How about starting a new era of isolationism in the United States? Is it even possible to begin such a thing in today's world? There would be no more quests to rid the world of evil, no more need for ambassadors or an active foreign policy. How about it?
If you ignore our crude-oil dependence or reliance on other foreign resources - including cheap labor - isolationism might succeed once again. Add some high tariffs and voila. America will have returned to a post-World War I status.
OK, so maybe it would take a little more than that, but honestly the attitude of the United States was conducive to such an environment only a short time ago. Our policies toward foreign policy exhibited a pattern of defensiveness. Regardless of our foreign policy efforts, we all know what happened to change our stance on foreign affairs.
Now, we still focus aggressively on beefing up domestic security, but also building a large coalition abroad. If you really think about it, many things today resemble what happened after Pearl Harbor. We are not in a world war, but we are engaged in a massive war effort with several other countries. Before September, relations with Britain were even icy because of our stubbornness to do what was best for the United States and only the United States. Now we've renewed our close friendship with our Allies because we need them if we ever hope to establish a long-lasting coalition.
I bring up this issue because I was in complete agreement with our policies and attitudes a few months ago, and now like many others, have changed my views. Arrogance can be detrimental to a country; and this isn't something we need to be reminded of anymore.
We've learned a great deal in a short amount of time, as we did several years ago after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Over time, however, we forgot those lessons, and we may in fact forget them again. It is unfathomable that we will forget something like Sept. 11, but it was unfathomable to think that Dec. 7 would just be another day on that calendar as well.
Reading my opening statement, you may think I've flipped or that it's impossible, but we tend to repeat our mistakes, and isolationism is one such blunder. Obviously as time progresses we experience modified versions of past events, but in essence we are only making a more "evolved" mistake then we did before.
A folk tale explains it best:
A fox and a scorpion come to a river. The only way to cross it is to swim. The scorpion cannot cross the river alone, so it asks the fox for a ride on its back. The fox says "no way" because he fears the scorpion will sting him. The scorpion says he won't sting him because, if he did, they would both drown. The fox agrees, and begins to swim across with the scorpion.
Halfway across the river, the fox feels the scorpion's venom enter his body and as the current drifts them away, the fox asks the scorpion why he stung him. The scorpion replies, "I couldn't help it, it's my nature."
It may be a tad elementary, but it fits our modern way of thinking. If you doubt this philosophy, ask yourself when the government last made a significant proactive policy as opposed to something reactive. This is a question not only limited to lawmakers and politicians, but to us all. A proactive approach may make the difference in whether or not our country moves forward instead repeating old mistakes.
Write to Justin at jtsyndram@bsu.edu
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