Cultural Genocide as Nation Building

Portugal, Spain, France and Great Britain entered the New World (with its developed civilizations) intent on cultural genocide. They systematically destroyed the indigenous nations they encountered, determined to rebuild them into European systems, something like America more recently attempted to do in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Cultural genocide was and is the lasting core of European and American foreign policy.

People tend to be deeply attached to the culture that shaped them. Some are willing to die in defense of themselves and their culture. We have been losing wars. 

President Biden recently announced that we were getting out of the nation-building business at the core of our foreign policy. Cultural systems best change at their pace, not at our pace.

I hope that works out. But we have a giant two-party foreign policy caste, one that tames mere presidents. Lasting change in our policies may be hard to come by.