Has Anyone Seen a Big Stick?

“Speak softly and carry a big stick” This phrase, once characterized American foreign policy. The key principal behind “Big Stick Ideology” is that we as a nation should tread lightly in world affairs while maintaining the economic and military might to crush any adversary. I am a big fan of this policy; I believe this idea is the best way to ensure peace and prosperity in our fine land, yet we no longer adhere to this principle. We certainly no longer speak softly, the American government now forces itself into others domestic policy issues, we send diplomats gallivanting around the globe spewing a new policy agenda every 2 years, involve ourselves in others conflicts and take it upon ourselves to solve others issues, this is certainly not speaking softly. Turn on the news, or better yet get on a plane, go see what the world thinks of our interference in their nations, we have stepped on numerous toes, which would be okay I guess if we still had… you guessed it, a “big stick”, however, sadly we do not. The might of the American military was once something that stuck awe in to the hearts and mind of people and nations around the globe. Under President Reagan we were the mightiest force the planet had ever known, the might of our military brought down the Soviet Union without firing a single shot. The idea of American retaliation was something that was once feared. Now we are laughed at. We can’t say terrorist anymore because we may hurt someone’s feelings, our military is no longer able to return fire without permission when the “enemy combatants” (not terrorist) are trying to kill them, we have to arrest and mirandize these individuals so that they may stand trial in the U.S. What does that say to our enemies? If you attack us we’ll send our military out to arrest you, read your rights and bring you back to the U.S. to receive three meals a day in an air-conditioned prison? How in the world did we get to this point? We as a nation have become so caught up in appearances that we are willing to sacrifice our own security to avoid some hurt feelings. Our enemies are lurking, we are despised by many capable organizations throughout the globe. We must find our “big stick” once again; we must show our enemies that we are ready and willing to crush them should they rise up against us. We must also learn to speak softly, It is not the job of the American Government to police the world, It is not the job of the American taxpayer to fund other nations projects or clean up their messes. When we as a people group assert our ideas and opinions on others who do not want them we inspire fierce resentment. If we “spoke softly” we may not have as many terrorist organizations to be weary of in the first place. I would love nothing more than for my kids to read about terrorism in the history books, but if we continue down the road we are on now, my kids will be reading about terrorism in the newspapers.