In 2008 Barack
Obama ran for President of the United States with the campaign slogan “It’s
Time For A Change.” This slogan is something Dr. Andrew Bacevich would
certainly agree with. In Bacevich’s book The
Limits Of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism he goes in great depth
on why the United States is not exceptional. In this book Bacevich identifies
three problems facing the United States: The Crisis of the Military, The
Political Crisis, and The Crisis of Profligacy or extravagant spending. Many arguments Bacevich makes in The Limits of Power I am in agreement
with, but a there are some that I see differently.
Of the three
interlocking crises Bacevich claims, the first is about economical and cultural
problems. I could not agree more with his assertions. The American society is
extremely greedy and will never be satisfied with what they have. Whether the
issue at hand is oil, credit, or the availability of cheap consumer goods,
Bacevich claims, “We expect the world to accommodate the American way of life” [1] If
I could describe the United States in one word, entitled is the first thing that comes to mind. The word freedom to many Americans entitles
the relentless pursuit to consume, indulge, and acquire whatever they deem they
want. Bacevich says if he could choose a
single word to characterize the identity of the United States, it would have to
be more.[2]
I interpret he uses the word more because
of the enormous amounts of spending on the military in the United States.
Bacevich is a former Colonel in the United States Army, and is harshly critical
of the lavish spending of the military in The
Limits of Power.
This leads me to the second crisis that Bacevich
claims, the military. He argues that we rely too much on our military might and
power. He uses the numerous military adventures during the 1990s as
demonstrations as examples of when Washington does not hesitate to use force. Bacevich
even says that the United States “teeters on the edge of insolvency,
desperately trying to balance accounts by relying on our presumably invincible
armed forces” [3]
Even though Bacevich makes a compelling argument, I disagree with the fact that
there is a crisis with our military. I believe that Andrew Bacevich is biased
toward the military for a couple of reasons. Am I questioning his loyalty and
service record? No, but I do believe the death of his son, 1 LT Andrew Bacevich
Jr., during the war in Iraq causes some animosity toward President Bush and the
military. I feel a big reason for
Bacevich writing this book is because of the death of his son. The military of
the United States needs to be superior to all other nations, and the amount of
money spent on the United States military needs to be superior to all nations.
I believe there is a direct correlation between to amount of money spent and
the superiority in a subject. For example, in 2013 Louisville, Duke, Syracuse,
Kentucky, and UCLA all spent between 12.7 and 15.6 million dollars on their
men’s basketball programs.[4]
Not coincidentally, these five programs are of the Elite every year in college
basketball. The United States ranks number one in the world in military, and
guess what we are the most dominant of all armed forces. Bacevich also calls
for the abolishing of the United States nuclear weapons.[5]
This is a lucrative proposal, Why would the most powerful military in the world
get rid of its most powerful weapons. This would be like the #1 team in the
nation taking its best player and kicking him off the team. So I look at it
this way, if you want to be superior or “invincible” you have to pony up and
fund the money to be elite.
The political crisis of the United States is
another argument that I agree with Andrew Bacevich. Our legislation today no
longer makes choices that are for the better good, but are more concerned with
being re-elected. Bacevich is harshly critical of the Bush administration, but
places the blame on us as American citizens for electing him. The “War Without
Exits” is an idea that members of the legislation including the President,
entered in a series of military actions after 9/11 with the sole purpose of
advancing the United States imperialistic and economically. Robert Kagan observed, “America did not
change on September 11. It only became more itself.” [6] By
saying this he agrees with people like William Appleman Williams and Andrew
Bacevich that the United States is not exceptional.
Bacevich calls for the United States to
address these problems or crises at hand. “American power is not limitless..
and politics are accelerating the depletion of power since 9/11”[7] This is the main point I agree with Bacevich
on. There is a need for change in the United States today. Americans need to
realize that freedom is a privilege. All of these problems are of our own
making and we must begin to unmake them; not unmake them by the use of military
action alone, which the United States tends to do time after time.
No comments:
Post a Comment