Why American leaders like being #1

[GuestFellow]

All told, this has not been a good month for war criminals, international terrorists, and tyrannical despots. To be specific: Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, Ratko Mladic has been captured in Serbia, Muammar Qaddafi's forces are gradually wilting (and it's hard to imagine that the Qaddafi family will ever be regarded as legitimate again), and the protests against the Assad regime in Syria continue despite repeated acts of repression.

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Share your views.

 

[Pygoscelis]

Why do Americans like being #1 and claim that they are? Simple. Tribalism. They want to feel superior to everybody else. They want to feel special. They want to feel like they are better than others and have accomplished something great, even though all they did was happen to be born in a powerful country. Its like people who are all proud that their sports team won. They'll tell you "We won!", as if they contributed something more than sitting there watching the game.

 

[Who Am I?]

Why do Americans like being #1 and claim that they are? Simple. Tribalism. They want to feel superior to everybody else. They want to feel special. They want to feel like they are better than others and have accomplished something great, even though all they did was happen to be born in a powerful country. Its like people who are all proud that their sports team won. They'll tell you "We won!", as if they contributed something more than sitting there watching the game.

This x1000. It is especially worse now in American society than it used to be. There is a whole generation now that is born with a sense of entitlement to something they didn't even earn. They expect people (government especially) to give them something just because "you owe it to me". They've never worked for anything in their life, yet they expect to be able to live like the rest of us that do work.

And we wonder why the rest of the world hates the USA...

 

[GuestFellow]

Why do Americans like being #1 and claim that they are? Simple. Tribalism. They want to feel superior to everybody else. They want to feel special. They want to feel like they are better than others and have accomplished something great, even though all they did was happen to be born in a powerful country. Its like people who are all proud that their sports team won. They'll tell you "We won!", as if they contributed something more than sitting there watching the game.

You've hit the nail on the head.

The US government wants to remain the most powerful country because to gain control over natural resources and areas of strategic importance, to influence or force other countries to behave in a certain way and to protect themselves. The same goes for all countries, so the US is not unique in this sense.

In order to achieve the objectives above, the US government may need to introduce unethical policies. The public will not favour these kinds of policies, so the US government will need to persuade the public. For example, that America has a unique role in the world, to spread democracy. These ideas allow the US government to take an aggressive stance against weaker countries and the public permit this because they believe the US is the "good guy".

I think the concept of good vs evil is deeply ingrained within American culture. The US role in world war 2 and the collapse of the Soviet Union helped Americans to form the idea that they are number 1. However, the Soviet Union collapsed because it's domestic policies were not working, not because America directly made the Soviet Union collapse.

I also think this is why some Muslim militants have targeted America. Those that fought against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan believed that they destroyed the Soviet Union, even though was not true. These Muslim militants developed a false sense of confidence. So they targeted America.

Overall, I suspect the collapse of the Soviet Union was a crucial moment to help form these ideas. Some Americans believe that the collapse of the Soviet Union represents the fact that America is number 1 and some Muslim militants believe they were responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union which means the same could happen to America. It is as though both sides have fooled themselves.