With the embarrassing conclusion of the American presence in Afghanistan, it is time to re-examine the U.S.’s foreign policy which had led up to the disaster. Our foreign policy and our military policy went hand-in-hand, and both were destined to share the same fate.
Once upon a time, the United States of America had a coherent foreign policy. It was called “neutrality.” Trade agreements were made with whomever was willing to deal with the new Nation; we wanted to buy goods and services we could not yet produce ourselves and to sell goods and services others could not produce themselves (initially cotton and tobacco). With the exception of the slave trade, most deals were made in an equitable manner.
On the other hand, following the advice of George Washington in his farewell address to Congress, the U.S. did not enter into any military alliances. Neither did it meddle in the affairs of other nations; it was too busy putting its own house in order. Unfortunately, this status quo did not last long. The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 stated that America would look with disfavor on any Old World power which attempted to seize control of any part of the New World; it would not interfere in cases of established colonies, but new ventures would be considered unfriendly actions and dealt with accordingly. Whether the U.S. could back up its warning was a moot point, because neither its army nor its navy were a match for a major power. It had succeeded against Great Britain during the War of 1812 only because the British were pre-occupied with Napoleon of France and could not afford an extensive second front.
The Monroe Doctrine became the means by which the United States alone could establish a sphere of influence in the New World, and it provided the seed for what was to come. This seed germinated in 1898 when the U.S. with a more powerful army and navy sided with Cuban rebels against the decaying Spanish Empire on the pretext that the Spanish had destroyed an American warship docked in Havana’s harbor. The U.S. destroyed the Spanish navy handily and sent U.S. Marines to Cuba. Spain sued for peace and agreed to cede Cuba, Puerto Rico, The Philippines, and Guam to the Americans. The United States instantly became a world power, with colonies of its own, and the concept of neutrality as a foreign policy was tossed into the dustbin.
Throughout the 20th Century, and into the 21st Century, the United States of America has taken on the role of the world’s police, engaging in gunboat diplomacy, by flexing its muscles, and dominating, economically, politically, militarily, and culturally, wherever it could. It has taken sides in other countries’ civil conflicts, even to the point of doing battle in support of the favored side. It has used its armed forces to institute regime change where regimes were deemed not friendly enough to U.S. national interests. And it has established military and naval bases around the world in order to maintain its influence.
All this activity has cost American taxpayers several fortunes to prosecute, and the Nation has borrowed huge sums to supplement tax revenues. The Department of Defense now controls the lion’s share of the national budget, and still the hawks want more money shoveled into this black hole.
How to stop this black hole from swallowing up more of our treasure? The Coddington Agenda is an advocate of the following:
• Re-establish a policy of strict neutrality in world affairs.
• Establish a consistent approach in all diplomatic efforts and cease identifying nations as friend or foe.
• Repudiate gunboat diplomacy, except when saving American lives and property.
• Renounce the use of covert activities, e.g. sabotage, assassination, and espionage.
• Refuse military assistance in any form to any nation, e.g. arms sales, loans, and training instructors.
• Offer only humanitarian or diplomatic assistance to any nation engaged in civil/international conflict.
• Enter into trade agreements which benefit the general population of the United States and other nations rather than multinational corporations and/or government agencies.
• Appoint career diplomats instead of political cronies to overseas embassies and consulates; require that they have a working knowledge of the language, history, and culture of the nation to which they are posted.
• Prohibit all diplomatic staff members from engaging in local politics, either physically or materially.
The purpose of the above is to restore the trust in the United States of America that it has squandered for far too long and to set it on the path toward world peace.
Just a thought.