I'm from the States, but don't hold that against me!
I have heard this joke, delivered in a nervous, mock-sarcastic tone, too many times during my stay in London. Its other variants include "I'm from America, but I didn't vote for Bush," and my favorite, "My accent? It's American. Sorry."
When the British people think politically and culturally about America, they think negatively. As a result, I have seen Americans shun Americanism in the strangest fashion. Some guidebooks recommend that we shelve all American paraphernalia and remove all U.S. flags from our clothing. Another suggests we tell others we're from Canada. An American tourist may be a Yankees or a Red Sox fan back home, but abroad he is Canadian -- for safety reasons.
What does it say about the role of the United States in the world if Americans have to conceal their identity when visiting even our staunchest ally in Europe, England? It says one thing: America has lost its soft power. Our democratic values still have an appeal abroad, but that appeal is now muted by strong dislike of the effects our foreign policy has on their own lives.
As our country fights to secure the American way of life, we surrender not only temporary freedoms at home, but the appeal of our democratic values abroad.
When our F-16s blaze across the Middle Eastern skies en route to Kabul and Baghdad, Syrians, Egyptians, Jordanians and others ask, "Could we be next?" Their governments answer yes and pretend to join the war on terror by throwing everyone they dislike in jail. Their radical factions answer yes and use the people's fear of regime change to step up recruitment.
When we curb our liberties at home, European citizens ask, "If we join this fight, could our rights go next?" As Spain and England have found out, when countries join America in Kabul and Baghdad, terrorists bomb their transportation networks and their governments suppress their liberties (on occasion giving their citizens to the CIA to be exported and tortured in Syria).
When we declare war on radical Islam everywhere, Russia's President Putin joins the fight in order to legitimize Russian atrocities against Muslims in Chechnya. As illiberal regimes joined our cause, the fallout on their citizens has often been infinitely worse than on our own. If, in the fight for freedom, journalists in America lose their rights, in Russia, they lose their lives.
As America leads by example, Europe shuns our example, Russia embraces it for all the wrong reasons and the Middle East becomes less manageable. Through reckless use of hard power in the Middle East, America is losing its soft power everywhere.
Here in London, a touristy sports bar provides refuge for American patriotism. Americans come here to hang out with other Americans, drink Budweiser and watch American football. A burly guard stands at the door. He waves us in. "How did you know we were Americans?" my friend asks. We are wearing jeans and T-shirts, with no American flags or emblems. "Oh, I can spot you from a mile away," he replies.
