Foreign Policy
It is not America’s role to act as the world’s policeman. America should only maintain a solid national defense and no matter how well intentioned its foreign crusades might appear to be, America should not engage in nation building.
It is high time we reemphasized the term ”defense” in national defense. In view of the fact that America holds an active military presence in over 130 nations around the globe in more than 700 installations, together with the fact that thousands of U.S troopers are deployed overseas, it seems that the US cares more about protecting other countries than our own and that we spend more money to protect foreign soil than our own. The US needs a military that is just enough powerful to protect this nation, not defend and support the rest of the world.
Furthermore, despite the misguided public opinion that foreign aid is good for the recipients, it has been proved that it has only negative impacts on US economy because it is commonly used by dishonest foreign governments to gain even more power over their people and put more money into the pockets of powerful elites. Foreign aid continually hinders and slows down economical and political reforms and enriches countries which have been proved to work against the interests of US.
Immediate, concentrated and winning strategies against those whose goal is to harm us must become an integral part of American foreign policy, which entails a stronger defense, not outside interventions. Free trade at the world level should be encouraged. By working on expanding free markets and maintaining stronger private and cultural relationships, it will be much easier to preserve peace than by maintaining a neverending military presence all around the world.
These are very good points, however I have yet to see one solution to any of these problems. IT IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO TELL US WHAT IS WRONG. WE NEED SOLUTIONS. We are not stupid. I could have pegged this as a problem ,too. If this is all Barr has to offer, I see no reason to vote for him. We don’t need a man in office to tell us that there are problems. It is ridiculous to think that people are voting for this man.
VOTE BALDWIN ‘08
By Dave Richeson on Oct 24, 2008
What else is there to say? It’s easy to derive his position if you think slightly on what he’s saying. If he says we don’t need to be in other countries, then it’s more than a little obivous that he thinks we need to get out those countries. And I do believe that this right here “By working on expanding free markets and maintaining stronger private and cultural relationships, it will be much easier to preserve peace than by maintaining a neverending military presence all around the world.” is a solution.
By Sam Johnson on Nov 3, 2008
Perhaps this explaination could be outlined more thuroughly, giving specific, detailed policy goals which articulate how they will work. It seems like it’s a philosophical statement, not an active strategy.
By Andrew Schlaier on Nov 6, 2008