https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWxh2oS7Ays
But, there was a time where that was rolled back in the 70s because of the public outrage, and an American spirit that was not accepting of these illegal and freedom robbing practices. “Freedom” was still alive in the American psyche which would not have tolerated what we are doing today.
Post Cold War, we were the only remaining worlds super power, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact. China was at the time, in a military sense, barely even an emerging power. We quickly learned that the use of force can achieve quick results. That we could use force with impunity. Our policy makers became trigger happy. The US has been involved in about 780 military campaigns of various types since its creation in 1776. In 220 years of our existence we had about 529 various military campaigns (~2.4 per year). In the last 33 years, we have had 251 (~7.6 per year).
Then came 9-11 and a dumb-ass President that opened the flood gates for the “deep state,” i.e. the intel and police state. This moron advocated flat out Unconstitutional policies and laws like the Patriot Act, bold faced lied to the American public when he said we don't torture when he himself signed and authorized “torture.” The era of secrecy, mass surveillance, the ability to side step Constitutional rights, total control had been born. Exactly what we tried to get rid of in the 1970s, what Truman feared, what Eisenhower feared, what our Founding Fathers wanted to prevent, had been created. In fact, we essentially have adopted all the same vile tactics which we once proclaimed were evidence of how evil the once former Soviet Union was: kidnapping (extraordinary rendition), torture (enhanced interrogations), assignations, gross violations of our own Constitutions and the rights guaranteed therein. The IC grew by leaps and bounds in manpower, budget, scope of powers, all new agencies... The US Intel Community is roughly (((TWICE))) the size of the Russian FSB and all their intel services combined: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Intelligence_Community
What you define as us learning has made us indistinguishable from what we once called the “evil empire.” And that is meant literal.
This war in Ukraine is a war “we” created.
This is us expanding East: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-president-zelenskiy-holding-talks-with-biden-adviser-says-2021-12-09/
—We wouldn't accept the Russians or Chinese building bases in Mexico. We were willing to risk nuclear war when the Russians based missiles in Cuba in 1962: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis
—We lied about NATO expansion Eastward: https://www.france24.com/en/russia/20220130-did-nato-betray-russia-by-expanding-to-the-east
—We violated Minsk: https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/631007/us-begins-second-phase-of-ukrainian-training-equipping-mission/ (We bragged about it in our official .gov sites!)
—We have been invading the Russians sphere of influence, even nations outright allies with them where they have naval and air bases: Iraq, Libya, Venezuela, Syria...
—We attempt to break Montreux constantly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreux_Convention_Regarding_the_Regime_of_the_Straits
—We withdrew from the Ballistic Missile Treaty: https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2002-07/news/us-withdraws-abm-treaty-global-response-muted
But that does not stop us from wanting to pretend like we're some knight in shining silver armor defending national sovereignty, democracy and human rights in Ukraine and that we didn't provoke this war.
You know, if we care so much about human rights, maybe we should talk to our friends the Saudi's and Jordanians. If democracy is such an important deal breaking issue, maybe the PRC shouldn't have most favored trade status with the us. If sovereignty is an issue, maybe we should stop trying to overthrow democratically elected governments and meddling in the elections of other nations, even allied to us: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/12/obama-admin-sent-taxpayer-money-oust-netanyahu/ https://www.jpost.com/Blogs/The-View-from-Israel/Obamas-shocking-interference-into-Israels-election-process-389858
We are no longer the USA of Norman Rockwell and Ronald Reagan. Those are not the values we represent or spread. We are not motivated by the same ideals.