Does America have the responsibility to go and cure the worlds 'evils'?

Question

If you think 'Yes', then by what mandate do you think this responsibility is put on America. Please go beyond the 'might is right' and 'cause we are the best of the best' theories.

If you think 'No', then why not, considering that America certainly has resources at its disposal to bring change.

Note: Please also define what you consider the world's evils to be.

Answer 1

America cannot cure it's own evils! Starting with the bush administration, which is in fact EVIL!

Answer 2

No. As Teddy Roosevelt put it: America is not the Worlds' Babysitter. That is why he disband the American War Machine after WWI.

FDR was the President that reassembled the American War Machine.... for political power.

America cannot cure it's own evils, so it has no yard stick to measure. Yes, this country was made great by great men, but since the early 60's (after JFK's death, though some believe it began with Eisenhower [I, however, believe it began with FDR]), we have fallen. Resting on our Laurels.

And, Bush is NOT the only one to blame. The Roosevelts, Johnsons, Nixons, Gores, Kennedys, Grahams, Falwells, Clintons and ALL the other self-glorified Political/Religious Aristocrats are also to blame. They are always placing themselves and their purposes first, the common people last. It's all about the money, power and prestige.

The World's evils are the Political/Religious Entities (the people that hold the office, as named above, and the ones in other countries) using their power to bully others or take advantage of the system. Or allowing more powerful entities to bully them for their own purposes. These entities don't care about the common man, they care about power and how it benefits themselves, or how it makes them look to other powerful leaders.

And, for those that believe Gore would have done better.... think again. My father is an active Democrat since the 1950's and he voted against Gore and Kerry. He says they are not Democrats, but Liberals posing as Democrats.

I, myself, am a Jeffersonian (Jefferson was a Democratic-Republican before the current Democrat and Republican parties split the idealism). And, NONE of the Presidents in the last 40 years have been Jeffersonians.

Answer 3

Is America a super hero? It doesn't have to, but if it want to, by all means, go ahead. What I think is evil doesn't matter, it's what American thinks it is, and that's where the problem is. What will it "cure"? And how will it "cure"?
What if another country decides to do that and thinks America is evil?

No, America does not have the responsibility to cure the world's evil, but to cure it's own problems. If the evil in the world needs to be cured, then let the entire world decide on what it needs to be, not one country.

Answer 4

To answer this I'll need to incorporate an analogy: If the family of nations is indeed a family... then IFF we are truly adept at something or have the wherewith-all to set principled practices into motion else where VIA "living the EXAMPLE" then by God's will, let it be so... perhaps we can all contribute or "take turns" in being that admonitory "Papa -voice." BUT nobody likes a bullying "BIG BROTHER" who twists your arm to get you to see it "his way." Our mistake is that we think we have all the answers... if so, world hunger, pestilence, & disease should have been wiped off this globe long ago, because we've CERTAINLY had the means & ways... so there are NO excuses for our SLOTH, our GLUTTONY, our ARROGANCE, our INDULGED & MILITANT IGNORANCE, our LUST for UNDUE POWER, our FRIGGIN' GREED, and our LACK of EMPATHY for the less empowered. As the Aussies say, we are "UP-OURSELVES"... "Hey! Who's the guy with his head up his ****?" We can influence the hearts, heads, and hands of this world by "walking the walk." Presently, we merely "talk the talk:" A good portion of our "foreign aid" winds up in the Swiss bank accounts of corrupt 3rd-world government officials. We allow multi-nationals to dump toxic wastes into the costal waters of those 3rd world countries unabated or largely unchallenged because "palms have been greased." We are far from "the shining beakon of hope" (gag reflex) we would believe ourselves to be. And yet we stand about and pontificate. As long as there are civil wars that kill the innocent, as long as there is human oppression and wholesale infractions against human dignity & freedoms we should not rest. If we take up arms it had damn well be for the right reasons and not some trumped up charges that cannot be substantiated. There are other ways to dispose of despots, dictators, or entrenteched & corrupt regimes. As of this point in time, we Americans delude ourselves into thinking that we have a sacred right to impose our will on the rest of the world. We have always felt this great "Moral Superiority" because we do not suffer under a totalitarian regime or "theocracy;" and while it is true that we are blessed - presently - with separation of "chuch & state" we only need to look at the religious extremism in this country to know we stand on skaky ground.
My father used to say that human evil can be traced back to human greed... with the possible exception of a few cases, I'm now of the belief he was right.

Answer 5

Why should it be America's responsibility? America probably causes as many evils as it tries to cure in other parts.
I think governments with power need to use the power they have to improve life for the families and individuals who improve life,
and to improve people who don't improve life. Evils that can be curable would be education to cure misinformation and ignorance, healthcare, jobs people can live on, giving freedom of religion and speech to all nations, food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, clothing for the naked, help for widows and orphans. If American has the power to cure the evils-then it needs to...
mandate...as humans who know what it is to suffer evils....because American are humans with resources they have the mandate to improve lives with the resources they are given.
It's the mandate of humanity and of having resources.
If we don't use the resources well, we will have them taken away from us....
and given to somebody who will.
Like a deposit in a savings account....

Answer 6

Its not America's responsibility to take care of anything but America, but over the past 100 years or so we have become our own self proclaimed "world police". USA has the strongest influence on everything, mainly because if you don't agree with us, we will eventually go to war with you. Every leader in the world knows that and when they have conflict with another country or within themselves they call us to come in and handle their situations for them. We also do it for support when the time comes to actually go to war for a legit reason it helps to have other countries there with us.

As for the world's evils that can be anything you think is negative.
Every person interprets good and evil on different levels, so its hard to have what is a common good and evil on minor things. Obviously genocide and things like that are ultimately evil and should be dealt with by everyone in the world not just one major country...

if that makes any sense

Answer 7

I don't think america should go and cure the worlds evils- it should be the whole world. Over the course of time, people have comitted so much wrong and caused so much suffering against themselves, others, and the planet that healing those wrongs is going to require humanity to look deep down into the very core of itself and ask what's really right. We kill, steal, we rape, we torture, we plunder, we destroy.... i could go on for ages, and you could go on too.. How many of you kept adding to the list when I stopped? You see? Everyone has a little taste of wrongness, and until everyone decides that they don't want to do these things anymore, they will still happen. That's why, its not about america, its really about people in general.

Answer 8

No, but America must be wise in looking at the evils and predicting which evils will eventually turn around and bite us on the butt. Like the Japanese did us back in WW2, when they attacked Pearl Harbor. America did not provoke the attack, in fact we were minding our business, but Japan saw us as a threat. Today, other countries also see us as a threat, although most are afraid to act on it. However, 9/11 showed us for certain that there are people out there that will strike us, especially when we let our guards down and telegraph our vulnerabilities.

No, its not our job to solve all problems of the world, and we couldnt do it anyway. But a wise man is one that thinks things through, and understands which evils can eventually hurt him. Like Hitler when he started out by attacking poland...we were not polish so we didnt care. Then he attacked another, and another....then we cared.

Answer 9

If every nation takes up its responsibility to remove evils, then there's no need for an America as a God father.

Terrorism,hatred,poverty,..................illiteracy,..........untouchability,racial discrimination are only the few evils the world is facing.

Money or any kinda resources cant remove these. These are all part of the society & the society itself can bring a change.

I dont intend to hurt any community.

Answer 10

Yeah sure, if we were'nt at war and did'nt have numerous numerous problems to take care of at home yeah, but then again I'd like to be superman and fly around and help everybody too, but for right now, my car needs an oil change, I need money, and I can't fly. The world's evils are way too many for me to list here, and we got big, big problems here at home, you got brutal maniacal dictators everywhere, genocide taking place on a daily basis, governments stripping away people's human rights, inconsiderate trashing of the enviroment, starvation brought on by misallocation of financial resources, the list goes on and on, to imply that we have anywhere near the resources to cure the wordl's ills is acutely delusional, but it sure would be nice

Answer 11

I don't believe that "evil" exists... I am buddhist. I think there are two sides to every story. I won't go into the whole laundry list of things that are wrong with the war in Iraq or "on terrorism".

I do however, wish that our country would occasionally step in to help people that don't have something we need or want (oil).

For instance, I hear there are some people in Darfur that could really use some assistance...