Ashamnu. In early October, we celebrated Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, where we confessed our sins and asked forgiveness for our transgressions against God and against any human beings we had wronged. 

One of the biggest sinners on the planet is the United States, at least according to the late Howard Zinn, the author of the best-selling American history book “A People’s History of the United States” (which is required reading in many classrooms) who considered America to be, if not the Great Satan, certainly one of the chief villains in modern world history. His view is shared by Noah Chomsky and Oliver Stone, along with many academics and celebrities.

Indeed, even President Barack Obama was accused by some of going on an “apology tour” early in his administration, as he spoke in Europe and elsewhere of American “arrogance” and other questionable behavior. 

But to what extent should we as Americans be apologizing and seeking forgiveness?

First, let’s acknowledge that we are flawed, as most people are; that is, we have done our share of bad stuff. To cite the obvious, we essentially seized much of our continent from the Indians. What we did not seize from Native Americans, we seized from Mexico. Even when we purchased land, it was not entirely legal (e.g. in 1803 we purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, even though it really belonged to Spain).

We tolerated slavery for almost a century, and when a slave revolt led to Haitian independence in 1804, we took 50 years to recognize Haiti as a sovereign nation. We engaged during World War II not only in the internment of Japanese-Americans but also the commitment of what today might be considered war crimes (the aerial bombing of German and Japanese cities, including the dropping of the atomic bomb). We intervened during the Cold War in dozens of countries, frequently overthrowing governments in the name of democracy while supporting authoritarian regimes that served our interests. Since the end of the Cold War, we have used armed force in violation of the U.N. Charter on several occasions. 

And the list goes on.  

So we have not been saints. We are an imperfect country. Still, American apologists (not apologizers) might note that our misdeeds were not quite as bad as commonly portrayed — for example that the use of the A-bomb may have ultimately saved more lives than it cost, or that Cold War interventionism was necessitated by Soviet aggression, or that post-Cold War resort to force at times took the form of humanitarian intervention. 

Moreover, you could argue that, as great powers go, we have been a relatively benign one, and that on balance we have done far more good than bad. If we should avoid being America First-ers a la Sean Hannity, we should also refrain from being America Worst-ers a la Zinn and 

Chomsky. 

I will spend more time here discussing the positive side of the ledger, because it tends to get shorter shrift today given our cynicism toward any demonstrations of patriotism.

As Robert Kagan writes in his book “The World America Made,” U.S. hegemony since 1945 has produced the “Pax Americana,” a period of unprecedented global progress. During “America’s watch,” notwithstanding the persistence of many problems, we have witnessed (1) an overall decline in interstate war and many forms of violence (see Steven Pinker’s “The Better Angels of Our Nature”);  (2) dramatic growth in economic prosperity for much of humanity, including global average life expectancy now nearing 70 years (see Fareed Zakaria’s “Post-American World”); and (3) a clear democratization trend worldwide (see Freedom House data).  

To take one concrete example, were it not for American interventionism, South Koreans today would be living under the dictatorial yoke of Kim Jung Un in North Korea rather than residing in a free  country with a higher per capita income than Britain and a higher percentage of college graduates than the United States. 

Despite the thanks many countries owe the United States for helping to defeat fascism and communism, we remain vilified, probably because we are the 800-pound gorilla. A student from Rumania in my world politics class at UMSL echoed the sentiments of many when he said recently, “My country dislikes you because you consider yourself the world’s policeman.” 

I was reminded of my visit to China a few years ago, when the leader of our American Political Science Association delegation asked a Chinese professor what China was doing about North Korean nuclear weapons proliferation, whereupon the professor said with a grin, “You, the U.S., are the superpower – it is your job since you are supposed to provide the collective goods.” 

Even today, we are having to spend $10 million a day in fighting ISIS – a threat to virtually every country on earth – because few others are willing to do the dirty work or absorb the expense. 

As one observer has put it, “Everyone complains about American hegemony, but they will miss it when it is gone.” And it does seem to be eroding. Who you going to call – Ghostbusters?  

Since the beginning of the Republic, from the time Thomas Jefferson proclaimed that the United States would be “an empire of liberty,” we have been torn between our idealist, altruistic impulses and the pursuit of expansionism and crass self-interest. 

The United States should continue to strive to become better, more virtuous, the “city on the hill” that its founders envisioned. Let’s hope that this time next year, we can claim to have made a step in that direction.