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I have of late been reading history and political science, particularly Angelo Codevilla. One of the interesting points he makes is that ALL foreign policy should be aimed at national interests.
He reviews some of the early precedents, the mistakes, and the refinements that the nation did. Much credit must go to Washington and to John Quincy Adams, who while he wasn't much of a president, was a giant when it came to establishing what America would think and do vis a vis foreign nations. Washngton established the concept that one should treat with all nations and not meddle in their internal affairs, that all we wanted was to be left alone and trade with everyone. Jefferson and Madison, despite their disdain for a military, discovered that when the big dogs fought, they demanded the little dogs were "either with them or against them". We wanted neither, but Jefferson and Madison discovered that was simply not a reality of the world. So we fought the War of 1812 and just barely managed to get through it with our reputation and position intact. It took Adams to finally figure out how to treat with other nations. And it took a Navy. (One of Adams' comments to Lord Castleraugh, then the PM of England, was, "If America had a third the navy you have, the Barbary pirates would no longer be heard from.")
So here we have Trump attempting to deal with China, Russia, the (God-forsaken) Middle East, Mexico, and Canada - and of course the EU & NATO - on some relatively equal basis, neither telling them what to do, nor allowing us to be put in a position of supplication. ?Why are the democrats howling so loudly then.
He reviews some of the early precedents, the mistakes, and the refinements that the nation did. Much credit must go to Washington and to John Quincy Adams, who while he wasn't much of a president, was a giant when it came to establishing what America would think and do vis a vis foreign nations. Washngton established the concept that one should treat with all nations and not meddle in their internal affairs, that all we wanted was to be left alone and trade with everyone. Jefferson and Madison, despite their disdain for a military, discovered that when the big dogs fought, they demanded the little dogs were "either with them or against them". We wanted neither, but Jefferson and Madison discovered that was simply not a reality of the world. So we fought the War of 1812 and just barely managed to get through it with our reputation and position intact. It took Adams to finally figure out how to treat with other nations. And it took a Navy. (One of Adams' comments to Lord Castleraugh, then the PM of England, was, "If America had a third the navy you have, the Barbary pirates would no longer be heard from.")
So here we have Trump attempting to deal with China, Russia, the (God-forsaken) Middle East, Mexico, and Canada - and of course the EU & NATO - on some relatively equal basis, neither telling them what to do, nor allowing us to be put in a position of supplication. ?Why are the democrats howling so loudly then.
