Staggering production levels, en masse immigration and an exorbitant GDP

per capita are all characteristic of the first seventy to seventy-five years of the 20 th
century for the United States. During this time period, we were experiencing social
and economic highs following the victory of two world wars, putting a man on the
moon and passing extensive civil rights laws. However, by this time, we were now
30 years into the Cold War with the Soviet Union and no end seemed near. This was
debatably the beginning of the downfall of the so-called American Century. This
could be debated as true since we made it our sole duty to stop the spread of
communism. This effort ultimately resulted in the nation being drawn into foreign
politics more than it had ever been before. We subsequently fought two wars one in
Korea and one in Vietnam, which individuals will argue we should have never gotten
involved with in the first place. The Cold War would not officially end until 1991 with
the dissolution of the USSR, but just a year prior we managed to pick yet another
fight, this time in the Middle East. Although we had support from a large group of
nations, this yearlong war seemed to cause a cascade of events that to this point
have culminated in the war on terror. If we would have kept to ourselves, could we
have avoided all the conflict and terrorism that we have in the US today? Perhaps,
and that is why our foreign policy has fallen under scrutiny and is now a huge issue
on the minds of the American people especially as it pertains to the upcoming
election.
At the turn of the century, the United States seemed to be dabbling in a
myriad of countries internal affairs especially within the Middle East. Take for
instance our invasion of Iraq and then our recent efforts to help the Syrian citizens
overthrow Bashar al-Assad who is infamous for his use of chemical weapons against
his own constituents. It appears that our involvement in external affairs has
become the new norm of sorts. The US plays the international police officer. A prime
example of this is the United Nations. The organization that was created to provide
countries proper representation in world politics has become a US run project with
the other countries playing the role of cabinet members more or less. As a country,
we need to decide if we should travel the same path we have been for almost 40
years now or if it is now time to focus on our needs as a country and no longer
concern ourselves with the way foreign countries deal with their issues even if it is
through the most immoral actions.
While it may not be as clear-cut as I put it, as I see it there are two main
approaches that we can take to resolve this issue. The first would be to operate
much as we did in the first half of 1900s. This would involve operating as if no other
country existed other than ours from every point of view besides commerce and
trade. In fact, this is very similar to how we functioned prior to our involvement in
World War II. We went about our own business; dealing with the internal issues and
leaving Europe to deal with the Nazi threat. Up until December of 1941, trade, as I
mentioned before, was just about the only method that we actually used to interact
with other countries that were involved in the war such as Britain. In the years prior
to our involvement, we benefitted solely from producing large amounts of
equipment and munitions that were eventually sold to Britain. Even despite the
hugely immoral mass killings of Jews, we kept our distance from the rest of the

world and only when Pearl Harbor was attacked and there was a direct threat to the
US did we finally become involved in the war. This is one approach that we can take
to foreign policy; sitting on the back burner focusing on our needs and only
becoming involved if someone were to poke the proverbial bear with a stick.
However, some may argue that we have rooted ourselves so far down in foreign
affairs making this approach nearly impossible to accomplish.
The second approach I see as a viable foreign policy option would be to
decrease our involvement in foreign affairs, abdicating our power as international
police officer, without fully disconnecting from the potential issues. In addition to
this, I suggest that we then encourage and enable the other members of global
organizations, such as the UN, to take a bigger part in combatting global issues.
Take for example Syria, the things Assad is doing to his citizens are immoral and
inhumane. In addition to the US, the other members of the UN have promised to
stop wrongdoings such as this. It is thus only right that they should take an active
part in these conflicts to the same extent as we do. Furthermore, if possible once we
remove dangerous weapons that have been outlawed by the international
committee from the equation, we should empower the country to solve its issues for
itself. In the case of Syria, this would include allowing the civil war to play out, as it
should without any outside intervention even if intercession would mean the
probable establishment of democracy. I believe this because in my opinion, we
should not choose sides in a matter that does not issue a direct threat to our wellbeing or the well-being of a close ally or asset.
We have drastically turned away from our idea of foreign policy that
predominated in the early 20th century. We no longer pretend as if we were the only
country on the planet, instead as of recent we have become the judge, jury and
executioner acting more or less without first weighing the consequences. Perhaps
this is just the role that we are meant to fill or maybe we need to reevaluate where
we stand. Maybe we should revert to our previous policy; remove ourselves from
the equation altogether and much like a hibernating bear not bother anyone unless
first provoked. On the other hand, maybe we should still be connected with the rest
of the world but instead of being a police officer, we should be more of a referee
ensuring that the playing field is level so to speak while remaining impartial. Foreign
policy has been a hot topic ever since the formation of this nation and now, as its
citizens, we must decide how we will interact or will not interact with the outside
world in the future.