Americans "more likely to back attacks on civilians".

You know me, I despise automatic anti-Americanism in political debate. Its a childish prejudice and whats more, its rarely even funny. But when you start seeing poll results like this, you have to wonder....

Percentage of population agreeing that “bombing and other attacks intentionally aimed at civilians” are “never justified:”

Pakistan: 86%
Bangladesh: 81%
Indonesia: 74%
United States: 46%

In part, this reminds me of the very chilling read by Scott McConnell, the Hunger For Dictatorship. He quotes extensively from Lew Rockwell, who describes a "dramatic shift of the red-state bourgeoisie from leave-us-alone libertarianism, manifested in the Congressional elections of 1994, to almost totalitarian statist nationalism." This had led to a "mood...[that]...dwarfs anything that existed during the Cold War. “It celebrates the shedding of blood, and exhibits a maniacal love of the state. The new ideology of the red-state bourgeoisie seems to actually believe that the US is God marching on earth—not just godlike, but really serving as a proxy for God himself.”"

Not that the USA doesn't have a monopoly on madmen and imbecilic voting habits (Palestine and Iran come to mind), but neither of those have the global military capacity or inclination towards military action that the US does. I personally find McConnell's argument balanced and compelling and certainly worthy of further discussion. To me, it raises a whole host of questions about the political culture that has been created within America, as well as the problems of education and the media. But thats a whole different discussion. But oh, what I would give for a Jefferson or Madison to be in charge of the USA today....