Letters to the Editor

America benefits the rest of the world

I extend my sympathies to those readers who were puzzled by the mixture of academic jargon and random pedantic references to philosophers in professor Arno Mayer's Oct. 5 column "Untimely reflections upon the state of the world." Beneath the references to Chateaubriand and Manichaeism, professor Mayer's thesis is that the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the "symbol and hub of globalizing corporate power" and "the ultima ratio regnum of capitalist globalization," respectively, were the Third World's response to American imperialism and "state terror" against Third World countries. According to professor Mayer, the Osama bin Ladens of the world represent the "ever more numerous, cunning and impoverished social classes seething with a resentment fired by not only a festering impotence but also an acute fear of defeat should they — 'the slaves' — once again rise to break their chains."

Professor Mayer's column is another example of the trend in academia to blame the United States for just about every major international calamity. His criticism of America and capitalism is so unconditional, however, that it is hard to take seriously. In his critique of American actions since World War II, there is no reference to the horrors of Communism and the liberation of Eastern Europe after the Cold War. He also fails to acknowledge the spread of democracy and the unparalleled growth in prosperity and living standards that have occurred both in First World and Third World countries due to the spread of capitalism and so-called "globalization." The United States isn't perfect. We have made — and will continue to make — mistakes in foreign policy because we are not an isolationist country.

During the past 75 years, the United States has stuck its neck out countless times to preserve democracy around the world. Yes, we have occasionally screwed up — but has America really been so bad for the world? Would professor Mayer have preferred that America remain in the background as Soviet troops knocked on the doors of Western Europe? Was the Marshall Plan to restore the economies of Europe just another capitalist plot? What about the hundreds of billions of dollars in food, economic and humanitarian assistance that we have provided Third World countries? Of course professor Mayer makes no reference to the fact that the United States has used its forces in recent years primarily to protect — often at the request of — Muslim populations in Kuwait, Bosnia and Saudi Arabia.

Professor Mayer also alludes to America's not paying its UN dues. Let me remind readers that there would be no UN without the United States. The UN was born out of talks between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill that produced the Atlantic Charter. Furthermore, historically, the United States has contributed approximately one-third of the UN budget, although that share has decreased in the past few years. We have had good reasons to withhold our UN dues in recent years. A number of UN organizations, including the World Health Organization, have had rampant corruption. The UN is also terribly politicized. Most recently, it refused to give the United States a seat on the new Human Rights Commission. Note that perennial human rights abusers China, Cuba and Pakistan all have seats.

My final and perhaps most important grievance with professor Mayer's column is that he failed to make a single constructive comment about this country's course of action in the aftermath of Sept. 11.

We must maintain an open dialogue about this crisis, however, we are in desperate need of solutions right now, not criticism. If professor Mayer has an idea about how to prevent future terrorism, I am an eager listener. Andy Luse '02