‘America First’ could mean America Alone

Gordon L. Weil

The nations that won the Second World War had a big idea.

Having joined together as allies to defeat Nazi Germany, they would try to create international organizations to keep the peace.   New aggression would be blocked by these new institutions.

Even before World War II ended, the victors created the United Nations, an organization designed to put their high intentions into operation.  While the wartime alliance between the Soviet Union on one side and the United States and Britain on the other had been strained, the Americans hoped that wartime momentum could propel the U.N. forward.

Almost from the outset, cooperation in the U.N. didn’t work.  The Soviet Union seized domination of Eastern Europe and, using stolen nuclear technology, asserted itself as a superpower.  It confronted the U.S. and threatened to continue its expansion westward.

China, another of the key victors of World War II, ended its close relationship with the U.S. when the Communists took control there.  Almost immediately, it backed North Korea’s invasion of the southern part of the Korean peninsula.  American forces, fighting under the U.N. banner, directly engaged Chinese troops.

The hoped-for ability of the major powers to police the world was dead.  The U.N. would not ensure peace.

Responding to the Soviet gains, the U.S. and Europe created NATO, an organization designed to forestall further advances westward by the U.S.S.R.  The Cold War emerged as alliances were formed similar to those that had existed during the two World Wars.

The Soviet Union’s Warsaw Pact faced NATO, which drew the armed forces of its member countries into tight operating units, led by the U.S.  It succeeded in discouraging further Soviet expansion.

One constructive idea for cooperation was to entwine the economies of France and Germany so that they could not independently gear up to again launch a European conflict that would turn into World War III.  This idea led to the European Community, now known as the European Union.  A unified Europe could be an effective ally to the U.S.

The economic advantages of the original EU members became so evident that other countries sought to join.  But some were far more interested in the benefits that would flow to them than in creating a more unified political and economic entity.  In practice, the EU became a two-tier organization.

At its core are the founders, a relative handful of countries.  But states like Poland, Hungary and the U.K. proved reluctant to open themselves to common standards of conduct or open movement of their citizens.  The split became obvious when Britain decided to quit the EU.

Still, the European idea has continued to have appeal.  After the breakup of the Soviet Union, many countries it had controlled applied for EU membership.  Russia, the survivor of the U.S.S.R., felt challenged. 

As the EU grew, NATO became complacent, not believing that Russia would resort to military action.  Even after Russia seized parts of Ukraine in 2014, NATO chose to appease its adversary, just as had Britain and France in a showdown with Hitler. 

Then, under then President Trump, the U.S. began to back away from NATO. By 2022, Russia felt free to try to seize all of Ukraine.  NATO, under American leadership, at last awoke.

The Asia-Pacific area countries, including the U.S., had not understood that China would follow the Russian example and seek to increase its regional power.  As it became evident that it would try to dominate the region, the Trans-Pacific Partnership was formed to confront it. 

But the U.S. saw the TPP merely as a trade agreement, failing to understand it as an alliance to block China’s expansion.  Under Trump, it backed out.  Only when China’s moves in Hong Kong and the South China Sea became blatant did the U.S. take leadership of a Pacific effort against its moves.

Though the U.N. would not be a world organization to promote peace, regional alliances arose to face aggression by Russia and China.  Still, the U.S. and Britain insisted that national sovereignty is more important than this effort and moved away from these alliances.

Some define sovereignty as retaining completely independent action and ceding no powers under an international arrangement.  For example, it has become almost impossible to get the U.S. Senate to ratify any treaty, because a deal with another country may be seen as a loss of sovereignty.

But a nation can exercise its sovereign powers to increase its prosperity and security by deciding to join with like-minded partners.  Given American power, such alliances can continue to increase U.S. influence, not limit it.

In the upcoming presidential elections, the U.S. will again be asked to decide if it wants to continue leading common international efforts against aggression or to isolate itself from them.  Insisting on “America First” could result in America Alone. 

Democrats need to toughen up

 

Gordon L. Weil

President Biden is unhappy. 

He has berated his staff for not getting him the credit he believes is his due for what he calls “Bidenomics.”

While it’s true that unemployment and inflation are down nationally and business seems to be doing well, many people are unhappy with the economy and give Biden little credit for the positive developments.  Their pay may be up, but so are their costs.

Biden looks at the national economy, but individuals look at their own personal economy.  The two different views yield two different results.

The reason is possibly that increases in national wealth may not be distributed in a way that gives many people the sense of an improving economy.  If a large share of the growth is going to the wealthiest ten percent, the rest of the people may miss most of the virtues of Bidenomics.

Whatever the gains under Biden, the country still operates under a tax system created by Donald Trump and a Republican Congress.  That system is designed to reward the wealthy and large corporations.  Billionaire Warren Buffett, who favors higher taxes on the rich, can still point out that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.

Despite the tax deal favoring the rich, the GOP does well with average voters by effectively targeting its message at them.  Using wedge issues like abortion and gun control to gain support, it may even succeed in inducing them to believe that taxes are too high, which benefits the wealthy far more than them. 

Many of these people have become the Trump Republican “core.”  They are fed a steady diet of Trump’s version of political and economic reality by the skilled use of social media and cable television.

Surprisingly, the GOP learned about personally targeted politics from a hard-hitting Democrat, then a member of Congress from Illinois.  Rahm Emanuel used this approach to flip the House of Representatives from Republican to Democratic in 2006. The GOP watched and learned and by 2010, they flipped it right back.   GOP social media and Fox News were flying high.

The success of social media is its focus on responding to the sentiments of its followers rather than recruiting new supporters.  It’s likely that few liberal Democrats follow right-wing social media outlets or watch Fox and other conservative channels.  But loyal Trump backers are continually fed stories that confirm their views, and they remain enthusiastic and become a cult.

Trump’s own social media site, called “Truth Social,” is estimated to have more than two million followers.  They could be many of the same people who follow conservative cable programs, and they belong to him.

The result is that they can come to believe, inaccurately, that Biden is a socialist and dangerous to the country.  They can be left untouched about claims of a booming Gross Domestic Product, if that’s even understood. With Trump at the head of the ticket, they are drawn to the ballot box.  If they show up, they may give him wins in primaries and swing states.

Social media may succeed in gaining the attention of conservative voters who are not loyal Trump backers.  They make their case in readily understandable terms that appeal to the conservative leanings of their recipients.

The Democrats have no answer, as Biden is learning.  Bidenomics in 2024, like Obamacare in 2010, is an abstract idea that fires up few voters.  Fact-checkers may prove that the GOP errs, but that, too, is an abstraction to many voters.  Like the GOP, the Democrats want to appeal to their backers.  But they act like they’re in a student debate, not a political war.

One key feature of Trump-inspired social media is always being on the attack.  It labels its opponents as dangerous.  Its policy proposals are almost all negatives, like quitting NATO or reducing environmental protection.  That’s a sharp contrast with the almost academic arguments of the Democrats.

The professional media tends to give each side equal weight and coverage.  While Biden’s actions are duly reported, mistruths may get the same often unquestioned attention.  Its coverage may lack critical news judgment.  Objectivity should remain the goal, but its mindless pursuit can promote misinformation.

The Democrats should become more aggressive in the social media.   They often sound more like professors than politicians.  Their message should be simple and bold.  They can direct their message to individual voters, and not only focus on broad national policies, however successful. And Biden should be more visible in the nightly news.

Aside from being too old to run and consequently out of touch with younger generations, Biden plays by dated political rules, no longer suited to the politics of the times.  The Democrats will continue to lag in the polls if they don’t toughen up.

Civil War was all about slavery

              

Gordon L. Weil

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley tried to dodge admitting that the Civil War was about slavery.

Yet her state was the first state of the Confederacy to secede, acting months before Abraham Lincoln took office.

The state argued that the Union was based on agreement among states that slavery could continue and that non-slave states would send escapees back South when captured. But the North was reneging on that agreement and wanted to end slavery.

Lincoln had promised that he would not act to end slavery where it existed, whatever his own views. In fact, Congress proposed a constitutional amendment containing that promise, which was ratified only by his home state of Illinois. The southern states chose to secede.

Many in the South, having lost the Civil War, came to believe in the Lost Cause. They claimed to have wanted only to have preserved states’ rights and been simply overpowered by the Union. Slavery was pushed into the background. This was the position advanced by Haley, which might have helped her in some Republican primaries but not in a general election.

This is an excerpt from the South Carolina Declaration of December 1860, which in turn has a link to the complete document.