The last U.S. census put the total number of U.S. citizens around 300 million. Other polls and tallies put the number of total world citizens at around 6 billion, which makes the approximate percentage of American citizens around 5% of the world's total.

So...why is it that the American government feels like it automatically gets to decide what is right in the world and acts as if the world is going to just accept what the U.S. says at face value? We in America are told all the time that we live in a global community. That we live in an ever-shrinking world. I accept this because I have been out in the world and have found a love and respect for people of different countries, races, and cultures.

Yet, when I debate or have discussions with Americans who haven't even been out in the world about current events, I get a predictable response of America uber Alles. Our country was founded on the principles of "all men are created equal" and we are all born with inalienable Rights bestowed upon us by our Creator. If that "all" meets the dictionary definition of the word, then that should mean that Indians, Pakistanis, Russians, Chinese, Germans, South Africans, Brazilians, and even Iraqis, Iranians, Afghanis, Mexicans, and Cubans have the same Rights.

So...why is it that our government operates under the belief that it can do no wrong? Why do many in the U.S. believe that we have the right to demand that other countries do our bidding? Act as vassals to us? Subjugate their sovereignty to us?

Barack Obama, in his recent address in front of the German people in Berlin, said that he was a proud American and citizen of the world. I agree with that statement. It is all fine and dandy to be proud of one's nation of origin, but we must remember that we as Americans only make up 5% of the world's population and we need to respect that other countries have their own pride in their nation of origin.

If we don't believe that other countries should tell us what to do or unduly influence our internal affairs, then we should not do it to other countries.

Those who disagree with that last paragraph also believe automatically that Russia is wrong in re: the war in South Ossetia. I have posted many stories and reports here on Xomba in the past week about what took place from sources outside of the standard disinformation outlets of CNN, Fox News, and the wire services. My doing so was met with howls of disagreement from the same people who believe that the controlled media is always telling the truth and should be accepted at face value.

Going back to the other 95% of the world, those same howlers conveniently forget that there is a whole big world out there with their own media sources and interpretations as to what happened. If we are going to live honestly in an international community, then we need to remember that there are actually other countries out there. Ugly Americanism makes for a very poor foreign policy agenda.

Once we as a country start to recognize that there are other people in the world that have similar hopes and dreams for their children, who just want to live in peace and who are not harboring any ill will for the American people contrary to what the U.S. government wants us to believe, the sooner we will move closer to a true and lasting peace.
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"Let not your zeal to share your principles entice you beyond your borders."--Marquis de Sade