The following was submitted by a Pirate supporter using the pseudonym “Rustbeard”, debunking the myth of nation-building. This article is apart of the project “Message in a Bottle”, allowing supporters of the US Pirate Party to submit editorial articles to the United States Pirate Party website.
I first want to thank the US Pirate Party for the opportunity to write this out. I see no better community or outlet to relay these feelings which are relevant to our current situation in the US.
So, I wish to discuss why, from my perspective, Nation Building is a fallacy in politics.
The truth is, every time the United States has attempted to nation-build, from Afghanistan to Haiti, it has led to more instability rather than stability. This should be no surprise, why should one expect our nation to be able to occupy another nation (which inherently creates conflict with local populations) and influence them to implement a government that nearly replicates ours (which is already flawed itself)?
For the lack of a better analogy, it would be similar to if a French restaurant received multiple food safety violations.
Then, I walk in and rather than assisting to make them more compliant with food safety, I advise them to sell cheeseburgers and fries instead.
My point being, the US government sees an issue with a country (no matter the validity), then assumes the solution is regime change. Where they then feel the need to implement US style “democracy”, which in truth is a structure that does NOT work for every country on earth.
Therefore Nation Building’s assumption that our model is the best and that we have the ability to enforce it on others contributes greatly to this fallacy.
We also must recognize, as I briefly mentioned earlier, how the US government’s attempts to occupy and nation-build do not create more stability but actually creates instability.
From local populations rightfully being opposed to foreign occupation/control to the fact that the US government during said process changes the nations to fit the needs of US corporate interests.
What comes to mind is the 1915-1934 US occupation of Haiti, where in 1917 the US government coerced the Haitian Legislature to change their Haitian revolution era constitution to allow foreign land ownership. With this in mind Haitians at this point likely realize the extractive nature of the occupation, for how can one say this “mission” of nation building is solely in the interest of Haitians now?
This sort of action also does vast harm to the local economy as local businesses will have less resources and revenue from the land will not circulate through Haiti but now also be taken abroad to the United States.
This sort of economic activity creates an increase in poverty, which leads to instability which can be seen even to this day.
Therefore as pirates and as humans, we should not spend our energy or time on regime change. Furthermore, we should not support or defend it, but denounce it and urge our representatives and lawmakers to end the horrendous practice that has no useful purpose to anyone but a select few.
Nation Building is a Fallacy in politics that I hope to see go extinct, sooner rather than later.
uspirates.org/message-in-a-bot…
GNU/翠星石
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