"In addition to tightening the screws on sanctions, the United States can model respect for civil liberties and human rights at home — including rights for reproductive freedom — and conduct transparent, accurate and peaceful elections."
http://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1574054340624613379?cxt=HHwWhoC84aiFldgrAAAA
Why on earth does the pulpit keep reappearing?
The United States ought to adopt ... because it is not in a position to model ... behaviour of these types. The world does not look to the USA as a model of democracy. It is barely holding onto its own. And maybe allow that freedom permits many choices, not only the ones the US adopts for itself on civil liberties and human rights.
I understand very well countries that don't wish to do the same thing as the US: for instance, they may say the freedoms the US embraces seem to produce a whole lot of violence. How can we avoid that? Or that a culture which pretends to protect women but nevertheless produces much of the world's pornography isn't entirely consistent. Maybe we don't want that for ourselves. Or maybe another country will say, look how Americans consume so many recreational drugs. That's not for us.
It isn't that the USA is bad, or worse than other places. It's that it is kinda obnoxious to assume it's better. And yet that monster keeps reappearing. Another example was DeSantis over slavery, in which he claimed, laughably, that abolition was an American idea. And yet there are examples of American achievement: the moon landings; Huckleberry Finn; an important (if tardy) contribution to the two world wars etc, which most sensible people acknowledge and rightly praise.
Maybe in these times, the pulpit can be retired once and for all, and the shining city put back down on the plain. The US doesn't need to look down on other countries as if it exists on a superior level. Indeed, perversely, that sort of humility WOULD provide a model.
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