Jen, the corrosive effect of ‘identity politics’ upon which you & Kea substantially agree, is a socially internalized ‘us & them’ narrative. Your desire for a unified ‘national’ construction of ‘us’ risks exacerbating the long-standing US problem (shared, of course, with other nationalisms) of ‘us & them’ across rather than within national boundaries.

The effect is just as corrosive; it is the root of US militarism. I doubt most US residents comprehend the degree of its militarization, both in fact & ideation. Places like Israel or North Korea perhaps exceed it, but it’s worth noting that US spends 10 times as much on ‘defense’ as Russia, for instance. The idea that, for another example, most Europeans want US military domination & should be grateful for it, is common in US writing but less so (‘though it occurs) in European.

What we need is an end to ‘us & them’ thinking. Strategic policy (a polite term for seeking advantage over ‘others’ constructed as ‘adversaries’) is both unnecessary & dangerous. Yes, this is a plea for internationalism, for humanism, which is necessarily liberal & definitively anti-nationalist.