Dinesh D'Souza - America: Imagine a World without Her Read Free Page B

best and most efficient way, whether it’s through technology or outsourcing. This is what capitalism does to societies, and globalization is just capitalism in a single global market. There is an answer to what should be done by American workers who find that their old jobs are gone—they have to get new skills and find new jobs. I admit this is not easy. For many, the concept of a lifelong career is destroyed; time’s arrow is bent if not broken. This may seem like an insufferable burden, but let’s remember that this is what previous generations of Americans have uncomplainingly accomplished for themselves.
    Just a century ago, most Americans worked on farms. Agriculture was America’s leading occupation. Today less than 5 percent of America is employed in agriculture. What a sight it is to see a single guy in a tractor, with his headphones plugged in, farming a huge tract of land using the latest in modern technology and fertilizer products! So what happened to all those farming families that once lived off the land? They figured out that times had changed. They recognized that America no longer needs more than half its workforce to feed the American people. Instead of whining about it, they accepted that their old way of life was over. They got off the farmand learned how to do something else. What we need today is the same spirit that enabled earlier generations not only to adapt to change but to thrive in it; that’s how America can compete effectively on the global track.

CHAPTER 13
    EMPIRE OF LIBERTY
    Americans need to face the truth about themselves, no matter how pleasant it is. 1
    J EANE K IRKPATRICK
    I n 1946 the American diplomat George Kennan wrote a famous “long telegram” to the U.S. State Department proposing a strategy for dealing with Soviet expansionism. The strategy—subsequently elaborated by Kennan in a 1947 article in Foreign Affairs —came to be known as “containment.” Basically Kennan argued for drawing a tight cordon around Soviet expansionism so its growth could be stopped. Kennan’s ultimate goal wasn’t just to corral the Soviets; it was to bring down the Soviet empire itself. Kennan argued that empires require expansion in order to survive; contain them and they will collapse. Kennan urged America to “choke” the Soviet empire and, by doing this, to cause the empire to implode. And this is exactly what happened. In one of the most stunning events of the twentieth century, in the late 1980s and early1990s the huge, seemingly invincible Soviet empire disintegrated. Containment worked.
    Now containment is being tried again, by President Obama. Only this time the country he is attempting to contain is his own. Obama’s foreign policy may be neatly summarized by the phrase “self-containment.” I get this phrase from a recent article by Douglas Feith and Seth Cropsey. 2 It may seem odd for a president who is the commander in chief, who takes an oath to protect and defend the interests of the United States, to self-consciously and deliberately seek to reduce America’s power and influence. For Obama, however, it is good for America to have less influence. In tune with his progressive and anti-colonial ideology, Obama regards the American empire as the only remaining empire in the world. While America exalts democratic and universalistic ideals, in reality its foreign policy has been based on self-interest and plunder. America has used its power irresponsibly, to dominate others and to control their oil and other resources. Consequently Obama seeks to end America’s neocolonialism, its large-scale global theft. To do this, he has to end America’s tenure as the sole global superpower. Obama wants America to be a normal country, and to play a shrunken, more modest role in the world.
    How is the Obama team doing this? One way is by sharply reducing America’s nuclear arsenal. Obama has taken America’s nuclear arsenal down from 6,000 to 1,500 warheads and now he wants to go