In this essay from TomPaine.com, John Peffer argues that there is nobody on the contemporary international scene to rein in a unilateralist administration so we will have to do it internally. He cites a reference by Janusz Onyszkiewicz, a former foreign minister of Poland, to the "self-limiting" revolution in Poland during the 1980 as a model for the U.S. to achieve its goals through self-limiting policies.
The Bush administration will not voluntarily absorb this particular Polish wisdom. The Soviet Union is no longer a threat, and no single country has taken its place. An ethos of restraint runs counter to the habits of empires, which rule by fear and force compared to the "soft power" of mere hegemons. And, perhaps most importantly, the Bush team subscribes to the two doctrines of American exceptionalism. They believe that America is an exception to such historical trends as the overreach and collapse of empires. They also believe that the exceptional American model should be the standard operating system for humanity -- imposed Microsoft-style if necessary. (Emphasis added)If there is no significant external check on the imperial ambitions of the United States -- aside from those that arise from the sheer messiness of reality such as the sovereign aspirations of Iraqis or the impossibility of taking out North Korea's dispersed nuclear facilities with "surgical" strikes -- we must look elsewhere for the force that will establish limits. We must turn our gaze inward -- to the American public itself.
Is this a call for regime change in Washington?