The most powerful nation on earth will always be perceived as evil by those with less power. Currently the USA is the most powerful nation on earth, hence we come in for a lot of criticism. We aren't perfect, and have made our share of mistakes, but I can't think of any other "superpower" nation in history that has handled this kind of power more responsibly. The Romans? The USSR? The Chinese? Perfection is beyond our reach in such a large and complex world, but can anyone give me an example of another superpower that has shown more "respect for the dignity and rights of each and every human being" than the United States?

It is unrealistic to think that nuclear weapons would never have been developed if not for the USA. And it is unrealistic to think that, once developed, they would not have been used if not for the USA. It was inevitable that nuclear weapons were going to be invented and used, and it is the world's great fortune that they have only been used twice. As precarious as the current world situation is, I shudder to think of what the outcome might have been if another nation had developed these weapons before the USA did.

We can debate the wisdom of our actions at the end of WWII from now until the end of time, but once all the points have been made, it's really kind of a meaningless exercise. The facts are: (1) we were on the "right" side of the most desperate war the world has ever seen, against an incredibly cruel, fanatical, and still powerful enemy; (2) we were facing the prospect of sustaining AND inflicting enormous casualties (military and civilian) in the pending invasion of the Japanese home islands; (3) most historians agree that the Japanese militarists would have blocked any move towards settlement without an overwhelming shock such as was provided by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings; and (3) under the circumstances, we exercised a good deal more restraint than any of the other major parties to that war would likely have shown in those circumstances. I understand that we were the victors in that war, and the victors traditionally get to put their own spin on the historical record, but does anyone seriously think that we engaged in anything approaching the systematic cruelty that the Japanese or Germans (or the USSR, for that matter) showed in their brutal occupations of the lands they conquered -- even after we won a total victory, and could pretty much do as we pleased?

I don't intend to give the impression that I think the USA is always right (in fact, I agree with others who feel that we have mishandled our relations with Cuba since well before Castro came to power). But I also live in the real world, rather than some fanciful but completely artificial utopia. No nation as big and powerful as the USA will be universally loved and respected by less powerful nations, but in my opinion no nation on earth has ever handled this kind of power as well as we have.