I have long held, and am now more convinced than ever, that liberals have no coherent foreign policy position. I finally finished reading Peter Beinart's book, The Good Fight, which was well-researched, exhaustive, and informative. I wish I could make every liberal read this book. And it's not because I think every liberal should agree with him, even though I found that I do. What I want more than anything is for liberals to actually give serious thought to foreign policy. I long for a day when the Democratic Party can be more than the Anti-Republican party in international affairs.
The fact is that the Democratic Party, although there are differences in it (which some would like to eliminate), has strong positions and vision on most domestic issues. For the most part, liberals are supportive of more restrictions on gun rights, favor basic levels of assistance to the poor and elderly, and believe homosexuals should have the same marriage rights as straight people do. They are also pro-choice and anti-death penalty. In the past and the present they have sought to protect civil liberties, voting rights, racial equality and fair treatment in the workforce. I know it isn't quite this clear; there are many shades of gray here.
The point though is that there are consistent and clear policy positions on the left for most domestic issues. When it comes to foreign affairs though, we are left supporting the invasion of Iraq, but then calling for an early exit. Many members of Congress knew so little about Iraq that they could be fooled into supporting a war because the president was apparently their only source of information. In previous posts on my old blog, I asked my friends to find me liberal writings or speeches by Democratic leaders on foreign policy. Most of what I came across was hawkish and not really supported by the most vocal in the party.
I realize now though that was the wrong question; I was trying to prove that liberals were not thinking objectively about foreign policy. What I really want to know is what my more liberal friends think about foreign policy. In my next post I will lay out my vision for American foreign policy, which is very similar to the one laid out by Beinart. But I also want to hear what everyone else thinks. In our future there will be more situations outside this country that will require decisions. There will be more Darfurs, Somalias, and Haitis. We should know now what we are and are not willing to do. We are in a war with jihadists (although that shouldn't necessarily be the only lense through which we see the world) and if we are going to win, liberals need to think critically about how we can accomplish that while maintaining our basic principles.
1 comment:
Someone who shall remain nameless (but I will hint that she lives with me) had the exact same response. I didn't mean to suggest that all liberals are weak on foreign policy. There are many liberals that are very smart and have thoughtful positions about the role of the US in the world.
But I do think the party leadership is weak on foreign policy. Reid and Pelosi have talked only of timetables for withdrawal but little else(I don't even remember what they said, or how forceful they were, about the Israeli invasion of Lebanon). Also, think back to John Kerry's presidential run - the most important part of his foreign policy platform was his Vietnam service.
We could go back and forth though, citing many different examples, about how the party is or is not weak on foreign policy. What I think is more important is that we discuss it ourselves. In reality, I am not interested in hearing what Harry Reid thinks about Iraq nor am I willing to wait for Kerry to finally getting around to voicing a coherent foreign policy position. But I do want to know what Liz, the Beard, Macie and everyone else thinks.
I can tell that you have the impression that I want to stifle discussion on Iraq. The truth is that I want the opposite - I want more discussion. But I want people to be disciplined enough to talk about what is important and to think about long term strategies.
In the end, I know that no matter how frustrated I get (there are times when I even think of leaving the party), my beliefs most closely align with the Democratic Party. So I know that if the party starts really thinking objectively about foreign policy, it will come up with positions that I, and the rest of the country, can support.
So far though, most of the debate by the leadership has been unsubstantative knee-jerk reactions to what seems to be popular opinion. Since I have little chance of getting politicians to have meaningful debate, the least I can do is encourage my friends to do it.
Post a Comment