On My Soapbox

It’s been interesting having the opportunity to see America from the outside these past couple months. When you’re in the middle of the country it’s easy to see only the great things about America and avoid our status around the world and the problems that many countries have with our foreign policies. When I was in London I definitely had gotten some sense of home foreigners viewed Americans, and for the most part it is the same right now in Korea:

Americans are cool.
The American government is a mess.

It is definitely eye opening, however to see how much worse the world’s opinion on our government, our economy and our leadership has gotten in only the few years since I have left London.

America is no longer the beacon of freedom and hope that I think a lot of people imagine it to be from the confines of their suburban living rooms. I think inside of America there is a pervading ideology that the war in Iraq is bad news for us, but it is only a small blunder in the record book of a powerful and growing country--

It is terrifying, however, to see what America really does look like from a foreign perspective. Rather than the youthful, vigorous rapscallion rising to fight the good fight, I would describe the image of America as the bloated, old king, slowly and inevitably dying of some terminal illness. One of our Korean friends described the desire for Asian markets to move to different foreign currency (most likely the Euro) and pleas from the American government to avoid such a move. He says very emphatically, but with shaky confidence, “I hope America comes out of this. It will be bad for everyone if it continues to go down...” Right now the U.S. dollar is being propped up by large foreign investments (most influentially, China) and is still degrading quickly. Our out of control spending on the war in Iraq is a large part, but also only one of many problems that have come from the explosion in growth of the Federal Government.

This is the part when I get on my soapbox (ahem):

One of the most valuable things that this perspective has offered has been in terms of how I view our next Presidential election. In terms of candidates, I have to say that the current top alternatives are in a lot of ways frightening. Right now there are really little differences dividing the Democrats and the current Neo-conservative controlled Republican party. 

Both sides of the aisle are promoting big spending in numerous fields, its just a matter of where the money is going. Democrats proposed social welfare programs and the neo-cons are avidly proposing dumping even more money into Iraq. Both sides are also all in favor of big government--it is only a matter of how that big government will act. Democrats want government to take care of medical costs, social welfare, social security, big programs set in place to help the people of the nation. The Neo-Cons offer a much more sinister concept of big government, in line with the Patriot Act and the need of the federal government to act as a world police force.

I come form a Republican background, so my sympathy does lie with the Republican--however I find the Neo-Cons to be a terrifying group to have in control of the party. Republicans were known as the party that supported isolationist policies, small government, localized government, and holding the government responsible for spending. Right now the Republicans have clearly lost sight of those ideals. While in our history there have been world events that have made it a necessity to have an interventionist policy, I think that time, for America has passed. The current state of the U.S. economy and the cancer-like growth of the federal government during the Bush Administration have definitely crippled our ability to focus on outside of events. Right now America needs to look inward, to pull out of foreign nations and work on cutting its cost and returning the government to the people.

Ron Paul seems to be the only current Presidential who is willing to enact any kind of change. While I agree that a lot of his policy ideas are unfeasible, his ideas are a lot of what the country needs--and by what the country needs I am mostly talking about change.

Clinton, Obama, Giuliani and Thompson, by and large have their sights set on only perpetuating the growing problem of federal spending and a ‘world police’ foreign policy. Clinton’s ideas on socializing health care are probably the most revolutionary, but putting more money into the government right now would do little to lift the burden on our national debt. 

I have never really been interested in politics, but seeing America from the outside has definitely forced me to see what a problem our country is in. Ron Paul is a really exciting candidate in a lot of regards because he recognizes our problems, not only from an American perspective, but from an international one as well. His policies outline ways to cut government spending, give power back to the people, and back to the States. His foreign policy is staunchly non-interventionist. He does say that 9/11 was largely caused by American foreign policy. And the CIA agrees with him. Our interfering with Middle Eastern governments and power structures--from Iraq to Iran in the 70s and 80s--directly influenced our position as the target for terrorism on a global scale. 

America gave Bin Laden his weapons.
It gave Sadam his.
It gave Iran theirs.

It’s easy to say those countries manipulated what they gave them and put the blame solely on them, but it’s important to realize that we have to take blame for a lot our current troubles. 

All of his policies and information is available on http://www.ronpaul2008.com/ The man has a lot of good ideas and has strong moral foundations. His record in Congress is almost spotless and he really believes that America can do considerably better than what it has become of the last twenty years.

If you read this far I’m really impressed. I just feel that from abroad its hard to really make a difference in politics and I want to do my part even if I am 2000 miles away. 

Phew, okay. I’ll try to write something more interesting next time.