Needed: A New American Foreign Policy for A New Century

Needed: A New American Foreign Policy for A New Century
By Daniel G. Jennings
If there is one discussion that is needed in American politics today on both sides of the aisle it is a serious debate on foreign policy.
America needs a realistic and sensible foreign policy that protects our interests, ensures our security and upholds our values. Yet we have nothing of the kind, the truth is we haven’t had an intelligent foreign policy since Ronald Reagan was in the White House.
Under Bill Clinton we had no foreign policy, Clinton merely signed whatever treaty would impress the editorial writers at The New York Times while pretending the rest of the world didn’t exist. To make matters worse Clinton engaged in shameful acts of appeasement to preserve his policy of avoid conflict at all costs. The most reprehensible of these being the return of Elian Gonzalez to Fidel Castro’s loving arms. The threat of terrorism was ignored even as America’s obligations around the world were greatly increased in the name of peacekeeping and humanitarianism.
President Bush, like his father, has tried to be the world’s policeman, sending US forces to Afghanistan to get Bin Laden, overthrowing Saddam and trying to spread democracy at gunpoint. Such a Wilsonian policy is undeniably moral but it is hardly realistic, the United States lacks the resources to police the world. Nor is the New American Century, a United States with a massive trade deficit will never have the kind of military and economic resources 1940s America had.
A great many Americans dislike President Bush’s foreign policy yet almost none of them can effectively counter it because they don’t offer any realistic alternatives. The left and the Democrats ask us to turn the UN, a corrupt, undemocratic organization that is a hollow joke or worse to the tired old nations of Europe which have a desire to impose their will upon the world but minimal military capabilities. Right Wing war critics offer a diet of warmed over isolationism a policy that failed sixty five years ago and little else.
So what sort of foreign policy should America have? A good starting point would be to examine the foreign policy of one of our greatest presidents Ronald Reagan. Reagan succeeded in being both a realist and an idealist in terms of foreign policy. RR never compromised his ideals, he was a fearless champion of democracy but at the same time he practiced a realistic policy that avoided unnecessary conflict and preserved the peace.
Reagan’s foreign policy worked because it was honest, Reagan freely called Communism evil but he was willing to sit down with Communist leaders and work with them for the common good. Reagan realized that he couldn’t change the world and America had to accept regimes he didn’t like. Reagan, the fierce anticommunist, had a good working relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev and China’s Deng Xiaoping. Reagan, the champion of democracy, hosted state dinners for vicious dictators because he needed their help in the Cold War.
Reagan realized that America had to be involved in the world but it’s involvement had to be limited. America couldn’t directly take on the Soviet Union and it’s allies but it could arm the Afghan rebels and the contras. America had to maintain military forces and nuclear missiles in Europe but it couldn’t try to match the massive Soviet military buildup.
Such pragmatism is what is needed today. America needs to keep up it’s war against terrorism but America can’t remake the world in its image. We can’t overthrow every dictator or shut down every dungeon and secret police force. Nor can we withdraw from the world and hope that things will go well. A sensible compromise will be needed.
One like Reagan’s foreign policy that relies heavily on allies, Reagan worked closely with diverse allies, Chinese Communists, Israel, South American dictators, European socialists. Reagan welcomed Communists when they tried to change and become Democratic. Such a policy takes courage and common sense.
What should such a policy involve, my guess will be that we need to develop a system of alliances with powerful nations to police the world. Some of these allies will be our traditional allies like Britain and Japan, but most of them will countries exotic to us, China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Nigeria, Brazil, countries that have real military power. Such a policy will require us to turn our backs on traditional allies and work closely with countries we hardly know. It’ll take courage to implement such a policy, the kind of courage Ronald Reagan had. Of course Ronald Reagan was one of a kind. That may be our worst crisis, implementing a new American foreign policy will require a leader the stature of Ronald Reagan. Unfortunately there was only one Ronald Reagan and he’s dead.