America the Arrogant

America is on the decline. Our standing as an economic and moral superpower is quickly coming to its inevitable end. At least that’s what we’ve been told. On the 2008 presidential campaign trail, Senator Obama made the message loud and clear: America is not respected. He said that we had lost a lot of our clout with citizens all over the world – that we had been too arrogant, too irresponsible. Europeans wanted to know where the United States got the nerve to invade Iraq, needlessly throwing a country and its people into a long war. Who gave us the moral authority to be the world’s police?

Answer: The Europeans.

The Europeans conceded their authority when they started World War I, plunging their nations and the entire world into a conflict the scale of which had never before been imaginable. The first saviors of Europe were the Doughboys – Americans that crossed the seas to finish a fight they didn’t start. America rose to the challenge, and in doing so, restored peace and saved lives.

The Europeans once again forfeited their moral authority when they refused to see the truth and allowed a mustached corporal from Austria turn Germany into the greatest force for evil that world had ever known. They sat idly by, until, once again, their continent had plunged into war. America, for a second time, answered the call of its allies. Americans fought and died to liberate France, Italy, Luxemburg, Czechoslovakia, Austria, the Netherlands, and Germany from the clutches of the Nazi’s Third Reich. Because of Europe’s inability and unwillingness to stop this catastrophe, it is directly responsible for the deaths of millions of men, women, and children. The Americans were once again the saviors of a continent. Not only did the U.S. take upon itself the responsibility to destroy evil, but when it was finished, we helped to rebuild the broken countries.

Upon the end of one conflict another commenced. The Soviet Union had become an increasing threat, and, once again, the United States led the allied charge to stop the infection of communism. The Europeans relied upon the U.S. to do what they could not – to ensure freedom for its people. Americans were, as always, up for the fight. When Ronald Reagan told Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin wall, he filled millions of voiceless people with hope.

And that’s what America has always given Europe: Hope – hope that tomorrow will be a brighter day. And that’s not something for which I’m willing to apologize.

So are the Europeans correct when they say we’re arrogant and that we think we can do what we want? Well, yes. And we’re allowed. Not because we’re jerks, but because we know what happens when you give the world’s keys to a guy that doesn’t have a driver’s license. Time and time again, America has answered when the world has called. I think a “thank you” is in order.