Is America a threat to world peace as the left suggests?

Another of the big lies that Michael Medved attacks (The 10 Big Lies About America) is the charge that America is an imperialist nation and a constant threat to world peace. His point is that involvement in overseas conflicts is not new; it has characterized every stage of our emergence as a world power. These clashes have little connection to colonialism or empire building – instead, they were often done with unselfish intentions. Their long-term impact most often benefited the peoples involved as well as the world at large.

He starts with a look at foreign fights. As an example, United States fought against Islamic extremists more than 200 years ago. These battles took place in North Africa where ruthless pirates devastated U.S. shipping. Thomas Jefferson made war successfully on these pirates and their fanatical rulers. Medved says American was never truly an isolationist nation. Virtually all of our major wars began without enemy attack on American soil – the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, Korea, Vietnam, and the first Gulf War. So, the current war in Iraq is not a new situation for America; as in other wars, we attacked a country that had not attacked us first.

Another feature of our American clashes shows that we generally avoided the temptations of conquest. In 1848 we defeated Mexico, but instead of annexing all or much of that nation, we agreed to assume that country’s national debt and to pay the government what was considered a large sum of money for a sparsely populated territory that eventually became the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. It’s true we fought one imperialist war against Spain in 1898, yet we did not attempt to incorporate Cuba as part of American territory. After World War I, we were the only one of the major victorious allied powers that sought no territorial or colonial enhancement at the Versailles conference. When we defeated Germany and Japan in World War II, we provided a security shield for our European allies.

Generally speaking, the states and peoples aligned with America in world affairs prospered economically and developed functioning democratic institutions. Think of our enemies in World War II (Germany, Italy, and Japan). In addition, South Korea has a vibrant economy and is certainly more robustly democratic than many nations in the area. Consider two nations which were once affiliated with the West but have become anti-American --Cuba and Iran. They have both suffered spectacularly. Or consider Hawaii compared to Fiji and Tahiti. They all have stunning beaches and breathtaking landscapes, but Hawaii is by far the most prosperous, functional, and dynamic society in all the Polynesian islands.

But critics often attack the United States for its international affairs during the Cold War. Medved says we must weigh the events in the context of the multigenerational, worldwide struggle against the aggressive force of worldwide communism. A rough estimate counts over 100 million victims of communist murder in the 20th century. Those who concentrate on our mistakes during this period don’t realize that the result was freedom for nearly 500 million human beings liberated from Soviet tyranny.

Medved ends the chapter by using a thought experiment. Imagine that the United States had never become a world power or even existed at all. Would the ideals of democracy and free markets be as important in the world today? Would murderous dictatorships have claimed more victims or fewer? Would nations be under the rule of Nazism, communism, or some other tyranny?
I don't see how anyone could answer these questions without realizing the force for good the United States has been over the years.