Us Foreign Policy Essay, Research Paper

VITAL NATIONAL INTERESTS:

One vital national interest we have today is the destruction of the spoils system and the removal of incompetent appointed officials. We also need to avoid becoming an imperial power, for it violates the principles of our own Constitution and Declaration of Independence (Vision 744). My third national interest is much like my second, because it is very important, “we must walk away from the dangerous illusion of empire.” (Options in Brief handout)

LONGTERM FOREIGN POLICY STRATEGY:

I think it is quite obvious that the only foreign policy strategy that is acceptable is option 2- Preserve Our Democratic Values. We, as a nation, have to refuse to become an imperial power. Our history tells us so! We know that it is a horrible thing to rule over a people that do not want you to. It has not been that long since we were just a handful of British colonies. Think back, how much did we like being ruled by the British. We liked it so much that we revolted and fought a war for our freedom! Britain was the epitome of an imperialistic power and we hated them. How can we have that memory of the hell they put us through and then even think about becoming an imperial power ourselves! Thus, we cannot even think of having a foreign policy based upon an empirical interventionist ideal. The moment we adopt such a policy is the moment when the United States ends its period of being the land of the free and becomes the land of the tyrants. On the other hand, if we were to follow a foreign policy based upon an isolationist policy, we would not be tyrants. We would not be harming any people of the world with foreign rule they don’t want. We, as well as many countries, would be quite content with our nation and we could feel good knowing that we haven’t turned into the imperialistic tyrants that we once fought against for our own freedom.

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QUESTION/ANSWER:

1. Reverend Josiah Strong: We just got through a Civil War in which slavery/racism played a large part. How can you say that “God is training the Anglo-Saxon for its mission”-a mission of bringing Christianity and civilization to the world’s “weaker races”?

2. John Hay: What do you think the effects of becoming an empire will be on our government?

3. Joesph Pulitzer: Would you feel that your rights may be at risk if we became an empirical power that denied those same rights to the countries we conquer?

4. Samuel McClure: How can you logically defend the concept of enslaving other countries to become an empire?

5. George Dewey: Did you feel that the people of the Philippines that you helped to invade were grateful that the U.S. was invading them?