“Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship with All Nations — Entangling Alliances with None.” – Thomas Jefferson
The founders of the United Sates were very astute in understanding the dangers of “entangling alliances” with other nations. As W. Cleon Skousen wrote in The 5000 Year Leap:
“This was the Founders’ doctrine of ‘separatism.’ This was far different from the modern term of ‘isolationism.’…[The Founders] desired to cultivate a wholesome relationship with all nations, but wished to remain aloof from sectional quarrels and international disputes.”
We’ve discussed the great costs the United Sates has paid for deviating from these principles. Many of the wars of the 20th and 21st Centuries were unnecessary or avoidable. Truly, “No war is inevitable until it has begun,” as Patrick J. Buchanan wrote. So indoctrinated we have become concerning the “necessity” of wars, we fear to question them and our actions in them. To this day, do not dare question the bombing of civilians in the World War II, because it was a “good” war. Nor question if there was a better way to end slavery than the loss of hundreds of thousands of Americans in the Civil War.
There are just wars, but there are no good wars.
The Founders also warned of foreign influence on our government. Skousen writes, “[George] Washington also warned that giving a more favored status to particular nations could open up the United States to strong foreign influences which could subvert the security or best interests of the United States.” Here is what George Washington warned:
“Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence…the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government…Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite [foreign nation], are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests.”
Those who think or deny our “friends” cannot or will not attempt to influence our government need only open their eyes. This is not a new problem, but one that has existed throughout history, which is why our founders left us with many warnings.
Flash forward a bit to the years after World War I. This tragic and terrible disaster left America with over 100,000 dead, and 200,000 injured. We let our “allies” goad and scare us into the war. Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh (father of the famous pilot) implored our leaders to return to the Founders’ vision:
“We had elected a president [Woodrow Wilson] for a second term because he said he ‘kept us out of war’ in his first term. We proved by a large vote that we did not want to go to war, but no sooner was the president re-elected than the propaganda started to put us to war. Then we became hysterical, as people always have done in war, and we believed everything bad against our enemy and believed only good of our allies and ourselves. As a matter of fact all the leaders were bad, vicious. They lost their reason and the people followed…”
Mark Twain is credited with the saying, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.“
It sure does.
And as Skousen muses: “Looking back, one cannot help wondering how much happier, more peaceful, and more prosperous a policy of ‘separatism’ as the world’s great peacemaker instead of ‘internationalism’ as the world’s great policeman.”
When will we have enough of death and debt?
Darrick Dean 