Fixing America Begins With Foreign Policy

[Cold Highway]

If overseas interventionism has worked there is little evidence to support that view. It is up to those who advance an imperial America agenda and an intrusive national security state to explain to all of us what has been gained from all the foreign adventures and sacrifice of constitutional freedoms over the past ten years. Iraq has killed nearly five thousand Americans, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, has cost in excess of $1 trillion, and is still ongoing. Five more Americans died on June 6th. Afghanistan costs more than $10 billion a month and there is no end in sight. Libya makes no sense whatsoever. Finally assassinating Osama bin Laden, accomplished after ten years of effort, is not enough to justify the worldwide carnage, the loss of fundamental liberties, and the waste of trillions of dollars.

The Federal government is twice as big now as it was in 2001 because of America's foreign entanglements and the over-hyped fear of terrorism. The national debt has ballooned for the same reason and liberties that are vanishing at home have all been sacrificed based on the oft times repeated warnings about the terrorist threat. That means that if we want to address the malaise in the United States we have to address the root cause, which is an out of control and imperialist foreign policy that is embraced by both major political parties.

One cant be against the welfare state all the while cheering for the warfare state. It's akin to ordering a cake but asking the baker to hold the sugar. Governments have historically used foreign conflicts as an excuse to expand it's power while sugarcoating it in feel good/jingoist language.

Campaign For Liberty — Fixing America Begins With Foreign Policy    by Philip Giraldi

 

[Gargantuan]

Good post. I agree totally. A report just from the other day showed that nation building in Afghanistan has absolutely failed.

 

[Temporal]

A few things...

I disagree that foreign policy is the starting point. America's social spending structure is the starting point, along with the military. I dislike the way the military is a sacred cow, but there are economic reasons for keeping the military active. The U.S. is currently engaged in acquiring foreign assets and setting up direct markets to ITSELF. Foreign capitol can be used to balance domestic economy, especially the debt to asset ratio. (Just because it's foreign capital doesn't mean it doesn't count in the eyes of creditors.) You could also theoretically project that the more successful U.S. wars go, the higher the debt ceiling will be raised. I'm not saying the military shouldn't receive cuts, but a lot of people don't realize that from a capital perspective it can represent long-term acquisitions. Of course, you need to be managing wars correctly for that to happen, and with the way things are going in the Middle East, I am dubious. The more I examine the intent behind the middle east campaigns, the more I think that it was meant to be one plan for alleviating the decline seen in the long-term forecast.

Social spending has to change. Part of the reason why the amount is so bloated is because of poor regulation, and not necessarily a representation of true needs. Take the health care bill for example - it does zero to reduce health care costs, it just changes the consumer/supplier relationship, it's not actually improving quality or access to care. It's one example of piss poor policy that results in a lot of waste - but it does benefit a select few. A lot of other social policies are bloated because of the huge admin overhead. There are so many bureaucrats and kickbacks along the chain that by the time the policy is implemented in a way that helps the public, so much has been wasted.

The domestic situation could be improved greatly if our country could honestly acknowledge the amount of cronyism and waste that is happening, especially where the corporate sector and the government cross paths. Business has always been about self-interest, but there was a time when self-interest and group interest co-existed rather well in our nation, to the betterment of all. Right now we're seeing a sharp decrease in one half of the equation. I think the spirit of co-operation still underlies our culture, but people have gotten so jaded by the changes in the system that they have forgotten what that looks like.

 

[atrasicarius]

I agree with the OP, but Temporal's got some good points too. The military is a big issue, possibly even the biggest, but health care soaks up an enormous amount of money as well. Both things are in desperate need of reform, along with several other areas like agriculture and the financial sector.