Excellent essay

by Doug Kern over at TCS: "When Superman Shrugs" -

I gather from the movie trailer that love draws Superman back to earth. Love is the only worthwhile reason to wield power, really; power is useful only to the extent that it protects good things and allows them to flourish. But make no mistake: a less powerful America would enjoy some wonderful advantages. We would have more money to spend on a better way of life. Our heroic soldiers would return safely to their homes and families. The inevitable compromises between morality and brutal realism would no longer corrupt us, as irrelevance would give us the luxury of unsullied spiritual purity. We would be happier in every way -- until the villains arrive.

[...]

So, like Superman, we must claim our power and all the sorrows that come with it: the derision of the less powerful; the demands of the unfortunate; the burdens of expensive wars fought for untested political theories; and the dangers of irritating the world's well-armed malcontents. Like Superman, we bear the weight of the world on our shoulders by dint of the responsibility of power. How unsurprising that at least one political party should succumb to the temptation to shrug.

With great power comes great responsibility. If we attempt to abdicate either our power or our responsibility, the world will be less safe - our country will be less safe.

No, I'm not happy about America being the world's cop on patrol, but if we don't take up this duty, who will? France, which collaborated in the oil-for-food scandal? The UN, which stood by and allowed wholesale slaughter in Serbia, and whose soldiers rape and steal from people they're supposed to protect? Iran, which would impose a world-wide theocracy and sharia law? Russia, which appears to be returning to totalitarianism? China, with its draconian childbirth restrictions and communism?

Who else will step up to the plate - and then go home when the game is over?

America is the only country with the power, the willingness to use it, and the moral authority to use it well. We are not perfect - we never will be - but if the world waits for the perfect country to make the perfect moves at the perfect time and in the perfect way, civilization, liberty and justice will disappear from the face of this earth.

America must shoulder her responsibility, face her duty, and perform it resolutely. We weep for the fallen, and those we cannot help - but we are determined to help those we can, because no one else will.

And because the consequences are too terrible if we don't.