| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 2010 4:52 pm |
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Editorials 
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IN OUR VIEW / ISOLATIONISM We're not alone in the world As President Obama launches a surge of troops in Afghanistan, Americans are surging away from the rest of the world.For the first time in more than four decades of polling, the Pew Research Center reports that a plurality of Americans — 49 percent — say the United States should “mind its own business internationally” and let other countries get along the best they can on their own. The trend toward isolationism shouldn't come as a surprise. The worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, combined with national fatigue over two long wars, had to have an effect on Americans' attitudes about their place in the world. Nonetheless, it's alarming. Turning inward doesn't eliminate the dangers that lurk in the world, nor their ability to reach us. We're reminded of that as we mark the 68th anniversary on Monday of the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, which jolted the United States out of a long isolationist slumber and into an age of global leadership. Isolationism is about more than military considerations. Economies are no longer penned in by geographic boundaries. The growth of our own economy depends on a comprehensive global strategy that strengthens all nations and maximizes trade opportunities, just as much as it depends on how well we prepare our own children to compete. But Americans are pessimistic about their economic place in the world, too. More (44 percent) see China as the world's leading economic power than see the United States in that role (27 percent). That's a sharp turnaround from just two years ago, when 41 percent saw the U.S. as the top economic power, compared with 30 percent for China. A nation's confidence is so easily shaken. The recession and eight years of war have taken a toll, just as the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam and the Arab oil embargo did in the 1970s. But such challenges mustn't become an excuse for an American retreat from the world stage. On the contrary, history shows the power of strong relationships with allies. (See the successes in the two world wars and the first Gulf War.) America remains the world's leading economic, military and moral force. It will become stronger by building global relationships, not by pulling away from them. Time will reveal whether the president's new strategy in Afghanistan is a wise one, but this much is clear: The broader the coalition of nations with us, the greater our chances of success. We live in an interdependent world. Understanding that, and acting with other nations to increase global security, opportunity and prosperity, does not diminish America's strength. It enhances it. |
- The Kid (Griffey) strikes again!
- Teams from Snohomish County join in search for Colton Harris-Moore on Orcas
- State changes mind on how to handle Darrington graves in highway right-of-way
- Woman gets 17 months for lies, bribery
- Car thief eludes Everett police
- Frontier: Things aren’t that bad
- Everett plans big upgrades for city parks
- Suspects sought in Snohomish shooting
- Riders take to Community Transit's Swift buses
- Once again, Colton Harris-Moore eludes capture
- Monroe girl guilty of murder in Sultan gang slaying
(24) - State changes mind on how to handle Darrington graves in highway right-of-way (14)
- Police step up hunt for Colton Harris-Moore on Orcas Island (13)
- Riders take to Community Transit's Swift buses (10)
- Teams from Snohomish County join in search for Colton Harris-Moore on Orcas (10)
- Everett plans big upgrades for city parks (9)
- Senate eyeing smaller sales tax hike (6)
- Woman gets 17 months for lies, bribery (5)
- Census distrust misplaced (4)
- Once again, Colton Harris-Moore eludes capture (4)
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COMMENTS
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This editorial is spot-on.
In contrast, Seattle newspapers just recently celebrated (and I chose that verb specifically) the 10-year anniversary of the WTO protests that occurred there. It's ironic...seems many of those same folks who are concerned about "Global" Warming are also in the same camp that oppose "World" Trade.
Especially in the northwest, the silly seeds of isolationism have been growing for some time.
William Burnett | Dec 8, 2009 8:47 pm | 0 replies | Request removal
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Our country aids everyone else in the world, trying to bribe and bully most of them into accepting democracy, while our children have no medical or dental care, our young adults have no jobs, and older adults have no property.
No Canadian gunships flew over Little Rock, no French warships steamed near Florida for the Bay of Pigs, no Spanish troops intervene on the Mexican border. Yet our ruling class feels some God given right to act as the world's police chief.
Forcing our "assistance" on the world guarantees its resentment. Nukes in Iran would not be a problem had the US not meddled in the politics of and overthrown a democratically elected government.
Should our neighbors insist on massacre and dictatorship, let us weigh what we will get out of it and treat war as the business it is. Leaving war to idealists led us into the Civil War, and World War One. If intervention will not profit us, then we should stay home. Should we make war, then no rules of engagement, only annihilation and victory.
We have enough to do at home, making our nation more homogeneous, healthy enough to be drafted, educated enough to be productive, and prosperous enough to be a real example to other nations of how freedom is worth having.
Exporting freedom at the point of a gun needs to end. Until then, we are dying the death of a thousand cuts, rather than building our might for the likes of an evil Reich. An aware isolationism is the best defense we have, and the world's best hope that when we are really needed, we will be ready beyond expectations.
jon coulter | Dec 6, 2009 11:50 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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Why not let someone else play global policeman for half a century, with all its costs, obligations and thanklessness?
Why not let the European Union defend itself? Why not allow Israel to manage its own existence for a change? Why not take care of ourselves first and worry about the rest of the world much later?
The whole notion of globalization, "interdependence" and multiculturalism is fine for TV shows like Star Trek: Deep Space 9, but this is the real world.
Veritas Splendor | Dec 6, 2009 9:29 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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