Novus Ordo Seclorum?

As a country that emerged out of a former British colony, United States not only wanted to gain political and economic independence, but also to overthrow European dominance in intellectual, religious and moral departments. The “founding fathers” enthusiastically set out to build a nation independent from the tyranny of the Old World with its hypocrisy, arrogance and imperialistic aggression. The new American era - Novus Ordo Seclorum – meant a decisive estrangement from the European war-fever; it was a promise of a different future where individuals had freedom to be whoever they wanted to be, far far away from the incessant nagging of the religion and the tyrannical rule of the king. In fact, Americans were so disinterested in the “outside world” with its affairs that they didn’t even care to join the League of Nations in the aftermath of the World War I: “Why bother? It’s just another European intrigue”, was the general consensus. The idea of demilitarization in the 1920s-1930s was as ubiquitous as Freudianism.

According to popular beliefs, it wasn’t until the infamous Pearl Harbor incident that Americans realized the relative uselessness of the isolationism when it comes to a foreign sneak-attack. It seemed that the main torch-bearers of the international democracy could no longer protect the world peace. The Wehrmacht Eagle had already devoured France along with half of Europe; Britain, although not technically defeated, was forced into the policy of radical appeasement. In these dark times U.S. had to step in – and it did. As historians like to say, the rest is history.

Almost seventy years later (and 232 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence), U.S. is now very comfortable being the largest military world power. Nazis and Marxist-Leninists are not a bother anymore, of course, but there are others who occupied their place. They are called “terrorists”, or “Islamic fundamentalists”, or “rogue states” – depending on the current image of an enemy in any given situation. What does the United States really stand for? What are the values of this great nation? And where did it all go wrong? The answers to these questions are yet to be found. In the words of the former Secretary of State Colin Powell, “Ironically for all the present sensitivity over <political> correctness, we seem to have lost our shame as a society. Nothing seems to embarrass us; nothing shocks us anymore”.

In that sense, the new American era has ended. One might imagine that it ended somewhere after World War II, when the United States reluctantly took the dusty torch of international democracy from the European colleagues and continued their righteous quest to save the world, even against the world’s explicit objections to such fate. But America has a long military history prior to 1941 that reads: we are not afraid to use force whenever deemed necessary. This principle certainly remains viable to this day. Accidently, U.S. is also the only country in the world to ever use nuclear weapons against another country. This unfortunate legacy dictates unfortunate conclusions: perhaps, the new American era had never really begun.