Foreign Policy

FOREIGN POLICY - WARS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

Like President George Washington said, I believe we should have commercial, cultural, and diplomatic contact with all nations on earth. However, there should be no political nexus with other governments. This is a foreign policy of non-interventionism.

Non-interventionism should not be conflated with isolationism. The United States isn't at war with Canada, yet the two countries are not isolated from one another.

It is illegal for state governments to engage in intergovernmental revenue sharing, yet, at the same time, the U.S. government engages in one-way intergovernmental revenue sharing on an international level. We can't afford this. We must get our fiscal house in order, and we should start by eliminating foreign aid. That more politicians haven't already embraced this, when this is the most politically acceptable place to start cutting, is breathtaking.

The United States should not enter into supranational agreements and treaties which undermine sovereignty. Again, this should not be conflated with isolationism. When the United States enters into supranational "defense" treaties, this is tantamount to handing out war guarantees.

I don't believe the United States should go to war over a treaty, nor because of something John Foster Dulles did 60 years ago. If we go to war, it should be because we-the-people decide. This is not about never going to war - albeit, war should be only a last resort, and only used for defense. This is about preserving freedom of action for future generations of Americans. If the United States must go to war, it can do so unilaterally, and no treaty is necessary.

Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are all NATO-member countries. This implies a war guarantee by other NATO-member countries. Should the United States need to defend Latvia, Lithuania, or Estonia, no treaty is necessary. By being a party to this "mutual-defense" pact, freedom of action for our posterity has been diminished. While the United States hands out war guarantees to countries all over the world, it is unlikely that these other countries could reciprocate should the United States come under attack.

Supranational treaties such as NATO are illogical. Take NATO expansion to its logical extreme: every country on earth becomes a member. What happens when two NATO-member countries go to war against eachother? Does the United States commit troops to both sides of the conflict?

Invading and occupying foreign territory does nothing to curtail the threat of asymmetrical warfare, i.e., terrorism. It is impossible to defeat a tactic. The entire purpose of security is to secure liberty. While prosecuting an endless war-on-a-tactic, our own welfare and liberties have been undermined, thus raising the question: what are we fighting for?

A foreign policy of empire, conducted in the name of defense, incites foes, bankrupts the country, and injures military readiness. The unintended consequence of interventionism is that we are all less secure. Wars of occupation are inherently unwinnable. The occupation itself fuels the insurgency. Occupying a country until an insurgency is eliminated is a calculcus for a never-ending occupation. Therefore, I call for a prompt withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Veterans are underserved, and the last thing we should be doing is creating more disabled veterans through the promiscuous use of the military. The best way to support veterans is to stop adding to our numbers.