"Of the people, by the people, for the people"

One of the main reasons I chose to come to Utah State was so that I could study what I'm interested in - Korea, or more broadly, Asia. My classes this semester include one on Chinese government and politics and one on the Cold War in Asia, which, for those of you who aren't familiar with either, are filled with a lot of fighting.

Picture here

In my Chinese government class, we're working our way to the present day, and are currently learning about the Sino-Japanese War that was a part of World War II (but most people in America don't know about, since we were only involved in an advisory capacity), and the civil war between the Communists and the Nationalist that followed it. It would probably be more accurate to say encompassed it, since the fighting started before the Japanese invaded, was temporarily suspended while China tried to fight the Japanese, and resumed towards the end of the fighting with the Japanese. In my Cold War class we're currently studying the first war in Vietnam. What? you say. There was another war in Vietnam? Yes, there was, and they don't really mention it in history class in American high schools. Vietnam was a French colony starting in the 19th century, and after World War II, the French were reluctant to let such a great source of natural resources go. But the Vietnamese understandably would have liked to have control of their own country, and so the nationalists, led by Ho Chi Minh, started a guerilla war with the French. And left to their own devices, they would have pushed the French right out of Vietnam. Only, Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh had Communist ideology. And Communist ideology -- or more correctly, the Communist power bloc -- was exactly what the United States was deathly afraid of in the 1950s. So what do you think happened?

Picture here

Needless to say, combined with the events currently taking place in the Middle East and northern Africa, this has really set me thinking. My first thought was to be disappointed that America was so often so quick to put the short-term goal of immediate stability and national interest over the long-term goal of helping the citizens of the country establish a self-sustaining government that followed the voice of the people. For all our rhetoric about democracy and the rights of the people America has historically done more to secure its own economic or political safety over supporting government "of the people, by the people, for the people". Yes, I understand that things are much clearer in hindsight, and that policymakers felt that the Soviet Union controlled any and all Communism in a huge plot to take over the world, and even that when you can't know the future you have to make decisions based on the best information you have. But I still claim the right to be disappointed that my childhood view of the US as the greatest country in the world, Supporter of Liberty, Democracy, and People's Rights, is not as true I was taught it was in sixth grade social studies.

Picture here