Perhaps, just perhaps, a the ultimate measure of our success as a nation will be when all the peoples of the world are free to protest against us.
Maybe when freedom becomes the universal, the US becomes irrelevent.
This is clip from an article in a Canadian paper: "...the list of countries joining the U.S.-led coalition is already long -- and includes not only such traditional American allies as Britain and Australia, but also a remarkable crew of central and Eastern European nations. We say "remarkable" because many of these willing freedom fighters have only just recently been liberated from the yolk of despotism themselves. While pampered welfare states such as Canada, Germany and France are cringing on the sidelines, Ceausescu's children are offering to help defend the West and bring freedom to Iraq."
I think they have just been spoiled too long. They have also taken democracy and socialized it. The effect of that has been that the popular opinion is the rule, instead of a government and laws. The general public is, in most cases, uninformed or misinformed about any given subject and is too easily swayed by emotion.