Colin Steer, Associate Editor - Opinion

So there you have it. 'Joe', the now famous 'plumber' of the current American presidential campaign has declared that the United States is the greatest country on Earth. That was hardly an original line, but one he stated emphatically in a recent interview with reporters.

He is also tired of people criticising his country, said he, and he is not apologetic about being an American. He shouldn't be. And neither should others be expected to be apologetic if they see the US acting in ways that they believe are contrary to theirs and their countries' best interests.

The truth is, love of country has degenerated into crass idolatry among many Americans. And many of their religious leaders who should be providing real moral leadership are ardent participants in this orgy of nationalistic self-indulgence. In the current narrative, one could easily be led to believe that God is an American Republican.

There is no question about it. The American people and American governments have done an exceedingly great amount of good for other peoples across the globe over many decades.

Done an awful lot of bad

They have provided material aid and financial support, and more than any other country, have opened their borders to foreigners, even as they have responded with admirable humanitarian support in times of crises.

They have also done an awful lot of bad - to other peoples and to their own.

They have worked to undermine the efforts at self-determination of peoples, helped in the overthrow of legitimate governments and encouraged the vulgar exploitation of the resources of other countries for the benefit of big business and to the detriment of the peoples of those countries.

This kind of behaviour, by the way, has not bothered large segments of its God-fearing population. Why should it? Foreigners are children of a lesser god. In a parody of American politics in the comedy Head of State, one of the actors said something that is implied when many American public officials speak: "God bless America - and no place else."

An incident that is relatively minor in the scheme of world politics demonstrated the peculiarity of the American moral perspective. Sometime after Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa, he visited with Libya's Muammar al-Gadaffi, who had provided strong support to the African National Congress in its struggle against the apartheid regime. Washington, which had been a reluctant and at best lukewarm critic of apartheid South Africa, chided Mandela for not distancing himself from Libya.

But with the dignity, self-assurance and integrity that cannot be bought in a mall, Mandela said simply: "Our moral authority dictates that we should not abandon those who helped us in the darkest hour in the history of this continent."

Disturbed

Millions of peoples across the world who embrace the high ideals of the American Constitution and general way of life, are sometimes disturbed at how easily these ideals are trampled underfoot. They have sometimes seen a country that has used its might to crush others. They have seen a country whose citizens agonise over "our boys" being killed in wars overseas, but who can hardly spare a thought for children from other countries being dismembered by their Christian soldiers in wars premised on deception.

At some point in its history, America and Americans will have to face up to one of the deep moral issues that has confronted it over many years - and that is, do they believe and respect the oft-repeated creed enunciated by Jefferson in their Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

And if they reject that ideal, should there be any surprise that millions of people do not worship at the altar they have built?!

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