Prager University: Should America Be the World's Policeman?

"We teach what isn't taught." - Dennis Prager

"Western foreign ministers - Richelieu, Wallenstein, Talleyrand, Palmerston, Metternich - strove for three centuries to sustain (a balance of power), instead of championing conservative crusades and leftist insurgencies." - Jim Sleeper

The men listed above were genius practitioners of geopolitics, and fully understood the impossibility of 'hegemony' on a large scale - which is why they pursued a 'balance of power' system (or 'spheres of influence') instead of one based on hegemony...In our time, no statesman has understood this model as well as Henry Kissinger.  He understood how to use American power to help it maintain its world position, but also understood the limits of such power.  Limits which allowed other powers to do many things Americans detest and loath to admit they must allow to happen - unless they wish to be at perpetual war with much of the globe. 

Those who pay attention should recognize I prefer a 'balance of power' model over 'hegemony.'  I've often stated the U.S. should use its power to protect the U.S. and it's core allies (a very limited group), ensure trade is kept open and as free as possible, and to brutally punish or eliminate those who attempt to hurt it.  The U.S. should also demand and ensure it is the sole power in the Western Hemisphere (a hegemonic position in our sphere of influence)...I'm quite certain Teddy Roosevelt would be right in line with these lines of thinking.  Interestingly, it was the way every American president prior to Woodrow Wilson pursued American foreign policy.  Sadly, in my opinion, only one president since Wilson has followed the pre-Wilson policy and that was Richard Nixon.

I do not believe we can 'save the world' or make it 'more like us.'  In fact, I think it is Utopian at best and arrogant or ignorant at worst to think we should even try, because our way is not possible or even desirable for much of the globe - no matter how much we may think it is best.

I know many on the Right and Left feel 'balance of power' is a brutal model, but it is the only one which has successfully worked for the majority of human history - even the Romans balanced with the Germanic tribes, Parthia (modern Iran), etc.  The reason for this is the world is too big, the financial costs are impossible, and there are too many diverse peoples.

As such, I am at odds with this semester of Prager University (though not as much as it may seem, because I am not a 'retreatist.'  I simply wish to protect American interests; protect them brutally if needed - in fact extremely harsh to ensure our sphere of influence).  Which is okay, because this is supposed to be the beauty of the 'university' - it is supposed to be a place where thoughtful people go to hash out ideas.  This is what separates Prager U. from most traditional American universities, where only THEIR ideas are what matter; ideas based on pure-power-Liberalism, passed off through unrelenting and uncompromising propaganda.

This semester of Prager University is presented by:  Bret Stephens

"The United States is the world's policeman, because there is no alternative.  And everybody knows it." - B.S.

"[H]istory only settles great debates for as long as people remember the history." - B.S.