Civilizational Ethics Precede National Self-Interest

The United States in particular has always had a moralizing streak that was destined to take on an international bent. This should come as no surprise for a nation founded by the Puritans. John Winthrop, a founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, famously described what would eventually become the United States as a “city upon a hill” in reference to Matthew 5:14: “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Ronald Reagan would famously pick up on this in his railing against the Soviet Union, and for good reason: the Cold War was won not only by America’s conventional and nuclear arsenals, but also by the spiritual certainty that there are such things as Good and Evil, that Good must prevail, and that we were on the side of the former. But the coalescing of a nation around shared moral, spiritual values that supersede material considerations is far older than the U.S.