Teddy & Woodrow Had it Right

“in order to form a more perfect union…”

The accepted maxim amongst responsible politicians and other such elected officials once held that commentary or criticism of this nation’s foreign policy ended at the shoreline. Critique abroad of an American administration could not be seen or interpreted as being a nation divided as such perceived division could be manipulated by our adversaries; abroad, we were all Americans and spoke with one voice. The internet has rendered that stance unrealistic, as any speech or Twitter/Facebook post is automatically transported around the world and filtered back to us with any manner of interpretation.

The issue today is given that media and world interconnectivity reality, exactly what should our national policy be and how should we present our united version of democracy abroad?

History has presented us with what should be the over-arching policy and presentation standards.

President Theodore Roosevelt received the Nobel Peace Prize for his use of American standing and status in the pursuit of peace. He brought together Russia & Japan to resolve their war and utilized the bully pulpit of American democracy to bring about a peaceful resolution to their conflict. He did not posture to resolve the dispute by demanding an American accepted resolution. He did not attempt to overlay American political sensibilities to the combatants. He did not seek to impose American democratic values upon either party, but rather through skillful negotiations brought about the realities of peace to both sides. There is a lesson to be learned regarding our recent attempts to prescribe preconditions to those attempting to resolve the decades old peace process for the middle east. We should not try to force American reasoning on two socities that do not share our understanding of their realities.

President Woodrow Wilson, having led America through the first world war had hoped to bring to fruition his League of Nations, the precursor to the United Nations. He understood that there was indeed strength in numbers and that the peaceful nations of the world could, if united, thwart the possibility of another world war by demonstrating mutual resolve to peace. Herein lies another lesson in geopolitics to be gleaned by our administration with respect to recent events in Egypt & Libya. We cannot use our bully pulpit to try and enforce our governmental choices on peoples who have not experienced such freedoms. They must first witness it in action by the free countries of the world in unity and then choose their own path forward. It is folly to believe that democratic self-rule can be achieved merely because we wish to impose it.

We have lost that perspective as of late. It appears that American administrations have begun to opt to deal with world crises by attempting to impose American democratic sensibilities upon nations and peoples who have no real understanding of a working democracy. Many societies are based upon different criteria that do not hold that all men are created equal.

We as a nation need to demonstrate our freedom, our American democracy by example, not by well intentioned fiat or edict.