Are We (the U.S.) the Bad Guys?
There’s a great moment in Henry James’s short story The Aspern Papers, when the reader realizes that the narrator—who seems like a cultured and sympathetic scholar—is actually a ruthless and deceptive weasel. Because James was such a cool and subtle writer, the reader doesn’t see it coming until the old woman whose privacy the narrator is plundering declares that he is a scoundrel. At that moment the reader realizes, “Holy smokes, the lady is right. This guy is a self-serving jerk.”
Years ago I knew a very brave Austrian journalist who covered Iraq after U.S. forces withdrew and let ISIS walk into the place and turn it into hell on earth. Listening to his tale of horror, I asked myself, “Is it possible that Saddam Hussein—for all of his tyranny—was, relatively speaking, the good guy, while we Americans—who wrecked the place and turned it over to devils—are the killer angels?
I had the same thought years later while visiting wounded soldiers at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto. They were just a few of the tens of thousands of men who’d sustained traumatic brain injuries in Ir
Article from LewRockwell
LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
