Does America want everyone’s mushy love, or reasonable respect?

Some commenter over at Defense and Freedom
http://defense-and-freedom.blogspot.com/2008/04/standing-of-usa-in-world.html

wrote

[...] As for the rest of the world and what they think of us, you know, there’s nothing that frustrates me more than to hear that.[...]What part of the world do we want approval from? Do we want approval from the Europeans who have gone so damn wussy that they cannot — they could not if they had to — mount a military defense of themselves if they were attacked? Not even with NATO, because it has been allowed to lapse. Is it those people that we want the approval from? Do we want approval from people like Robert Mugabe? Do we want approval from some of the warlords and terrorists of Al-Qaeda? Who in the world do we want approval from? Do we want approval from Hamas, like Jimmy Carter does? We have the approval of our allies. We have the approval of the UK. We have the approval of the Australians. Do we want the approval of the Chinese? Do we want the approval of Kim Jong Il.

Who do we want to love us? What is this? I guarantee you:

You live your life this way as an individual, and you are forever going to be confused and unhappy because you will be embarking on something that’s impossible, and that is, A, to make everybody like you; and, B, respect you.

This is something that has to be earned, particularly on the side of respect — and respect is earned with strength. Nobody is going to respect you if they figure out you’re doing whatever you have to do to get their approval. They’re going to laugh at you! They’re going to think you’re a weak-kneed wuss. So the hell with that! We do, hopefully, the right thing for the sake of this country. We’re the only ones in charge of our affairs.[...]

1) The behavior of countries cannot always be dictated by analogies to the behavior of individuals. Reasoning by analogy is not terribly precise.

2) America doesn’t need everyone to love it, but it does need people in general not to hate it so much that they’re willing to kill themselves attacking it.

3) America also needs lots of cooperation from its partners, especially international banks, who are not really countries or official members of the “international community.”

4) America needs to stop allowing lobbyists to screw it on behalf of kleptocratic special interests.

The American state is not bombing people for the sake of all three hundred million American people. The American state is bombing people for the sake of a few plutocrats.