America’s Big Stick – Still Swinging After All These Years
By Terry Miller
Published: Thursday, September 10th, 2009
We came across this letter published in the Pasadena Independent in 1958 written by Sierra Madre activist , Terry Mackenzie.
We thought it appropriate and all the more timely to re-print the letter 51 years later when our country is yet again at war in the Middle East; yet again in the Pasadena Independent as well as our other newspapers which include the Sierra Madre Weekly, Arcadia Weekly and Monrovia Weekly print the following letter:
______________________
No Big Stick
To those who applaud the “Big Stick” I would submit that the display and use of force are the methods of barbarians.
This includes Russia as well as ourselves. In answer to the usual reply that “civilized” societies have used force for centuries, I am inclined to agree with Albert Schweitzer that we are “civilized” barbarians. True civilization will be based on rational ethics which practices, rather than preaches, Christianity.
To the man who sees in all creation, his Creator; who feels a deep bond with all humanity, force is unthinkable.
Try to reconcile our action in the Mideast with the precepts in the Sermon on the Mount. Then continue to assert ” We are a Christian Nation” That is truly an exercise in “double-think.”
Terry Mackenzie
Sierra Madre
Big Stick ideology, or Big Stick diplomacy, or Big Stick policy, is a form of hegemony and was the slogan describing U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt’s corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. The term originated from the phrase “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” The idea of negotiating peacefully, simultaneously threatening with the “big stick”, or the military, ties in heavily with the idea of Realpolitik, which implies an amoral pursuit of political power that resembles Machiavellian ideals
1 Response for “America’s Big Stick – Still Swinging After All These Years”
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This piece makes little sense when one attempts to pass it through the sieve of reality. Real people and real governments respond to power and self interest. We use military action and diplomacy because, historically, they work in supporting national security. We don’t stick our fingers in our butt to find some philosophy that sounds cool, and then use it toward real goals, thank God. We are also extremely fortunate that someone like Terry M can speak her mind, no matter how empty, and that her opinon does not matter. She has also probably never disciplined children.