270 years ago today, George Washington was born. I celebrate this great man’s valor, leadership, humbleness, and opinions. As America seems determined to get into foreign conflicts, from which nothing good can come, I urge a re-reading of Washington’s comments. There is no space for but a few of them, but neutrality was his advice and the principle which he followed as he guided this young nation into maturity. Washington wanted no parts of foreign entanglements, which America seems to have been guided into by presidents Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson, and now, seemingly Bush. Switzerland has no need to guard its public buildings, go into huge debt to mind everyone else’s business but its own, and station troops around the world. A few quotes from Washington are in order. “…(we should) have nothing to do with the political intrigues or the squabbles of European nations, but on the contrary, to exchange commodities and live in peace and amity with all the inhabitants of the earth.” (1793) “Having determined, as far as lay within the power of the executive, to keep this country in a state of neutrality…” (1794) “I hope the United States of America will be able to keep disengaged from the labyrinth of European politics and wars. My ardent desire is…to keep the United States free from political connections with every other country; to see that they may be independent of all and under the influence of none. In a word, I want an American character, that the powers of Europe may be convinced that we act for ourselves, and not for others.” (1795) “Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. hence therefore it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collusions of her friendships or enmities.” (Farewell Address, 1796)
I am no Jane Fonda, or “peacenik,” but we never seem to learn from past experiences! Russia got bogged down in Afghanistan for 10 years, and never accomplished anything, after the first few skirmishes, which made the involvement seem promising. The same exact thing is happening to America. Why do we have 4,000 troops in Saudi Arabia, 36,000 in Korea, and tens of thousands in other places around the world? I can see no reason. We are bankrupting ourselves further, and if we attack Iraq, as Col. David Hackworth urged this morning on Fox News, we will always live to regret it.