Remember when George W. Bush said that you're with us or against us?
Fareed Zakaria wrote "Washington ... has not yet figured out that diplomatic imperialism is a luxury that the United States can no longer afford."
- The Post-American World, Release 2.0, pp. 258-259
He concludes his book with the idea that we are an open, welcoming country but that our foreign policy is narrow-minded and paranoid.
Many are calling for Congress to compromise on many issues. Maybe we should be asking Congress and the Administration to compromise with the rest of the world.
"The Post-American World" is a very good read. Zakaria lays out all the pitfalls of assuming that economic and military might can mislead a country into thinking its "On top of the world and outside history". On the other hand, Zakaria thinks that as the first "universal nation" (people of many origins and faiths) has a lot of strengths that can be harnessed to bring about a more prosperous, peaceful, multi-polar world.
