Today, the United States celebrates her 227th year of independence. Once again, the sky over American cities will be filled with fireworks as the American people celebrate the birth of their nation.

The population will hear a chorus of praise for the founding fathers, who fought to liberate themselves and to create a nation based on the principles of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, enshrined in the preamble to the American Constitution

Closer to home, the American Embassy will host a gala dinner at the Renaissance Hotel on July 4th. It will be more than a celebration. For Malaysians who chose to keep their distance following America's decision to intervene in Iraq, it will be an opportunity to renew ties, close ranks with the hope of reaping the benefits of close cooperation with the world's largest economy and military power.

A few kilometers away, the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) will use the occasion to screen the infamous Hollywood movie Wag the Dog starring no less then Dustin Hoffman, Robert de Niro and Woody Harrelson a movie parodying the American government and media's ability to conjure up a war in order to distract a gullible population from other more pressing issues.

For those who thought post-Sept 11 ( photo ) was difficult to come to grips with, post-Iraq seems much more challenging. The interstate system not only has to deal with a global superpower, but a power that is determined to get its way, and seems to have the means and political support to do so.

Grappling with this blatant repudiation of state sovereignty, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad suggested that perhaps such imperial ambition is part of the DNA of the 'European race', a term he defined to include all those of European stock, including Americans, Australians and other Anglo-Saxons.

I have doubts that the proposed School of Occidental Studies will uncover anything peculiar about European genes or culture that predisposes them to acts of expansion. In fact, many powers, both ancient and current, have expanded into alien lands, often with a form of brutality that is a complete betrayal of the term civilization.

States and power

Perhaps there is a more mundane explanation for the behavior we are witnessing.

States pursue the 'national interest' as defined by those in power. A state naturally pursues its 'national interest' until faced by counter-vailing forces, either internally or externally. Without checks, American 'national interests', as defined by the current Bush administration can, and have taken global proportions.

Similarly, China, India, Russia expand their regional influence and contest and collude with other powers in accordance with the interests of those in power.

While less powerful states such as Malaysia might bemoan the 'might is right' version of international affairs, they are rather similar in behavior to their larger more powerful friends.

Left unchecked, they expand internally, in the process of internal colonization, intruding into the lives of citizens. Authoritarian states introduce laws that govern what people read and watch, organizations they can and cannot join, and the types of correct sexual behavior and public conduct with the opposite sex.

Where necessary, states restrict civil rights in order to limit public's ability to question the actions of the state and those in power. Where weak, the state encroaches on racial minorities, migrants and indigenous people, where there is no check on gender discrimination, women are controlled and restricted.

The United States has long preached the virtues of civil rights and democracy, whereby the citizen reigns supreme and citizen action is possible, and even called for to respond to any encroachment of the state into civilian life or abuse of state power.

While fully supportive of limits on state power within the state, Americans are often opposed to limits of their state's power abroad. Indeed, it's the duty of every president to serve the national interest locally and globally.

Instead of a world president that the citizens of the world elect democratically, we have a president of global influence, elected by Americans only, to serve American interests. The fact that this is a little undemocratic to the rest of us fails to ever get a mention in the great American free press and tends to elude the wisdom of American political leaders.

The contradiction

Here lies the political contradiction. The American political system meets the demands of the American public opinion. However, with the global influence, the decisions they make need to be made with global interests in mind.

If there is no correlation between American national interests and humanity's interests, then America, the nation state, that acts as America the superpower, is a big problem for the rest of us.

There are many people who have struggled and sacrificed for American independence and democracy. For America's actions to take into account global interests is not a negation of that rich history, but a proclamation of it.

American democracy needs to evolve and build on the principles and values that have been created, to address the contradiction that it now faces. If her institutions fail to cross over to the global dimension and take consideration of the world, parts of the world that lose out and have nothing else to lose, will revolt against the US. In reaction, these democratic principles will be eroded as we see happening now.

It is high time that Americans look at themselves through global eyes and behave accordingly. It is the only true way to celebrate the ideals that they commemorate on this July 4th.

Premesh Chandran in malaysiakini's Chief Executive Officer.