Today, my mind is wrought with frequent dilemmas of various varieties. Though I believe myself to be a man of principle and just morals, I certainly am not a man of great faith. As I grow into an educated man, I seldom see a historical figure of importance that did not adhere to an outstanding faith. Past presidents and leaders often quoted the bible when preaching their rhetoric to their constituents. Considering my ambitions as a leader of people, I do not feel inclined to be a person of a particular faith. Quite the contrary, I have never been one of deep faith and I will never pretend to be such a man. Too often leaders have hid behind religion to guide them. The humanity we all share ought to unite us, not a common religion, for if we choose to believe in God, we must also agree that we are all of common descent. Furthermore, if we choose to believe such a founding, we must then not quarrel about our common faith. The only religion I can morally prescribe to is a religion that does not discriminate against any race of human, presently or historically. I find it appalling that wars have been waged due to differences in faith. In addition, the rationalization that God wills it is equally as appalling. If God wills killing in his name, I denounce that God as immoral. I firmly believe the statement that the great leader Teddy Roosevelt once said, “to educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” Furthermore, I apply this quote in regards to religion. Killing is immoral, and if religion advocates killing, that religion is thus immoral. I do believe that some wars must be fought. However, a war fought based solely on differences in religion and ideals is a war that must be avoided. On the other hand, a war fought to avenge some great evil is a just war. For example, if one country forces its domination upon another, rebellion is necessary, for freedom is essential to human life. The United States of America must remember its roots and not become a great hypocrite. We must remember the great ideals behind our rightful revolution over the tyrannical British government and we must apply them to current foreign affairs. I do not advocate a laissez-faire type policy in regards to foreign affairs, rather I advocate a policy that demonstrates America’s promotion of freedom and justice for all. The United States must withdraw support to despotic regimes and apply diplomatic pressure to such nations, because the prosperity of the global community is prosperity for America. Furthermore, do not simply believe that because I advocate the promotion of democracy and justice that I also believe America ought to force such ideals upon the global community. I do not believe the War in Iraq was a just cause. I believe Saddam Hussein and similar leaders are detrimental to world prosperity, but such leaders must be overthrown from within. The Bush Administration rightly denounced Saddam Hussein as a terrible man. Despite this fact, the United States in this circumstance should not have dove into Iraq militarily. The lack of support from the global community should have been a red flag to the President. To nations like Germany and France, the United States went to war in Iraq in spite of their warnings, thus destroying vital foreign allies. If we are to progress globally, we must learn to cooperate.
Further, it is damaging to the United States to establish and continue military presence worldwide. Such a presence can only derive a negative connotation amongst the local population. To quote President James Monroe, “preparation for war is a constant stimulus to suspicion and ill will.” The quote strikes me as immensely relevant in today’s global political world. A military presence near any nation that is not our most trusting ally is a presence that causes distaste towards America. For example, though Saudi Arabia claims to be our ally, a vast percentage of the terrorist of the 9/11 attacks were from Saudi Arabia. Further, the Saudi government supports Wahhabism in schools. I submit that the current relationship of the United States and Saudi Arabia is one of great controversy. For if we allow our “allies” to advocate a form of religion that is greatly extremist, we then, in effect endorse extremism ourselves. The awful reality is that the United States and other western nations that would contest such advocacy of extremism do not act out against nations like Saudi Arabia because we rely on their vast amounts of oil. Additionally, when we buy oil from nations that promote religious extremism we in effect pay its bill. We fork over millions to Middle Eastern nations that play host to terrorist organizations, and then denounce those terrorists. I am aware that I sound rather severe in my standing, and I am not attempting to say that America funds terrorists. However, when we allow ourselves into partnership with nations that do fund terrorists, in any form, we destroy the progress our troops have made in their fight against such terrorist cells, thus igniting a never ending battle.
To counteract such follies in foreign policy, we must educate our leaders of tomorrow fully and without bias. It is a tragedy of humanity that the history of yesterday is written by those who were the victors. Our school books teach our youth about the great triumphs of America, but greatly neglect to tell of our follies. America has made mistakes in its past, and these mistakes must be learned from, and act as a warning to future leaders. Every man makes mistakes, but to learn from those mistakes is the ultimate measure of that man. Teddy Roosevelt supported my thesis in saying “the only man to never make a mistake is the man who does nothing.” We must place education on a higher pedestal then ever before in today’s ever shrinking world. John Fitzgerald Kennedy said it most accurately, “the United States must move very fast, even to stand still.” With globalization spinning out of control, America must attempt to adapt to the present global situation by increasing expenditures in areas of education. If we are to compete with foreign nations and continue to advance our own economy, we must focus on teaching our youth with up to date curriculum. Such goals may only be reached by increasing teachers’ wages and increasing the budget to incorporate all schools in the advancement of educational foundations, across our great fifty states, from ghetto to suburb, from Boston to Honolulu.
Still, we must be aware of the fragile state our global political system. While we must provide a national security, we must not infringe on others rights to national security. The only way to establish a common sense of security is through diplomatic means. We must interact and negotiate with every nation, we must make it priority to reconcile our differences and agree upon common ground. If a nation desires nuclear capability in order to decrease dependence on crude oil, the wish ought to be granted. However, we must be careful those nations are incapable of enrichment capabilities, which placed in the wrong hands presents an immense global threat. I propose that we freeze the spread of enrichment capabilities and agree that nations already possessing such capabilities never utilize them for political or strategic gain. When this can be established a global order will be installed.
