In what crazy worldview would these be seen as good for America? Here's one.

Hypothetically, if you perceived that the root cause of some foreign policy problems you felt were important to solve was the gap in civil liberties between your country and powerful overseas countries, you could conclude that peace could be achieved by handicapping your own country so that it regresses to match the lower standards of the foreign nations that appear to have a problem with your country and its ideologies.

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No guarantees that this is the actual belief of the people in power, it would just satisfy your requirement.