[lbo-talk] Chicago Council on Foreign Relations poll

Marvin Gandall marvgandall at rogers.com
Thu Sep 30 16:52:53 PDT 2004


Doug H. wrote:


> Marvin Gandall wrote:
>
> >If this poll showing strong opposition to the so-called Bush Doctrine is
an
> >accurate reflection of public opinion - and anecdotal evidence suggests
it
> >is - it is of greater significance for American foreign policy than
whether
> >Bush or Kerry is elected.
>
> Most Americans have long wanted to avoid "foreign entaglements." Some
> exception was made for the cold war, but elites have obsessed for
> decades about how to get the masses to go along with their imperial
> plans. And most of the time, the elites get their way.
---------------- That's a useful reminder. But, still, I suspect the Vietnam syndrome and now the Iraq syndrome cramps US foreign policy more than the traditional isolationism did. Americans could finally be persuaded to sacrifice in two world wars against enemy nation-states with well-equipped conventional armies who could easily be portrayed to them as the aggressors. Korea superficially appeared to be a similar conflict. But it's proving to be a tougher sell to get young American men (and increasingly women) to die for their country where the US, as in Iraq and Vietnam, is increasingly perceived as the aggressor in an assymetrical conflict against popular resistance movements composed of poor peasants fighting a foreign occupation. Not all Americans would see it that way, of course, and usually not most at the outset, but majorities do seem to form around this perception if these insurgencies grind on long enough. Which isn't surprising; you'd naturally expect elites in liberal democracies to find it more difficult to mobilize their people for imperialist wars rather than for international (or, if you like, interimperialist) conflicts. I don't think, for example, the most forceful propaganda could today persuade Americans to draft additional ground forces for new wars of aggression against Iran and North Korea. Also, of course, because the elite -- as the CCFR poll showed -- is itself very divided,

Marv Gandall



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