America First<\/p>\n
President Trump has made \u201cAmerica First\u201d a prime pass-phrase of his Administration.\u00a0 The term has come to mean that America will do what benefits America, regardless of the history or the long-term consequences.\u00a0 \u201cAmerica First,\u201d in President Trump\u2019s terms, means \u201cevery other country second.\u201d\u00a0 It means that the United States will take advantage of other nations to our benefit, even if it means to others\u2019 detriment.<\/p>\n
The US actions at this week\u2019s NATO meetings are a prime example of \u201cAmerica\u00a0First.\u201d\u00a0 The world is faced by a rising tide of racism and nationalism.\u00a0 Italy, Germany, France, Turkey, the United States and the United Kingdom all have growing political movements that echo the nationalist\/fascist movements of the 1920\u2019s and 30\u2019s.\u00a0 NATO has been the counter-balance to this kind of nationalism for the past seventy years.<\/p>\n
Fascism and nationalism led the world to both world wars.\u00a0 Before both of those, the United States took a similar position to President Trump\u2019s:\u00a0the view that America was being taken advantage of by \u201cforeigners;\u201d and that the US can do better one-on-one with the world rather than through multi-national organizations.\u00a0 After World War I, the US walked away from the League of Nations (proposed by Woodrow Wilson, the US President) and tried to hide behind the oceans in \u201cFortress America.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just prior to the US involvement in World War II, the \u201cAmerica First Committee\u201d played a prominent role in politics.\u00a0 Well known figures such as Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford called for America to stay out of the war in Europe (started by Hitler in 1939.)\u00a0 And, like today, the America First Committee had vague undertones of racism and anti-immigration, particularly Jewish immigrants trying to escape the Holocaust.<\/p>\n
The America First Committee disbanded on December 10th<\/sup>, 1941, three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.<\/p>\n It was the alliance of nations, led by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, that led the world to victory over German Nazism and Japanese Imperialism.\u00a0And when the Soviet Union became the next threat to world stability, the United States organized NATO to counter-balance the Soviet bloc.\u00a0 For seventy years the NATO allies have cooperated and shared; preventing Soviet aggression and nuclear conflagration.<\/p>\n We now have a new \u201cAmerica First\u201d movement.\u00a0 Like the old, it sees the US as being more powerful by itself, unrestricted by the \u201cencumbrance\u201d of alliance.\u00a0 This Steve Bannon produced philosophy sees America as the ultimate \u201cbully,\u201d able to use its strength to demand what it wants from other nations without need of cooperation. It is now national policy. We see it in the trade wars the US has started, we see it in US strong-arming at the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the G-7, and we see it in the personally insulting treatment President Trump has for our allies at this week\u2019s NATO summit.<\/p>\n And what of the concern that NATO is being \u201c\u2026carried on the backs of US taxpayers (Senator John Kennedy, Rep- LA)?\u201d\u00a0 NATO has always been an extension of US foreign policy.\u00a0 There is no \u201cNATO ARMY,\u201d there is cooperation among the various armed forces of NATO members.\u00a0 The US has by far the largest military in the organization.\u00a0 Member nations have agreed to support THEIR OWN FORCES with 2% of their gross domestic product.\u00a0 This is not money owed, it is money to be spent.<\/p>\n And if there wasn\u2019t NATO, then the United States would still have to execute its foreign policy without that assistance.\u00a0 For example, the United States invaded Afghanistan after the 9-11 attack.\u00a0 The NATO allies not only supported the US invasion, but over twenty-seven nations fought alongside US forces there. Could the US have done it alone?\u00a0 The answer is yes, but at an even higher cost in lives as well as money.<\/p>\n President Trump sees the United States as a \u201cworld leader.\u201d\u00a0 He clearly sees Vladimir Putin as an \u201cequal\u201d world leader, and in Mr. Trump\u2019s bilateral view someone worthy of praise.\u00a0 He clearly sees the NATO alliance leaders at somehow inferior, eligible for criticism and disdain.\u00a0 This is his personal style of leadership:\u00a0 if you work for him you are liable for attack and insult.\u00a0 He clearly sees the Chancellor of Germany, and the Prime Ministers of Canada and the United Kingdom, as \u201cemployees\u201d rather than equals.<\/p>\n But when Putin\u2019s Russia begins to attack the national sovereignty of the Eastern European nations, as they already have in Ukraine, will the US stand by its policy of defending NATO members, or will we step back and say it\u2019s not our concern? \u00a0Will \u201cAmerica First\u201d once again lead us to world conflict?<\/p>\n In World War II, we waited for a direct attack on our nation to respond.\u00a0 It was only with tremendous effort and sacrifice that we defeated aggression.\u00a0 With this new version of America First, are we doomed to repeat history?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"