Sunday, May 20, 2018

On Thugs and Harsh Realities


Recently a New York Times editorial columnist wrote a piece suggesting that perhaps Trump was the type of thuggish person necessary to match perverse wits with other world thugs in North Korea, Iran, Russia and China.

The longer Trump is in office the more inured we become to his childish and thuggish antics.  Out of sheer desperation for new things to write, many begin rationalizing his behavior and attempting to postulate new interpretations of his actions.

It is true that the world is often a brutal place and that foreign policy, and even economic policy, must be established with cold sobriety rather than the intoxication of idealism.  However, I do not accept the proposition that we must view everything through a lens of mistrust and cynicism.  If we abandon the goal of creating an equitable global community and replace it with a completely self-seeking, nationalist agenda – especially in light of our long-held position of wealth and dominance in the international community – then we are risking a rapid descent into conflict and bitter competition over ever-dwindling resources and spheres of influence.

True diplomacy is frustrating and tedious.  It does not try to appease, but neither does it provoke nor bluff.  Winning inequitably on one front will often lead to losses on another, or other unpleasant consequences that may not even be obvious for years.

The United States has been the dominant world power for almost one hundred years.  In recent decades the developing world seemed to be slowly catching up – China, India, Brazil, Russia and many others experiencing rapid growth and the gleeful creation of substantial middle-class segments of society.  But war, economic instability, climate change and political corruption have stalled the progress of many if not most developing countries.  We see the consequence of this paralysis in the tides of refugees and immigrants that now threaten the political stability of even the most progressive and socially conscious nations.

Pursuing an aggressive policy of ‘America first’ that simultaneously harms developing nations through tariffs and other punitive trade measures while mercilessly curtailing immigration and refugee resettlement will ultimately result in a powder keg of world chaos and despair.  The uncertain gains of such a policy will seem paltry indeed if we find ourselves surrounded by a rapidly deteriorating global civilization.  The richest nation in the history of the world with a legacy of noble ideas and generous welcoming of ‘the tired, poor and huddled masses’ can certainly do better than that!

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