The United States of America has not always been a bellicose nation, but alas that is a fair perception of it at the present time; in which America insists it has the right of empire throughout the entire world, so as to wield its power, in a manner that benefits to a very large extent, specifically, American corporate power, as well as for territorial aggrandizement, and for intimidation, so that America can get its way under the terms that it so desires; and further America does not ever consider backing down to any other nation, or consortium of nations, for America is the sole superpower in the world; even though it likes to sell the illusion that Russia or China is somehow on some sort of equal footing with it or might someday get there.
Those that wish to be overly generous, could look upon the American empire, as while being inimical to what the Constitution so stands for, as well as being clearly out of step with President Washington’s warning that we should not “….entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice” -- that to America’s credit, it doesn’t always used its power, might, and influence to simply treat all other countries, akin to how a king treats its subjects, though, to a large extent, it certainly appears that it prefers to do so.
There was a time, when America was far humbler, and was far more understanding, that great leaders are made by great leadership; of which President Wilson, at the conclusion of World War I, wrote a paper listing the Fourteen Points needed for world peace. To say that such was ambitious, was an understatement; to say that it was noble in its construct, was absolutely true. Yet, at the present time, there doesn’t seem to be any mainstream politician in today’s America that would buy into all the doctrinal points of that particular document. For instance, Wilson made it clear that secret negotiations and lack of transparency between what was being negotiated country to country, in regards to treaties and the like, was bad diplomacy, and therefore served no good purpose. Further, Wilson urged that “national armaments …be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety;” which clearly has been domestically completely ignored; for it is the oversupply of those very dangerous killing armaments which are being utilized as the necessary means for wars and engagement throughout the world, and of which, the United States exports well over $100 billion of those armaments, each year. Wilson also stated that “the day of conquest and aggrandizement is gone…”; yet, in fact, that day is still very much alive, and is in principle, the guiding light of the American capitalistic system as currently practiced, so enforced by America throughout the world, and of which, this is the very reason why America continues to get its nose into just about everything all over the world, because American multinational enterprises are compulsively driven by their lust for more growth and more profit, thereby typically insisting that sovereign foreign nations consent to the rules that America so dictates, or suffer the consequences, so of, for their disobedience.
The peace that Wilson wanted, came from the knowledge that warfare was not becoming of advanced civilizations, but rather reflected its incivility, greed, lack of foresight, and injustice, instead. So then, until there comes a time when swords are truly turned into plowshares, we can expect a continuation of more hatred, disrespect, violence, vitriol, and vengeance, worldwide.