Foreign Policy Myths Progressives Need to Let Go Of

The new, but excellent progressive foreign policy blog Democracy Arsenal featuring five real, honest to goodness Democratic foreign policy experts is always worth reading. But I particularly found this top 10 list insightful:

Top 10 Myths Progressives Need to Let Go Of to Regain the Upper Hand on Foreign Policy
1. Americans like and care about the UN
2. Americans want to be liked/don’t want to be seen as a global bully
3. Americans care about alliances for their own sake
4. A progressive foreign policy is reconcilable with protectionism
5. Either the left or the center will get a foreign policy platform it is reasonably happy with
6. America is a dangerous force in the world/does more bad than good
7. Americans can fully appreciate abstract threats
8. The failures in Iraq will push ordinary Americans toward a progressive foreign policy
9. We’re up against a tradition of passivity and pacifism in our own ranks
10. The U.S.’s challenges in the Middle East are primarily caused by our policy toward Israel

Check out the post to see the explanations for each of these. And notice how the next blogger disagrees slightly with 1, 2 and 4.

For myself, I somewhat disagree with #6. America is a dangerous force in the world. But I agree with the second half, we don't do more bad than good. But we are dangerous and we should never forget it. To quote Gandalf:

Yet a treacherous weapon is ever a danger to the hand.

Dangerous! And so am I, very dangerous: more dangerous than anything you will ever meet, unless you are brought alive before the seat of the Dark Lord. And Aragorn is dangerous, and Legolas is dangerous. You are beset with dangers, Gimli son of Gloin; for you are dangerous yourself, in your own fashion.

Say also, that to crooked eyes truth may wear a wry face.

Dangerous does not mean bad, but to pretend America is not dangerous is foolish.