US Leadership and the world

Call it what you will but i thought we are supposed to lead the world. Leaders take action in crisis. WWII and the Cold War just for a start. Not that democracy was original to us, but why has it spread so much in the past 200 yrs. i guess it was a just good idea. Our culture is pretty pervasive, a great thing to have so many ideas talked about all over the world. It used to be that way. So why isn't there a call to lead any more.

Why is their this need to think the rest of the world has it all figured out? They don't . We don't. We were ahead at one time in trying to find what works. did we find capitalism and decide that was good enough? It has problems. the biggest of which is the unknown long term stability, it needs a certain amount of growth and inflation to keep growing.

Why do we keep looking back at what we should have already rejected. Communism and fascism, isn't freedom too important? Did they fail? Socialism, has it really worked for anyone? Cuba, do you want everyone to live at a substance level? Great art, literature, philosophy, music and science come out of societies that have some leisure time. What came out of the dark ages? Very little. What has come out of 200 yrs of democracy. A lot.

We should lead and except that that is our place in the world. It's not that the rest of the world should look exactly like us. If Iran wants Islamic law fine. Have an election every few years that everyone gets to vote in and let those that want to leave, leave.

Either we lead or we shut ourselves in. Is it not clear that the shut in approach will not work. If you say we should go into Sudan to stop the horrific things there than you should agree that we should have gone into Iraq to stop the horrific things there(not the reasons given). It leads to a long list of places that need us to lead in what ever form that takes.

I want to be able to walk to all four corners of the earth as a free man and not have to worry about being kidnapped, tortured, or killed. That doesn't happen on its own. I want to be around what the next revolution in political and social thought comes. That will only happen here and if we stop thinking that the world always knows best.