WASHINGTON. - President Andrés Manuel López Obrador complained that the United States feels entitled to opine on what happens in other countries around the world, especially after a negative report on the human rights situation in Mexico.
He's not wrong. The text from the State Department is the result of a demand from Congress, and throughout the history of the Report, many other governments have expressed their rejection.
But it happens. The same Mexican president has had a couple of instances in which he has commented on other countries, and whether he wants it or not, he has unleashed small diplomatic storms.
The fact is that the United States feels obligated, literally by divine mandate, to defend Christian values and Western civilization, including democracy and human rights.
The reality, says American historian Robert Kagan, is that the United States has been since its founding "a dangerous nation" –the title of the first of his three books on American history–.
For Kagan, for 400 years Americans have steadily increased their global power and influence, even though some now believe they see signs of decline in their relative power.
Kagan believes that since the time of the Puritans –one of the first English colonies on the continent–, the United States was not a brilliant "city on a hill," but rather an engine of commercial and territorial expansion that imposed itself on Native Americans, French, Spanish, Russians, and the British themselves on the North American continent.
Before the formal birth of the US, its inhabitants and leaders believed they were destined for global leadership, based on ideas and ideals about the world and human nature.
The Declaration of Independence, explains the historian, is the document that established the American conviction that the inalienable rights of all humanity transcend territorial borders and blood ties. American nationalism, according to this analysis, was always internationalist in its essence.
Thus, the Civil War and the abolition of slavery would indeed fulfill the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and "were also the decisive turning point in the history of American foreign policy."
The United States sees itself and expects the world to see it as a source of political, cultural, and social revolution. But many inside and outside the country see it not only as an ambitious nation but also as dangerous.
There can be talk of an isolationist sector, which at first glance would seem less interested in the world outside its borders. But the world has come to them, whether through trade, migration, investments, or interests.
They are often not well received, but whether they want it or not, the world and its problems are close to the United States –and the rest of the world, including Mexico– and they don't ask for permission.
BY: JOSÉ CARREÑO FIGUERAS
JOSE.CARRENO@ELHERALDODEMEXICO.COM
@CARRENOJOSE