No two names are more closely associated with misguided economic policy than Sen. Reed Smoot and Rep. Willis C. Hawley, authors of the protectionist Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which helped convert a deep downturn into the Great Depression. Raising tariffs on more than 20,000 imported goods, the law prompted other nations to retaliate against …
The world‟s all-too-predictable condemnation of Israel over its military operation in Gaza begs an ironic question: Beyond the heated rhetoric, who really cares for the people of Gaza? Who, that is, seeks to protect human life within this narrow strip of land and to build the economy and civil society that will ensure a bright …
Continue reading “Who Cares for the Gazans? How About Israel?”
The global reaction to Israel’s attack on Hamas got me thinking about how, if we could travel back in time, the world of 2009 might have viewed some of history’s most consequential military confrontations For instance, in August 1940, several months into Nazi Germany’s relentless raids over London, the British found an opportunity to respond. …
‘What then is the American, this new man?’ J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur asked in his Letters to an American Farmer in 1782 before describing the distinctly American character that was emerging on the eastern seaboard of a new world. Fast forward 226 years, substitute ‘Barack Obama’ for ‘the American,’ and you have the …
Continue reading “Letter from Washington / Searching for Barack”
Dear Senators Obama and McCain: One of you will take the oath of office on January 20. When you do, you will succeed a president who has upset or angered world leaders in pursuit of U.S. security interests. One of your challenges will be to repair these strained or fractured diplomatic relationships. The desire to …
Continue reading “A League of Democracies Would Serve America Well”
U.S. foreign policy is about more than confronting immediate dangers. It’s also about promoting American values of freedom, democracy and human rights over the long term because we believe those values create the path for more peace and prosperity – not just at home but around the world. Though freedom and democracy have spread to …
Continue reading “Obama should follow Bush’s successful Latin policies”
In mid-April, Rep. Sue Myrick, a soft-spoken Republican from Charlotte, North Carolina, sought to shake her nation from its slumbers, announcing a 10-point “Wake Up America” agenda “to alert, and educate, Americans to terrorist threats here at home posed by radical Islamic extremists.” Save a few conservative newspapers and blogs, barely anyone noticed. Welcome to …