The American Empire

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." (From Shakespeare's "Henry IV")

By Deauwand Myers

The recent passing of George H.W. Bush allowed for the usual accolades bestowed upon other late, American presidents and high-ranking elected officials. Even CNN's Jake Tapper, not known for hyperbole, gave effusive praise of Bush senior as an elder statesmen and kind patriarch.

Americans have a difficult time objectively assessing our history and the past presidents of our nation. Bush senior wasn't the worst president, but to act as if he is the best thing since sliced bread is reductive and ahistorical.

He, like his predecessor, Reagan, ignored the growing epidemic of HIV/AIDS. Precious resources that could, and should, have been deployed by the government in researching and combating the disease were delayed for political and social reasons.

Simply, the disease was killing gay men and the poor, undesirable constituents without much political power and social capital. Belatedly, Bush senior allocated funding for the aforementioned purposes, a decade after the disease first surfaced, and most probably at the cost of needless suffering and death by countless thousands of people.

Like Reagan, Bush senior played upon white angst and racism in his infamous Willie Horton political ad against his Democratic challenger, Michael Dukakis, during the 1988 presidential race.

Bush senior did help lead the world to a peaceful conclusion of the Cold War, but the invasion of Iraq was riddled with untruths and outright war crimes.

The Bush administration purposely bombed civilian targets and civilian infrastructure, like water treatment facilities and power plants; this was done in an effort to garner more leverage with the Hussein regime's postwar concessions. The direct and peripheral civilian deaths from these acts are in the tens of thousands.

This Santa Claus making of political leaders isn't new. Reagan and Sen. McCain got the same treatment, as did Washington (a slave owner, rapist, and racist) and Jefferson (ditto).

Part of the recent glorification of mortal men in the American political zeitgeist is simply a reaction to the current president. Reagan, Bush, and Bush II were all war criminals and played to white supremacy, but they did so respectfully and with polish, unlike Trump. I find this a distinction without much of a difference.

The outsized power and influence of American geopolitical muscle skews the perception of American by both the electorate and the international community, Korea included.

President Moon Jae-in's attempts at rapprochement with North Korea are laudable, if not misguided. The Korean public rightfully wonders whether the Moon administration is sufficiently engaged in domestic issues, like the stagnating economy, low wage growth, and high unemployment or underemployment of young college graduates.

But a major stumbling block for any Korean administration dealing with North Korea isn't just the usual obfuscation and mendacity of the Kim regime.

More bombs were dropped on North Korea by America and her allies during the 1950-53 Korean War than in all of War World II. It's logical to say that North Koreans remember the massive destruction, death, and misery America visited upon the North, much of it gratuitous; even without brainwashing and the cult of personality the North Korean state deploys on its populace, a society so unjustly brutalized during a military conflict would have misgivings, to put it mildly, against such an aggressor.

American presidents have the unenviable task of negotiating the burden of carrying all the history attached with the government they lead: the genocidal land theft of the indigenous populations, the Atlantic Slave Trade, Jim Crow, and all the wars fought in our name, some noble and bloody (WWII), some just bloody (Vietnam).

I wrote before about America's nasty business of destabilizing and deposing democratically elected governments to install dictatorships. I will not enumerate the long list of these affairs again, only to say that the conservative and centrist left American politicians who exclaim so fervently that America has only and utterly been a force for good in the world need to read several books, and quickly.

Moon's endeavors (and one his party's past leaders have shared) must constantly be filtered through the lens of American Empire. For all Korea's attempts, like opening up some roads between the Koreas, exchanging gifts, re-establishing some semblance of diplomatic engagement with the North, President Moon and the administration must come to an unfortunate realization.

Korea's destiny is not its own. Besides our deep military and economic ties, Korea and America must be united on all issues regarding a peace treaty with the North, and the economic and political benefits such a treaty would mean for the Kim regime.

Moon and Kim's efforts aside, unless and until the U.S., regardless of the party or president in power, fully and faithfully agrees on peace talks with the North, the two Koreas will be indefinitely frozen in a ceasefire.

Deauwand Myers (deauwand@hotmail.com) holds a master's degree in English literature and literary theory, and is an English professor outside Seoul.