Nikolas Gvosdev: Reagan Plagiarized
[Nikolas Gvosdev is editor of The National Interest.]
With Senator Barack Obama’s pledge to conduct a foreign policy that would be “sometimes like Ronald Reagan’s,” and Senator John McCain’s description of himself as a “foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution,” the iconic shadow of the fortieth president of the United States continues to fall on American politics, twenty years after he left office.
Most Republicans—and many Democrats (some more reluctantly than others) proclaim that one of the reasons Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy was so successful was that this president was able to balance his commitment to American ideals with an understanding of what the strategic interests of the country required. Whether those who claim to be Reagan’s heirs today would be able to do this remains open to debate.
Why?
Well, we are being told that the United States cannot work with countries which do not share our political values, that the United States has not only the right but the obligation to intervene in the affairs of others if we judge their domestic political situation to be wanting, and that the only fit partners for the United States in world affairs are other democracies. We hear that the assertion that each country should be able to freely determine its own social, political and economic systems in accordance with the desires of their own citizens is un-American. (All of this is on display in Robert Kagan’s latest essay in the New Republic). And Kagan’s advice has been taken to heart by Senator McCain (and speaking of advisors, Senator McCain recently distanced himself from former Secretary of State James Baker, saying that he “is not, quote, an advisor of mine. . . . I certainly admire and respect Secretary Baker . . . but that does not mean that Secretary Baker and I are in agreement on every issue.”) Indeed, the Senator’s speech to the World Affairs Council was much more in alignment with Kagan than Baker—especially when he declared that unless countries moved “toward political liberalization, our relationship will be based on periodically shared interests rather than the bedrock of shared values.”
But would Reagan agree?
It is important to remember that Reagan had no difficulty with America coexisting with nondemocratic or even noncapitalist nations—provided that such nations did not threaten the prosperity or stability of the United States and its allies. He believed that, over time—and as long as no other power sought to use force to control a country’s freedom to choose—a nondemocratic, noncapitalist country would discover for itself the virtues of a free-market, liberal-democratic system. He did not believe it wise or prudent for the United States to force the pace of history. Nor did he rule out nondemocracies as fit partners for the United States to achieve its global objectives.
In February 1985, Ronald Reagan, the “apostle of freedom,” stood beside Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd. In welcoming this absolute monarch—whose position was ratified by tradition, history and culture, not the ballot box—to the White House, the president declared:
"The friendship and cooperation between our governments and people are precious jewels whose value we should never underestimate. The positive nature of our relations demonstrates that cultural differences, as distinct as our own, need not separate or alienate peoples from one another. . . . Destiny has given us different political and social systems, yet with respect and good will, as our two countries have demonstrated, so much can be accomplished. . . ."
Hard to imagine a U.S. politician making such a statement today!...
Read entire article at National Interest
With Senator Barack Obama’s pledge to conduct a foreign policy that would be “sometimes like Ronald Reagan’s,” and Senator John McCain’s description of himself as a “foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution,” the iconic shadow of the fortieth president of the United States continues to fall on American politics, twenty years after he left office.
Most Republicans—and many Democrats (some more reluctantly than others) proclaim that one of the reasons Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy was so successful was that this president was able to balance his commitment to American ideals with an understanding of what the strategic interests of the country required. Whether those who claim to be Reagan’s heirs today would be able to do this remains open to debate.
Why?
Well, we are being told that the United States cannot work with countries which do not share our political values, that the United States has not only the right but the obligation to intervene in the affairs of others if we judge their domestic political situation to be wanting, and that the only fit partners for the United States in world affairs are other democracies. We hear that the assertion that each country should be able to freely determine its own social, political and economic systems in accordance with the desires of their own citizens is un-American. (All of this is on display in Robert Kagan’s latest essay in the New Republic). And Kagan’s advice has been taken to heart by Senator McCain (and speaking of advisors, Senator McCain recently distanced himself from former Secretary of State James Baker, saying that he “is not, quote, an advisor of mine. . . . I certainly admire and respect Secretary Baker . . . but that does not mean that Secretary Baker and I are in agreement on every issue.”) Indeed, the Senator’s speech to the World Affairs Council was much more in alignment with Kagan than Baker—especially when he declared that unless countries moved “toward political liberalization, our relationship will be based on periodically shared interests rather than the bedrock of shared values.”
But would Reagan agree?
It is important to remember that Reagan had no difficulty with America coexisting with nondemocratic or even noncapitalist nations—provided that such nations did not threaten the prosperity or stability of the United States and its allies. He believed that, over time—and as long as no other power sought to use force to control a country’s freedom to choose—a nondemocratic, noncapitalist country would discover for itself the virtues of a free-market, liberal-democratic system. He did not believe it wise or prudent for the United States to force the pace of history. Nor did he rule out nondemocracies as fit partners for the United States to achieve its global objectives.
In February 1985, Ronald Reagan, the “apostle of freedom,” stood beside Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd. In welcoming this absolute monarch—whose position was ratified by tradition, history and culture, not the ballot box—to the White House, the president declared:
"The friendship and cooperation between our governments and people are precious jewels whose value we should never underestimate. The positive nature of our relations demonstrates that cultural differences, as distinct as our own, need not separate or alienate peoples from one another. . . . Destiny has given us different political and social systems, yet with respect and good will, as our two countries have demonstrated, so much can be accomplished. . . ."
Hard to imagine a U.S. politician making such a statement today!...