So a friend of mine gave an example of something unrelated to my post at church the other day. It was the story of her attitude as she drives her school bus every day. She likes to take care to note if a student looks sad or upset or anything out of the ordinary positive she expects, then she makes an effort to get them to talk about it and deal with it before they arrive at school, if possible. In her description of her attitude, she mentioned that she had the power to potentially make or break a student's day. I turned back to her to make the compliment, then: I'm glad it's you with that power.
She got flustered, embarrassed, and felt the need to corner me afterwards and clarify, backing down from the very word "power", as if it somehow automatically suggested its own abuse.
Why can't people think of power as ability, as potential to do, as a neutral tool to be used, like any other tool, for good or ill? "Absolute power corrupts absolutely," objects Lord Acton. Yes, but great power can perform great good, say I. "With great power comes great responsibility," wisely opines Spiderman's uncle Ben, and I concur. But avoiding power to avoid the responsibility thereof is JUST AS irresponsible.
This wonderful woman knows she can make or break a student's day. How many days does she break, do you think? Her very awareness of the power makes her humble in its application. She respects the power, and is all the more careful to use it for good, rather than abuse it.
Nations in general, and the US in specific should follow this model. Yes there is danger to the US being the world's only superpower because the potential for abuse is all the greater. The world outside should hedge against this potential abuse as best it can, and the body politic from within the nation should hold leaders accountable for their use of the power as much as is possible. But wouldn't one rather see the economic and military might of the world concentrated in the leaders of the longest standing democratic constitutional republic, with such a lengthy record of peaceful elections, responsibility of government, and peaceful coexistence with nations, or with a small oligarchy or dictatorship, one that oppresses their own people, one that threatens its neighbors, etc.
America should grow in strength so long as the use of its power remains moral, and not be ashamed of the good it can do. We can make or break the destiny of other nations, and with very few exceptions we benefit the world's peoples in the direction of freedom. We should be criticized and chastised for every genuine abuse of that power. We should refrain from even attempting to impose peace, our own institutions of freedom, or our economic will without clear and present danger to ourselves so as to allow other nations maximum freedom to make or break their own destinies on their own merits. Peace, freedoms, and economic exchanges should be accomplished by logic, by persuasion, and by the free agreements of stake-holding parties who recognize the mutual benefit of these--never by imposition. However, if we refrain from the use of our power for fear of criticism we are also irresponsible. If we fail to use our power in a timely manner to promote the stability of the international scene, to hedge against immoral abuses of power, we are irresponsible. If our use of power to effect good offends some people, so be it. The purple fingered 2/3 of the Iraqi population proved by voting that they appreciated the new freedoms which could only be granted them by the ouster of their longtime tyrant Saddam Hussein, no matter what the left, Iran, Syria, or Al-Qaeda might have to say about the "injustice" of the Iraq war.
I don't know what shape the American response to an increasingly aggressive North Korea will be, especially in the knowledge that it is a client state of the increasing other superpower, China. But I will support any use of power the leaders recommend, because I know they take the power seriously, they are responsible in its use, and the result will potentially liberate millions of North Koreans currently living in squalor and in fear of a police state ruled by a capricious oppressor.
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