Nationalism And Its Repercussions

This thread was inspired by the discussion of Ronald Reagan ongoing in seabag's thread The First Shots of the Second American Revolution have been fired.

I grew up in the 1980s. American pride was at an historic peak, and it appeared as though there was no turning back. We were #1. At least, that's what everyone believed because it was being touted everywhere. We got cocky. We thought we could manipulate the entire world because we had it so good.

Then all the potential backfire of this arrogance came right back into our faces with the evolution of the Islamic freedom fighter and South American cartel. Now hindsight is 20/20, so it's easy to pick on the Reagan Administration for the results of their actions/inactions. I'm not picking on Reagan. It's too late to get the facts from him anyway. I'm picking on any world leader who gets too swept up in National Pride.

Now, I'm not a religious fellow, but this is a great example of why Pride is considered one of the Deadly Sins. It felt damn good to see Rocky beat Ivan Drago. It felt damn good to see Mary Lou Retton win gold. But, for as great as those feelings were, there were repercussions. The end of the Cold War should have been mutual, not considered an unofficial American victory. Look at how crippled Russia was in the early 1990s. By rubbing it in their faces, we basically started the new tensions that are still ongoing.

By arming Islamic rebels in a guessing game to staunch military development in the region, we have catalyzed a worldwide threat. Again, these things occurred during Reagan's watch, but similar mistakes will happen again in another country swept up by Nationalism. Maybe even the US again.