Plus Ća Change, Plus C'est La Même Chose
Back in the old days, when the United States was involved in Vietnam, I was on the very periphery of protesters. I was not politically astute—indeed, the first time I encountered a story about Vietnam was in Paris Match in an article about the assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem, read during French class.
That ill-advised move against an admittedly brutal dictator—apparently encouraged by the United States government—created a power vacuum that allowed the Viet Cong to expand into South Vietnam and eventually brought the U.S. more actively into that endless conflict.
I was more interested in getting out of high school and into a college than I was in international politics but, by the time I reached those hallowed walls two years later, Vietnam was on every tongue. My future husband arrived back from a tour there just in time to encounter me. His brother, a West Point graduate, died in combat the following year. Suddenly, I had a point of view.
That point of view has only become stronger in the decades since so when I came downstairs February 28th and flipped on the morning news, my first reaction was, “What are we doing!?”
First Venezuela and now Iran. How many people will be killed this time? How many lives will be ruined. And who’s next?
Sadly, America’s history of aggressive involvement in foreign affairs is nothing new. I won’t talk about the Mexican War which added some 525,000 to 529,000 square miles of Mexico’s territory to the U.S., or the Spanish-American War, which brought Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines under our umbrella. Both wars were initiated by the U.S., spurred on by the concept of Manifest Destiny. Supporters of this idea used the idea of a divine mission and American superiority to justify taking control of other nations’ territories.
Those wars were long ago but this supposedly peaceful country has been almost continuously at war since 1941 when it entered World War II. Since that global conflagration ended in 1945, the U.S. has been involved in a constant stream of conflicts, large and small, that have seen armed forces deployed 211 times in more than 80 countries from Korea and Vietnam to Iraq, Afghanistan and counterterrorism missions across Africa and the Middle East.
Pondering this 20th- and 21st-century militaristic record, unmatched by any other nation, I recalled my college years and the satirist Tom Lehrer, a Harvard-educated mathematician, whose witty songs suddenly seemed as relevant today as they did in the 1960s when he penned the Marine’s Hymn. That ditty reflects on our interventionist tendencies.
When someone makes a move
Of which we don't approve
Who is it that always intervenes?
U.N and O.A.S. They have their place I guess
But first, send the Marines! …
For might makes right
And ‘til they've seen the light
They've got to be protected
All their rights respected
‘Til somebody we like can be elected!
Stop calling it aggression
Oh, we hate that expression …
We only want the world to know
That we support the status quo
They love us everywhere we go.
So, when in doubt,
Send the Marines!
Lehrer was prescient if nothing else and his 1964 song, Who’s next? addressed an issue still simmering today. About nuclear proliferation, it could be substituted today for the Trump administration’s rationale for Iran.
First, we got the bomb and that was good
‘Cause we love peace and motherhood.
Then Russia got the bomb, but that’s OK
‘Cause the balance of power’s maintained that way!
France got the bomb, but don’t you grieve
‘Cause they’re on our side, I believe
China got the bomb, but have no fears
They can’t wipe us out for at least five years!
Egypt’s gonna get one, too
Just to use on you know who
So, Israel’s getting tense
Wants one in self defense
“The Lord’s our shepherd says the Psalm
But just in case, we better get a bomb!
Who's next? Who’s next? Who’s next?
Obviously not much has changed in the last 60-plus years and it’s easy to see that the United States’ heavy-handed “diplomacy” is nothing new. Indeed, despite proclaiming our role as a global peacekeeper, the United States has increasingly adopted an aggressive interventionist attitude since the Cold War era.
Analysts remark on a significant shift in U.S. foreign policy that many observers characterize as a new-school colonialism—the use of economic and political pressure to control other nations without formal territorial conquest.
The current administration openly discusses the acquisition of foreign entities such as Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal—threatening to use force if needed—as well as direct governance of territories such as Gaza where a “Board of Peace” would be chaired by Donald Trump.
The U.S. has asserted oversight of Venezuela's interim government “until somebody we like can be elected” and blatantly states that their oil is “ours.” One has to question, “Who’s next?”
Experts say the U.S. does not perceive itself as moving away from its peacemaker role entirely but has transformed it into a policy of "liberal internationalism" or "hegemonic stability," where peace is enforced through a strong military presence and strategic alliances to prevent the rise of hostile regional powers, secure global lines of communication and help secure U.S economic interests.
The rest of the world does not necessarily see it that way. Multiple global polls indicate a sharp rise in the perception of the United States as a security threat, even among now-nervous allies. Our leaders do not seem to be swayed by these deteriorating relationships. Blessed with military power that is unparalleled in the world, advanced technology and a global network of bases, this country has a “bully pulpit” to advance its goals.
But in a world filled with unstable rulers, with growing social and economic instability, it is playing with fire. Let us hope that our leaders do not put us in a situation reflected in yet another Lehrer song from 60 years ago, So Long, Mom.
So long, Mom
I'm off to drop the bomb
So don't wait up for me
But though I may roam
I'll come back to my home
Although it may be
A pile of debris
Remember, Mommy
I'm off to get a Commie
So send me a salami
And try to smile somehow
I'll look for you when the war is over
An hour and a half from now.
