09-24-2009, 07:11 PM
Actually, there is too much angst in Britain about the "special relationship." To most Americans, there is a fondness for Britain at a cultural level. We marvel at your castles and your Parliament. We think of your accent as cultivated, and the names of Oxford and Cambridge still resonate as the pinnacle of intellectual sophistication. We even admire the monarchy - even though most don't understand it and would not want it for our own country. In that cultural sense, Britain will always be "special" to America.
The problem is not what you are but the degree to which you seem to, in American eyes, be less and less what you have been. Churchill, Thatcher and Blair are icons in American eyes, but most Brits seem to have little regard for them - a perspective that mystifies Americans who admire strong leaders. The British political system - hereditary peers included - is admired, but Britain seems more and more determined to be less like Britain and more like us - or worse still from our perspective - France.
The British military, once viewed as powerful if smaller than our own, has been gutted and reduced to a shmabolic mess through neglect. We see Britons going to the funerals of your honored dead but who are unwilling to pony up the cash to take care of the troops and keep them alive. Where once the British armed forces were seen as the exception to the rule of weak European militaries, you are now seen, even by our own military professionals of whom I know a few, as just as small and ineffective, unaware that you are living off a decaying reputation. If anything, Americans seem more appreciative of Britain's military than do the British people.
The point is not that Britain is any less special to America, but rather that Britain seems content to let itself become less special. Sentimentally, Americans will always have a soft spot for our British allies - in fact, we probably like you better than you like us. In the hard world of power-politics, however, Britain seems content to crave the status of a special power without doing the hard work necessary to retaining that status, and for that we only shake our heads in bewilderment.
The problem is not what you are but the degree to which you seem to, in American eyes, be less and less what you have been. Churchill, Thatcher and Blair are icons in American eyes, but most Brits seem to have little regard for them - a perspective that mystifies Americans who admire strong leaders. The British political system - hereditary peers included - is admired, but Britain seems more and more determined to be less like Britain and more like us - or worse still from our perspective - France.
The British military, once viewed as powerful if smaller than our own, has been gutted and reduced to a shmabolic mess through neglect. We see Britons going to the funerals of your honored dead but who are unwilling to pony up the cash to take care of the troops and keep them alive. Where once the British armed forces were seen as the exception to the rule of weak European militaries, you are now seen, even by our own military professionals of whom I know a few, as just as small and ineffective, unaware that you are living off a decaying reputation. If anything, Americans seem more appreciative of Britain's military than do the British people.
The point is not that Britain is any less special to America, but rather that Britain seems content to let itself become less special. Sentimentally, Americans will always have a soft spot for our British allies - in fact, we probably like you better than you like us. In the hard world of power-politics, however, Britain seems content to crave the status of a special power without doing the hard work necessary to retaining that status, and for that we only shake our heads in bewilderment.