[…] Our interventionist policies in Afghanistan and Iraq were aimed at making other nations—with far different cultures, histories, and political traditions—into liberal democracies mirroring ours. Before that, in the 1990s, we sought to impose our values upon the Balkans. Or consider the symbolic gesture of flying rainbow LGBTQ pride flags at our embassies, a tradition that became routine in 2011 (until this year), when then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton proclaimed that “gay rights are human rights” and encouraged U.S. diplomats to push countries with different conceptions of sexual ethics to adopt America’s own. Moreover, the American government has often partnered with international organizations that seek to radically transform traditional societies in Africa and elsewhere, often for the worse. […]
More than two years ago, Theresa May, speaking before Republican politicians in Philadelphia, declared that Britain and America would never again invade foreign countries “in an attempt to make the world in their own image,” and pledged not to repeat the “failed policies of the past.” This is the kind of conservative, restrained policy that should guide our decisions on the world stage. America is not a secular version of the Catholic Church, but one nation among many. Läs artikel