Does America represent the march of history?

Their Hearts and Minds? - New York Times: "To believe this, however, you must believe that there is an inevitable progress to history -- a progress toward freedom. The president said as much in his second Inaugural Address, arguing that it was the United States' mission to spread such freedom throughout the world. His view is shared by many Americans. But non-Americans have become increasingly wary of this mission. Is it possible to persuade them that, as Hughes put it in her Senate testimony, the United States is ''a tremendous force for good''? "