Madam, - Vincent Browne (Opinion, October 13th) and John Anderson (World View, October 16th) present an accurate and chilling picture of US world dominance, coupled with political and electoral systems which make it extremely difficult for a more collaborative American foreign policy to emerge.
Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the US, once said that "the chief business of the American people is business". Today, the chief business of the Bush administration, more than any other previously, is to facilitate the global activity of American capital. As America's productivity and economic world dominance decline, it is dangerously likely that its military power will be used to protect what it sees as its interests - even though, in the end, such a policy will be entirely counter-productive, as in Iraq.
Meanwhile, it is almost impossible for a clearer-headed and safer policy to emerge. In the current election campaign, Governor Howard Dean was the only aspiring Democratic candidate completely against the Iraq war. The Democratic party establishment decided that he was, therefore, unelectable and John Kerry emerged as the Democratic nominee. As Vincent Browne pointed out, Kerry has had to prove that he is just as war-minded as Bush in order to have any chance of election. He may be a better informed and more thoughtful politician than George Bush, but he is not significantly different. For that reason, it is probably better for the rest of the world if Bush is re-elected.
Four more years of Bush will provide an even clearer picture of the threat represented by American dominance and the relentless pursuit of the unattainable "American Dream". It will give more time for alternative visions of world governance to emerge and solidify in Europe and the Far East. And most important of all, it will give extra time for the American people (still duped by Republican propaganda) to realise that the Bush administration has been a disaster.
They may then see that their own security is best protected by a collaborative foreign policy that takes the rest of the world's needs into account and thus dissolves the global anger currently directed against the US.
In 2008, that may still be too much to hope for. In 2004, it is quite impossible. - Yours, etc.,
JERRY CROWLEY,
Belgrove Lawn,
Chapelizod,
Dublin 20.