Abstract

The Author, a theologian, argues that religious apprehensions, such as good versus evil, are in many ways embedded in American politics. The essay discusses American foreign policy during the last 60 years, when political anxieties in the West shifted from the Cold War mind-set (the West vs. tyranny) to the current fears caused by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (the West vs. anarchy). After what has become known as 9/11, the Bush administration adopted a Manichean view, extended the power of the presidency and let the "imperial self" dominate the "civic self". Yet only the latter, along with an awareness of the risks of a dualist response to dualists, can allow America to recover its true national identity.