I always find it fascinating to hear what people of ideologies and from countries at odds with the United States think of our capabilities. On one occasion, while I was stationed in Seoul, a North Korean woman insisted that the United States was capable of projecting nearly unlimited power anywhere in the world. She told me that Kim Jong-il’s regime was only able to commit its crimes due to U.S. complicity and asked me to appeal to the president to have Kim Jong-il removed. In Iraq, a detained member of al-Qaeda asked why we had arrested Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein’s Deputy Prime Minister and former Foreign Minister. “He’s a Christian,” he exclaimed, “He’s not your enemy.” I told him that the United States was not at war with Islam, but had been at war with Saddam Hussein’s government, of which Tariq Aziz was a member. The detainee was incredulous. “You arrested him just so you can say that. You shouldn’t bother. We know you are at war with Islam.” In both the countries I was stationed, I encountered countless opinions of U.S. power. Many people believe that we are too powerful. But, surprisingly, many more are not angry about our power, but rather about what they perceive as the thoughtless nature of our projection of power. Many men who took up arms against Americans in Baghdad, Fallujah and Mosul told me that they had done so because they thought we were either incompetent or evil. One expression common in Iraq is particularly illuminating: “Americans can put a man on the moon, but they can’t provide us with electricity.” Even among Americans, the application of U.S. political power is the subject of much heated debate. Some claim that the United States is an empire that now has the responsibilities (or commits the crimes) of past empires. If that is true, we make for poor imperialists. We do not have an emperor. Instead, we have a government designed to be limited, which weakens its ability to project itself with single-minded authority. We do not make territorial grabs or demand tribute from foreign countries. Some claim that we fail to recognize the sovereignty of nations with whom we disagree. There may be truth to that, but that alone does not make our nation imperial. Nevertheless, we are an incredibly powerful nation, which makes us dangerous. Our cultural and economic dominance of much of the world is supported by the presence of an enormous military and government bureaucracy in every region of the globe. One of the great ironies of the modern United States is that we send armed men and women to other countries to promote our policies, but we would never tolerate a foreign army doing the same thing on our soil. If our foreign policies are implemented carelessly, they have the potential to do harm to others. The scope of our influence is not always due to the actions or policies of our government, and little of what may be viewed as patronizing or tactless is ill-intentioned. Take, for instance, a volunteer with a typical non-governmental organization. A young adult uses a vacation to visit an undeveloped nation to teach English or help build houses. Chances are, they never return. There are benefits to that anonymity, and the concern shown by the volunteer is commendable. But is there really long-term change? Would we listen if someone from China came to teach us about problems in our own neighborhoods? When American citizens are unwilling to think carefully and sacrifice to achieve the goals they have set for their government, they risk making the United States a tyranny to other nations. When our political power is applied in ways that seem arbitrary or unrestrained, when it seems that we are not fully committed to the missions we have chosen to undertake, we end up doing far more harm than good. Americans are now considering a presidential election. No candidate is fully addressing the issue of U.S. hegemony. No one is saying that we must either pay for our foreign policy choices or abandon them; that we must either find a way to increase the size of the military or decrease its responsibilities; that the ambitious plans for fighting disease and poverty in Africa must be backed by an unwavering commitment from U.S. citizens; that many foreign people resent us not because we have power but because we use it in such a perplexing manner. No one says these things because a candidate cannot win an election by demanding sacrifice from Americans. At the height of the Cold War, President Kennedy challenged Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” I imagine that he would make a rather unpopular president today. He would be asking us to pay more in taxes, to serve our nation and community, and to accept the responsibility of citizenship in the most powerful nation in the history of the world. As Americans, most of us just want to be left alone. And that is fine, but it has consequences. Our individual choices often have international consequences. We should be more involved in our government and world, and we need to be accepting of criticism – even when we have been very well-intentioned. And we must be careful. We are, after all, the children of the empires of Asia and Europe. We ought to ensure that we do not decay as ingloriously as those regimes whose responsibilities we have sought to make our own. William Quinn is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service and a former staff sergeant in the United States Army. He can be reached at quinnthehoya.com AIMLESS FEET appears every other Tuesday.

I always find it fascinating to hear what people of ideologies and from countries at odds with the United States think of our capabilities. On one occasion, while I was stationed in Seoul, a North Korean woman insisted that the United States was capable of projecting nearly unlimited power anywhere in the world. She told me that Kim Jong-il’s regime was only able to commit its crimes due to U.S. complicity and asked me to appeal to the president to have Kim Jong-il removed. In Iraq, a detained member of al-Qaeda asked why we had arrested Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein’s Deputy Prime Minister and former Foreign Minister. “He’s a Christian,” he exclaimed, “He’s not your enemy.” I told him that the United States was not at war with Islam, but had been at war with Saddam Hussein’s government, of which Tariq Aziz was a member. The detainee was incredulous. “You arrested him just so you can say that. You shouldn’t bother. We know you are at war with Islam.” In both the countries I was stationed, I encountered countless opinions of U.S. power. Many people believe that we are too powerful. But, surprisingly, many more are not angry about our power, but rather about what they perceive as the thoughtless nature of our projection of power. Many men who took up arms against Americans in Baghdad, Fallujah and Mosul told me that they had done so because they thought we were either incompetent or evil. One expression common in Iraq is particularly illuminating: “Americans can put a man on the moon, but they can’t provide us with electricity.” Even among Americans, the application of U.S. political power is the subject of much heated debate. Some claim that the United States is an empire that now has the responsibilities (or commits the crimes) of past empires. If that is true, we make for poor imperialists. We do not have an emperor. Instead, we have a government designed to be limited, which weakens its ability to project itself with single-minded authority. We do not make territorial grabs or demand tribute from foreign countries. Some claim that we fail to recognize the sovereignty of nations with whom we disagree. There may be truth to that, but that alone does not make our nation imperial. Nevertheless, we are an incredibly powerful nation, which makes us dangerous. Our cultural and economic dominance of much of the world is supported by the presence of an enormous military and government bureaucracy in every region of the globe. One of the great ironies of the modern United States is that we send armed men and women to other countries to promote our policies, but we would never tolerate a foreign army doing the same thing on our soil. If our foreign policies are implemented carelessly, they have the potential to do harm to others. The scope of our influence is not always due to the actions or policies of our government, and little of what may be viewed as patronizing or tactless is ill-intentioned. Take, for instance, a volunteer with a typical non-governmental organization. A young adult uses a vacation to visit an undeveloped nation to teach English or help build houses. Chances are, they never return. There are benefits to that anonymity, and the concern shown by the volunteer is commendable. But is there really long-term change? Would we listen if someone from China came to teach us about problems in our own neighborhoods? When American citizens are unwilling to think carefully and sacrifice to achieve the goals they have set for their government, they risk making the United States a tyranny to other nations. When our political power is applied in ways that seem arbitrary or unrestrained, when it seems that we are not fully committed to the missions we have chosen to undertake, we end up doing far more harm than good. Americans are now considering a presidential election. No candidate is fully addressing the issue of U.S. hegemony. No one is saying that we must either pay for our foreign policy choices or abandon them; that we must either find a way to increase the size of the military or decrease its responsibilities; that the ambitious plans for fighting disease and poverty in Africa must be backed by an unwavering commitment from U.S. citizens; that many foreign people resent us not because we have power but because we use it in such a perplexing manner. No one says these things because a candidate cannot win an election by demanding sacrifice from Americans. At the height of the Cold War, President Kennedy challenged Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” I imagine that he would make a rather unpopular president today. He would be asking us to pay more in taxes, to serve our nation and community, and to accept the responsibility of citizenship in the most powerful nation in the history of the world. As Americans, most of us just want to be left alone. And that is fine, but it has consequences. Our individual choices often have international consequences. We should be more involved in our government and world, and we need to be accepting of criticism – even when we have been very well-intentioned. And we must be careful. We are, after all, the children of the empires of Asia and Europe. We ought to ensure that we do not decay as ingloriously as those regimes whose responsibilities we have sought to make our own. William Quinn is a sophomore in the School of Foreign Service and a former staff sergeant in the United States Army. He can be reached at quinnthehoya.com AIMLESS FEET appears every other Tuesday.