Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

TheConnecticutYankeeintheCourtofKingArthur 137

builtisanattempttoreconstructtheoldLiberalpartyandtraditionon
theruinsofBritishsocialism,andshouldBlair'smovementsucceedwe
canlooktoa revivedandinvigoratedBritishLiberalvoicecallingfor
"idealistic"policiesoneverysubjectfromThirdWorlddebtreliefto
minorityrights. Truetotheirtraditions, Blair'sNewLabourliberals
soughttobanfoxhuntingbutdeclaredanopenseasononhumanrights
violators, holding Chile's former dictator, General Pinochet. Under
housearrestforseventeenmonthsinBritain,Pinochetwas releasedon
March2,2000,aftertheUKdecidedongroundsoftheGeneral'spoor
healthnottoextraditehim.
Thenonconformistconscience migratedintootherformerBritish
colonies besides the UnitedStates. Ina 1966 essay, "Canada: 'Stern
DaughteroftheVoiceofGod,'" formersecretaryofstateDeanAcheson
chidedCanadianstatesmenforwhathecalleda "moralistic"ratherthan
a "moral"foreignpolicy:a policythat,inhisview,couldbesaidtovalue
omeletstoocheaplyandeggstoohigh. Noonefamiliarwithpoliti-
caldebatesinAustraliaandNewZealandwillmissthecommonnote
ofnonconformistmoralizing; itwas also heard among the English-
speakingwhitesinSouthAfricawhoopposedapartheid.
FarfrombeinguniquelyAmerican,oruniquelyconfinedtothetwen-
tiethcentury,theprevalenceofthiscommonstreak-morality,sayits
friends;moralism,sayitscritics-intheoffshootsoftheBritishEmpire
isoneofthechiefmarksbywhichothercountriesdefinewhattheysome-
whatanachronisticallycontinuetocalla common"Anglo-Saxon"tradi-
tionofstatesmanship.Europeans,Indians,Chinese,Africans,andLatin
Americanshavealsonoticedsomethingaboutthistraditionthattendsto
escapenoticeinthe"Anglo-Saxon"world:thattheespousalofthesehigh
ideals has notpreventedthe successiverise oftwoEnglish-speaking
empirestoglobalhegemony.TheAnglo-Saxonconsciencemaybesensi-
tiveandeasilyexcited,theysay,yetitisalsoflexible,andgenerallyman-
agestoconcentrateitsoutrageonthoseaspectsoftheworld'sevilsthat
threatentothwartsomeinterestingprojectofanAnglo-Saxonstate.
TheAnglo-Saxonsmaybeasinnocentasdoves,noteourneighbors
andcritics,butthathassingularlynotinterferedwithourabilitytobeas
cunningasserpents.

O

urconcernhereisnotwiththenonconformistconscienceacross
the"Anglo-Saxon"world,orwithitsmoredistantcousinsfound
throughout the Protestant, Germanic-Ianguage-speaking peoples of