Foreign policy: How to sew a U.S. quilt

Frontiersman editorial board

On the heals of an election that returned control of the Senate to the Republicans, the door is open for President George W. Bush to move forward on many issues that have found opposition in recent months. In terms of his desire to act on Iraq, his stronger base here along with the recent strongly worded UN resolution on Iraq, all seem to point to much more breathing room for Bush's unilateral approach to foreign policy.

Whether you agree with the Bush agenda or not, the overall picture of America's foreign policy deserves some scrutiny if we are ever to understand why we are not always as well-received around the world as we'd like to be. A characteristic of American foreign policy that does make it unique is that each new administration seems to suffer from the delusion that it begins its foreign policy struggle with a clean slate. Rather than take into account the sins and successes of the past and meld them into an evolving foreign policy, most new administrations simply disregard past approaches and apply their own philosophy to foreign diplomacy. The result, when you step back and take a wide view of U.S. foreign policy, is a patchwork of diplomatic approaches that is difficult for friends and foes to navigate.

The one common theme seems to be that while the U.S. applies a sort of values-based philosophy to domestic policy, it applies an interest-based philosophy to foreign policy. At home we seek to ensure quality of life, civil rights protections and prosperity for individuals, but in our foreign policy, we make decisions based upon how they will affect what we have come to think of as American interests -- largely domestic security and economic prosperity. What that has come to mean to many people around the world is that the U.S. can only be counted upon as long as there is some profit in it for us. While American citizens are among the most generous in the world -- offering help to more people around the world than the citizens of any other country, our government is often perceived as self-serving and unresponsive when human suffering is the only thing at stake.

No matter how we proceed on Iraq or in other places, it may be worth it to consider a long-range approach to foreign policy that both major parties can live with. It may be worth it to apply American values to American foreign policy. If we develop a more consistent approach to other nations, we're likely to find better solutions that last longer.