Sunday, May 15, 2005

What's a Liberal Foreign Policy?

One of the principal findings of the Pew Research Report is:

"Foreign affairs assertiveness now almost completely distinguishes Republican-oriented voters from Democratic-oriented voters; this was a relatively minor factor in past typologies."
I've reservations on this issue. Back when Clinton was being reasonably assertive in foreign policy many, perhaps most, liberals supported him against the criticisms of the Republicans. Some liberals were quiet and some worried about a Vietnam/Somalia result. There were isolationist Republicans who didn't want any foreign adventures and "realist" Kissinger-types who didn't see any point in worrying about minor things like genocide and ethnic cleansing. Eagleburger thought the Balkans were (was?) a mess we should leave to Europe. Now most Republicans have moved to back their President and liberals have been pushed towards pacificism by Bush's actions.

I think the reality of the world is such that any future Democratic President is going to be more activist than the party currently is. I also think we should admit that our foreign policy differences are often more an issue of trust rather than principle. We Democrats would trust a Clinton where we don't trust a Bush. We should admit that almost all of us would support military action in some situations and believe that American principles can be powerful in some cases. I think our differences are really more at the margin--liberal hawks on Iraq thought the evil and the threat were certain enough and our military and economic power dominating enough that intervention was not terribly risky. Liberal doves thought the uncertainties of military too great, particularly after the inspectors got back in.

Looking back, the doves can argue the inspectors did their job. The issue for the future is whether there's some way for the world community to impose inspections for the long haul on a dictator.

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