Global Peace? Are We In America Seeking It?

Henry Kissinger once said, "The attainment of peace is not as easy as the desire for it. Those ages, which in retrospect seem most peaceful, were least in search of peace. Those whose quest for it seems unending appear least able to achieve tranquility. Whenever peace—conceived as the avoidance of war—has been the primary objective . . . the international system has been at the mercy of [its] most ruthless member."

Crimea has been ceded to Russia without a shot being fired.  Syria is a killing field. The result of this U.S. inaction is a disaster. At a minimum, 130,000 Syrian civilians have been killed and nine million driven from their homes by forces loyal to the tyrant. At least 11,000 Syrians have been tortured to death. Hundreds of thousands are besieged, their supplies of food and medicine cut off, as bombs and shells rain down. The Iranian mullahs aren’t giving up their nuclear weapons capability, and other regimes in the middle East are preparing to acquire their own. Al Qaeda is making gains and is probably stronger than ever. China and Russia throw their weight around while our allies shudder and squabble. Meanwhile, the U.S. missile defense plans were scaled back, Allies in Eastern Europe and Georgia were undercut, NATO enlargement was tabled, and a new strategic arms reduction treaty required significant cuts by the U.S. but not by Russia. All this, because of the President’s policy of “leading from behind”—stupid? I’d say so!

America’s foreign policy is in a shambles. Confusion abounds and the President is its author. If you do not think so, I would refer you to “America’s Global Retreat” by Niall Ferguson in the Wall Street Journal of 2/21/14.

Part of the reason for the ineffective foreign policy is that the American people are still suffering from the slowest and most unbelievable “recovery” from recession in American history. Americans believe, and with good reason, that the economic recession is still going on. There is another reason so few Americans believe that the recession has ended: The standard of living for most people has eroded. Median household income declined by 1.6% in 2008 and 2.6% in 2009. But after the official end of the recession, it continued to fall—by 2.3% in 2010 and 2.5% in 2011—before stabilizing in 2012. Analysis of more recent data by Sentier Research indicates that median household income grew only marginally in 2013. The bottom line: As of the end of 2013, median household income was 4.7% lower than in June 2009, the official end of the recession; 6.2% lower than in December 2007, the official beginning of the recession; and 7.5% lower than in January 2000. Median household income today is barely higher than it was a quarter-century ago, in 1989.

If the people do not believe we are strong at home, they will be reluctant to support a policy of strength abroad, reducing the ability of the U.S. to serve as the guarantor of global security.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that America needs a President and an executive branch that will quit regulating businesses out of business, observe the rule of law concerning the Constitution, quit pandering to his environmental political supporters, and lead the American people into their former position of leader of the free world. People are dying because of American presidential weakness.

A nation of free men needs at times like this leaders who step forward to “sound forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat.”

(References from which this blog post was gleaned are “Obama Calls Retreat” Weekly Standard 3/3/14 and “The Economic Roots of American Retreat” by Wm. Galston in the Wall Street Journal 3/18/14.)