美国人的反省：英美的世界主宰地位及其迷思
美国资深外政专家 瓦特∙罗素∙米得 最近上NPR演讲 ——“英美的主宰：文化或大战略”。罗素在美国对外关系委员会做高级研究员，由“美国对外政策亨利∙基辛格基金”资助。罗素介绍了他的新著《上帝和金钱：英美和现代世界的形成》及其主要内容。
罗素谈到，在最近300来年的世界大冲突中，为什么英美总是赢 —— 英国在美国的独立战争中输了可能算是唯一的例外。他们习惯于赢得胜利，占尽上风，但随之陷入胜利的迷思。
罗素把英美放在现代世界缔造者的位置上。他认为，在英美改造世界的过程中，自由贸易政策居功至伟。说荷兰人创造了自由贸易雏形，英国人将其发扬光大，美国人则将其完善。他形象地举例说，自由贸易制度给“犯了错误”的法西斯德国和日本重新做人的机会 —— 德国大众和日本本田丰田汽车借助于自由贸易，打败美国不思进取的汽车工业，帮德国日本赢回了地位和荣誉。
罗素分析了英美成功主宰现代世界几个世纪的成就，把它归结于广泛的英美（基督教）信仰中“个人主义”的价值取向。God helps those who help themselves. 个人主义价值和信仰与资本主义制度相辅相成，在思想上形成一种影响深远的文化，席卷现代世界；在政治、经济、贸易等实践中逐渐形成一种大战略，造就了战无不胜的神话。
罗素谈到，资本主义，金钱铜臭人人嫌弃，但“没有金钱是万万不能的”，最后自命清高的光棍汉们还是要讨回丑陋但有钱的老女人做老婆（old ugly daughter of the rich neighbor）. 他暗示俄罗斯和中国等一些国家多多少少在走这样的路。
据一些书评说，罗素熟习神学和教会，比“理应学富五车的学问家们”更了解英美历史。评论说罗素的选材和用语很讲究，既令人捧腹开怀又叫人暴跳如雷。“美国白痴们一定很气愤，他们以为关于生命、自由和追求快乐的理念1776年才开始； 如今的美国新保守主义者热衷于‘改造世界，从中渔利’的信念，到了意醉神迷、不能自拔的地步，自由派英国癫子要是知道他们才是这种迷信的真正始作俑者，一定会老羞成怒； 世界各地的外国佬们，尤其是法语国家和阿拉伯人，历来狐疑是英美在蓄意操弄世界事务，当他们确认英美在过去至少四个世纪里确实有意为之，而如今又并不打算改变这一习惯时，还有什么比这更可恶的呢？”
（“American know-nothings who assume life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness only began in 1776; liberal Brits who will be furious at the idea that they are the true and only forebears of our neocons’ obsession with changing the world and making a profit from it; and foreigners everywhere, especially in French-speaking and Arabic-speaking countries, who will have their worst historical myth confirmed, that the Anglo-Saxons have been intent on dominating world affairs for at least the past four centuries and have no plans to give up the habit now.”）
面对如今动荡的世界，美国人在反思他们的辉煌胜利史。这本书的介绍中说，英美曾经的想法是：“自从克伦威尔时代起，英语国家的人们就认为，他们的敌人仇恨自由和上帝、没有道德、为了胜利不择手段，他们把毫无忠诚可言的“第五纵队”当救命稻草。这些敌人，从西班牙天主教徒，法国路易十四，德国纳粹，共产党，到阿凯达恐怖主义分子，都大同小异，敌视英美国家的信仰。英美虽然偶有小败，但在世界大冲突中，没有失败纪录，至少到现在为止没有。”言外之意是，得道天助，神佑英美，既然赢了，就是对了，因为对了，上帝才帮忙。
（Since Oliver Cromwell's day, the English-speakers have seen their enemies as haters of liberty and God who care nothing for morality, who will do anything to win, and who rely on a treacherous fifth column to assure victory. Those enemies, from Catholic Spain and Louis XIV to the Nazis, communists, and Al-Qaeda, held similar beliefs about their British and American rivals, but we see that though the Anglo-Americans have lost small wars here and there, they have won the major conflicts. So far.）
在他们的反思中，有人认为基督教文明战无不胜的历史要宣告结束；包括罗素在内的其他人则持乐观态度，认为目前的乱象只是不同文明之间的磕磕碰碰而已。罗素的反思是，目前中东的冲突，对英美一直努力建立的全世界自由民主的资本主义体系提出新挑战。对此，他没有良方，只是含糊其辞地提供一个永远不会错的建议 —— 对自由世界和她的敌人之间一再发生的冲突要深入理解，在此基础上，建立一种多文明的外交体系（a diplomacy of civilizations based on a deeper understanding of the recurring conflicts between the liberal world system and its foes）。
NPR Radio Broadcasting, Mar 24, 2008
It's Your World (formerly World Affairs Council)
Anglo-American Dominance: Culture or Grand Strategy -- The program's speaker is Walter Russell Mead, Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. In his new book, "God and Gold:
Book Review
“Persuasively optimistic . . . he knows more theology and church than do most public intellectuals, and more Anglo-American history than do many of the more theologically learned; this makes for an interesting combination.”
-American Heritage
“Walter Mead’s new book is both delightful and outrageous: delightful in his mischievous, well-chosen use of poems, pamphlets, and political speeches to illustrate his arguments; and outrageous in the proper sense of the word–for it will outrage lots of readers: American know-nothings who assume life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness only began in 1776; liberal Brits who will be furious at the idea that they are the true and only forebears of our neocons’ obsession with changing the world and making a profit from it; and foreigners everywhere, especially in French-speaking and Arabic-speaking countries, who will have their worst historical myth confirmed, that the Anglo-Saxons have been intent on dominating world affairs for at least the past four centuries and have no plans to give up the habit now.”
-Paul Kennedy
“Ingenious . . . Mead enlivens the text with numerous amusing and illustrative anecdotes, artful literary allusions and helpful invocations of great historians and philosophers. A remarkable piece of historical analysis bound to provoke discussion and argument in foreign-policy circles.”
-Kirkus
“Walter Russell Mead has done it again. With his distinctive sweep and penetration,
-George F. Will
"Walter Russell Mead has written yet another fascinating, thought-provoking book about
-Fareed Zakaria
Book Description
An illuminating account of the birth and rise of the global political and economic system that, sustained first by
Walter Russell Mead, one of our most distinguished foreign policy experts, makes clear that the key to the predominance of the two countries has been the individualistic ideology of the prevailing Anglo-American religion. Mead explains how this helped create a culture uniquely adapted to capitalism, a system under which both countries thrived. We see how, as a result, the two nations were able to create the liberal, democratic system whose economic and social influence continues to grow around the world.
With wit, verve, and stunning insight, Mead recounts what is, in effect, the story of a centuries-long war between the English-speaking peoples and their enemies. Sustained by control of the oceans that surround them, the British and their American heirs built a global system of politics, power, investment, and trade over the past three hundred years. Along the way, the two nations developed a sophisticated grand strategy that brought the English-speaking powers to a pinnacle of global power and prestige unmatched in the history of the world.
Since Oliver Cromwell's day, the English-speakers have seen their enemies as haters of liberty and God who care nothing for morality, who will do anything to win, and who rely on a treacherous fifth column to assure victory. Those enemies, from Catholic Spain and Louis XIV to the Nazis, communists, and Al-Qaeda, held similar beliefs about their British and American rivals, but we see that though the Anglo-Americans have lost small wars here and there, they have won the major conflicts. So far.
The stakes today are higher than ever; technological progress makes new and terrible weapons easier for rogue states and terror groups to develop and deploy. Where some see an end to history and others a clash of civilizations, Mead sees the current conflicts in the
Mead's emphasis on the English-speaking world as the chief hero (and sometimes villain) in modern history changes the way we see the world. Authoritative and lucid, God and Gold weaves history, literature, philosophy, and religion together into an eminently important work—a dazzling book that helps us understand the world we live in and our tumultuous times.
