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Obama is drawing criticism for failing to provide asylum to Chen Guangchang |
Starting
with the rise of communist fear in America, the United States enacted an
extensive intervention program to combat the growing influence of the Soviet
Union. NATO allied Western European countries with the United States and the
Truman Doctrine promised military aid to struggling countries like Turkey and
Greece to help them resist Soviet control. The strategy was a rational one, in
that it effectively protected our economic and political policies. Allow the
Soviet Union and countries under its influence to gain too much power and they
could effectively dominate the United States, blocking trade and surrounding us
with countries that had nuclear capabilities. Nearly five decades later, and
the United States has stuck fast to the same actions, but without the
rationale.
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Strange picture. Acceptable policy. |
Now,
given, the condition of Chen is something that can be sympathized with, but
ultimately, isn’t the same true with every country’s plight? Kony2012 pushed
the government to take action against Uganda’s Joseph Kony and the LRA to save
abused children, and now, Obama is feeling pressure to intervene in Syria with
military strength as well. As has been said previously, advocating for human
rights is not a bad thing, but at this point in time, is this enough
justification for U.S. action? Many would say no. This is doubly true when we
consider a lot of what influences these decisions. With America’s youth surging
into the new decade with a fierce dedication to activism. However despite, or
perhaps because, of the production of new internet outlets for these political
views—Change.org, for example—the problems with social networking participants
stay the same, namely: easily distracted, poorly informed, and highly
mercurial. Even as the promise to withdraw from Afghanistan is being fulfilled,
more calls are being made to enter Syria. This dangerous combination of
ignorance and indecision is becoming a deadly force in America and urges
government into worthless pursuits.
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China has continued to grow exponentially in terms of GDP |
This
isn’t to say that all intervention is bad. As I’ve mentioned, it is something
that is quite beneficial, provided it
benefits the United States sufficiently. The situation in Bahrain right now,
for example, is one that may require U.S. military. The success of revolutions
in this small island country could overthrow the current Sunni government and
spark revolutions in Saudi Arabia, causing us to lose the precious few stable
footholds we have in the Middle East. This could directly affect our oil
consumption and enhance Western-directed terrorist activities. That’s why we
intervene. However, when it comes to internal revolutions in backwards African
countries, the United States cannot afford to invest money into resources and
military to remedy a problem that was never ours. Even within Syria, the United
States already invests in the actions of the United Nations against Assad, and
in China, to assume that the United States should invest time and money to
remedy human rights and instigate reform in a country that is fast overtaking
us in every area is preposterous.
Its
time for America to look inward, with such consuming problems in healthcare,
immigration, energy, etc., and continuing this line of thought will only result
in diminished power. Spreading ourselves thin any longer while China’s GDP
grows an average of 9.7% for the last decade and a half will mean that we won’t
have any interests left defend at home or abroad. Now is the time for the
United States to regroup and regain the identity that fosters growth and
innovation. Turning to a stricter isolationist policy is a viable option that needs to be considered
deeply by government right now. Ron Paul has been right all along, dang it.
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