Which Character in the book Watchmen best captures 21st century American politics Why - Essay Example

Full Watchmen (21st-century American Politics) 03 December Introduction American democracy today is characterized by the politics of compromise which can be seen in the various burning issues of the day, such as health care, immigration policy, war against terror, climate change and carbon emission caps, foreign diplomacy, national defense, and so many other domestic and international issues. America today is in a very unique kind of position because it found itself to be the sole remaining superpower of the world, and due to this unprecedented position, America exerts a big influence in world affairs. Paradoxically, America is also somehow limited on how much it can do because it is operating under some constraints by global forces outside its immediate control. An example is the spread of liberal ideology helped spread globalisation of trade and finance, which had in turn disseminated the American ideals of real representative democracy and the benefits of free market capitalism (that “a rising tide lifts all boats,” as famously stated by former President John F. Kennedy). However, America is now also under increasing scrutiny by other nations in the way it exercises this great power; it is a hegemonic kind of power and comes with it the great type of responsibility to exercise such power in a prudent and equitable manner. This may not be the case always or in all instances and other countries which also aspire to global greatness try to challenge American power in many ways other than a direct confrontational war. The burden is on America to exercise its great power in a fair manner to give justice to all world citizens but conversely, as the adage goes, absolute power can corrupt absolutely. This brief paper is a discussion of current American politics with a moral or philosophical underpinning in relation to a wonderful graphic novel by author Alan Moore entitled Watchmen. Discussion The Watchmen is a good example of a new literary genre called as the graphic novel. It is a new category of books recently considered as a legitimate art form in itself due to its growing popularity, with previous novels like A Contract with God (by author Eisner), Maus (by Spiegelman), followed by Watchmen (by Moore and Gibbons) and then also The Dark Knight Returns (by Miller). A graphic novel follows the conventions of a traditional novel but the story is told through a series of comic-strip illustrations, hence the name graphic. It is told through dialogue and the subject matter can be either fiction or non-fiction as well. Watchmen is a graphic novel that tells a compelling story of power that is highly relevant today. Watchmen has many interesting characters in it like Dr. Manhattan, Rorschach, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, the Comedian, and Ozymandias. However, it is Dr. Manhattan which best exemplifies the nature of American politics in the twenty-first century. The great power of Dr. Manhattan is very similar to the great powers of the United States of America as sole super power in a unipolar world. America as sole superpower has a lot of options available to it that is not available to lesser nations, and this power can be exercised either for good or bad, in a certain sense, with impunity if allowed. This makes America a terrifying country to oppose. It exercises its great powers according to its own logic and moral standards which is shown by its preference or predilection for preventive wars (some political analysts termed it as pre-emptive wars). This was shown by the last Iraq war to topple Saddam Hussein for supposedly possessing the dreaded weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and executed him after a flawed trial for war crimes against humanity (Tucker 174).1 America is like Dr. Manhattan; it operates under its own rules and even worse, operates under a double-standard of morality when it comes to its conduct of international relations (Robichaud 14).2 Clearly, as stated earlier elsewhere, the big question centers on the political morality that America should be subject to, in relation to other countries. It is an unequivocal question which deserves a clear answer in terms of how America exercises its great powers in relation to mandates, restrictions, and permissions that all states are supposed to operate under. The sole exception is America in glaring instances. In some cases, America feels free to disregard the rules of international law when necessary but justifies its actions on dubious reasons at times by using preventive wars (Silverstone 5)3 despite protests against this practice.4 The prevailing view with American sole superpower status is that all countries must follow the wishes or the dictates of the United States and woe to the country that dares to not do so. This is shown by the globalisation in trade, commerce, and finance which is essentially an American idea based on its liberalism and capitalism principles; countries which refused to join the globalisation bandwagon find themselves gradually marginalized in world markets and cannot develop fully economically. American diplomacy is coercive; when countries refuse to go along, America resorts to strong-arm tactics to get its way (Kinzer 48).5 America is like Dr. Manhattan who gets angry whenever it does not get what it wants but an admirable trait of the United States is to use soft-power diplomacy in a carrot-and-stick approach when it comes to most international situations. This political idealism, however, is a manifestation of its desire to be on good terms with all countries but this desire does not in any way preclude it from using its preponderance in military hardware if needed. America is like Dr. Manhattan as it often considers itself above any moral law when it comes to certain situations in international relations; it can choose to abide or not to its own liking. Dr. Manhattan was chosen as the character which best mirrors American politics in the twenty-first century because he has great powers at disposal (Robichaud 8)6 and both can do at will what they want, and both give convoluted reasons to justify their actions. It can be noted that history is deterministic (it is linear in terms of time and works in a one-way street only), so it is not surprising that America continues to act in the same way it had acted centuries earlier (Kirshner 365).7 It continues to exert its influence and control over world affairs in many ways through global financial institutions like the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) to promote its self-interest at all costs. Dr. Manhattan, like the United States of America, feels threatened by its enemies and uses all the available means of defense at its disposal, whether moral or not. Conclusion America's actions betray the true nature of its intentions which is to gain hegemony. Jonathan Osterman by becoming Dr. Manhattan has forfeited his membership in human race because he does not want to be subject to its moral rules. America has shown the same kind of dangerous tendency as Dr. Manhattan by engaging in morally questionable practices, such as the killing of foreign enemies using its pilot-less drones to bomb them off earthly existence.8 The policy has brought American moral ethics to the fore of the debate against terrorism as its president decides who lives and who will die among its stateless enemies (Becker & Shane para. 1). America has been engaging in retributive justice for quite some time already similar to what Rorschach did by exacting vengeance but without any oversight controls as what is morally mandated by the rules of engagement in war. America has not yet gone beyond what Einstein called as “predatory phase” in its social development; Dr. Manhattan exemplifies this dual conflict between being a solitary creature and as a social being subject to society’s rules. The Watchmen revived the unanswered eternal question first uttered by the Roman poet Juvenal “who will guard the guardians” (Raine 1)9 and also reiterated by Shakespeare in one of his famous plays. Indeed, if the United States of America is the policeman of the world, then who or what country will dare to police this same policeman whose powers had recently been also greatly expanded by the addition of the services of someone like Dr. Manhattan? Socrates had advocated for a rule by the elites and not true democracy because he found it to be chaotic and ultimately unmanageable if the masses of ancient Greece were given this political power. Such good intentions had been questioned time and time again because who can or will ensure that the United States of America will play by the rules? Works Cited Becker, Jo, and Scott Shane. “A Measure of Change: Secret 'Kill List' Proves a Test of Obama's Principles and Will.” The New York Times, 29 May 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. . Kinzer, Stephen. Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. New York, NY, USA: MacMillan Company, 2007. Print. Kirshner, Jonathan. “Globalization, American Power, and International Security.” Political Science Quarterly 123.3 (2008): 363-389. Print Robichaud, Christopher. “The Superman Exists, and He's American: Morality in the Face of Absolute Power.” Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test. Ed. Mark D. White. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. 5-18. Print. Raine, Peter. Who Guards the Guardians? (Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?). Lanham, MD, USA: University Press of America Incorporated, 2003. Print. Silverstone, Scott. Preventive War and American Democracy. New York, NY, USA: Routledge, 2012. Print.. Tucker, Spencer C. The Encyclopedia of Middle East Wars: The United States in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq Conflicts. Santa Barbara, CA, USA: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Print. Read More