, then it's our business how that military is used. If Europe wants to decide where to fight, it should do the fighting with its own troops.

By the same token, a lot of what I'm seeing from European leaders is making me feel about them like I feel about MacArthur: it doesn't matter how good they are; the problem is that they think that they are better and more important than they actually are, and that is a fault I cannot forgive.

I'm not looking for lackeys. That's not it. I am not looking for yes-men. I don't want the European leaders to bow before my country, or to tremble in terror when we speak. I just want them to act in ways which are proportional to the reality of their power and capabilities. The leaders of Latvia and Estonia don't try to tell Germany and France what to do, and I don't see why Chirac or Fischer should be trying to order the US around.

Among other things, that means that if we ask for advice then it should be given, but if we don't then it shouldn't be.

I'm tired of being ordered around. And I'm tired of pipsqueaks trying to act bigger than they are.

And I'm not alone; I think a lot of Americans feel this way. If so, then it means that the European leaders are completely botching their foreign policy towards the US. We do not respond well to scolding (which is what recent utterances from Europe's leaders have amounted to). It tends to make us stubborn. If we're incessantly lectured about multilateralism, our tendency is to stick our middle finger in the air and to become even more unilateral. It won't convince us that we're wrong; it will just convince us that Europe's leaders are assholes and that we can't rely on them. And I don't think that is what they intend.