Liberty Still laissez-faire?

[McNeo]

I'm quite sure that the vast majority of Americans think that the United States of America acts as the land of the free and home of the brave, safeguarding freedom and liberty across the world as it has done since the two great wars between archaic, colonial and crucially, European powers of the last century. There is more than a little truth to this kind of belief. America was the steadying force in a world wrought with large scale conflict, acted out with new technology but in the style and tradition of napoleonic ambitions of conquest and dominion.

Such deeply held beliefs about being the "good guys", reinforced by everything from the requirement to sing the national anthem at school to Hollywood productions, would of course lead people to believe in protecting their country. In fact, I would think that there is sufficient evidence to place your average American, or maybe I should say the average Republican voter, on the same level as ideological and religious terrorists when it comes to how zealously they guard their beliefs.

As such, Americans see themselves as indisputably the good guys. I would expect Liberty to be the same, and for her people and especially her servicemen and women to believe that.

The discussion is not about the evils of Capitalism vs Socialism. One can argue all day about how certain economic systems serve to exploit workers, but frankly you might as well go read what was written over a century ago by Karl Marx. A lot of what he said is correct, but as a true philosopher, he offered only commentary on the systems in place at the time and how they may be changed to improve the lives of those who existed then. The Soviet Union especially lent weight to the point that it is better to at least operate on the basis of a system that predicts people will try to take advantage of each other for personal gain, than one which relies on collective responsibility and the feeling of duty one might feel to share what they have with those that have not.

As for supporting semi-lawful and unlawful elements because they need them, the United States of America followed Great Britain and the other great colonial powers in this respect. That is to say, the USA and by extension, Liberty, are quite pragmatic when it comes to what they define as their national interest. The USA has no problems with supporting terrorists and despots, or ignoring the principles of freedom and justice, when it suits them to do so. The last 50 years alone is littered with such examples.

Not to say they are any worse than any other regime out there. It is perhaps telling that even taking into account its faults, on balance I would still place America in the good category, if forced to choose between good and evil.

tl;dr - Libertonians see themselves as the good guys, because they view the world through coloured glasses (as do we all). The Navy and the LSF could not operate on any other basis than the belief that what they do is for the greater good. For if the road to hell can be paved with good intentions, can the opposite not be true?