Promised Land, Crusader State<\/em><\/a>, 4\u20135) divides the history of American foreign affairs into two testaments, summarized by the two phrases of the title.<\/p>\n\u201cOur Old Testament dominated the rhetoric and, for the most part, the practice of U.S. diplomacy from 1776 to the 1890s, and preached the doctrines of Liberty at home, Unilateralism abroad, an American System of states, and Expansion. These first four traditions were all about Being and Becoming, and were designed by the Founding Fathers to deny the outside world the chance to shape America\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our New Testament dominated the twentieth century, preaching \u201cthe doctrines of Progressive Imperialism, Wilsonianism, Containment, and Global Meliorism, or the belief that America has a responsibility to nurture democracy and economy growth around the world.\u201d Unlike the Old Testament, these \u201cfour traditions are all about Doing and Relating, and were designed to give America the chance to shape the outside world\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Writing in 1998, McDougall saw that the twenty-first century would see a clash. Already in the twentieth, the \u201cNew Testament, however much it derived form the Old, brought discord and danger as well as promise.\u201d Its doctrines and traditions \u201cwere far less coherent, clashed with each other and with the received Old Testament Wisdom, and reflected an image of America not only as a Promised Land, but as a Crusader State called to save the world.\u201d Throughout the century, we tried to be \u201cgood \u2018Jews\u2019 and good \u2018Christian\u2019\u2014indeed several denominations of Christian\u2014all at once!\u201d The great question of the third century is, \u201ccan the United States be a Crusader State and still remain a Promised Land?\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump, a thoroughgoing \u201cJew,\u201d has answered with a decisive No.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Walter McDougall (Promised Land, Crusader State, 4\u20135) divides the history of American foreign affairs into two testaments, summarized by the two phrases of the title. \u201cOur Old Testament dominated the rhetoric and, for the most part, the practice of U.S. diplomacy from 1776 to the 1890s, and preached the doctrines of Liberty at home, Unilateralism […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[846,107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-foreign-policy","category-donald-trump"],"yoast_head":"\n
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