Alarming read over at Foreign Policy.
Since today is the sesquicentennial of the start of the Civil War, a slavery-related analogy is in order.
In 1820, Thomas Jefferson said that the Missouri dispute "like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union." The Missouri Compromise delayed disunion until for 40 years, until 1860.
By cutting the State Department budget significantly, the Great Budget Compromise of 2011 may be the beginning of the end of American soft power.
For the GOP, the State Department cuts are only partially balanced budget. That party has always been a skeptic of State because diplomacy, public or not, does not conform to their view of a muscular foreign policy. Public diplomacy is especially suspect because, to them, American greatness should be self-evident To try to explain or promote America abroad implicitly contradicts that self-evidence. Your Correspondent believes equally in America's greatness, if not exceptional greatness. However, reasonable people recognize that those with completely different life experiences may not share that view. One of the jobs of U.S. public diplomacy, soft power, or whatever you call it, is to introduce foreigners to our country so that can make judgments about us based on something other than local orthodoxies.
Thankfully, Joseph S. Nye has sounded the alarm on the GOP's threat American soft power. Let all those who value comprehensive national power hope that legislators heed the advice of Mr. Nye and Secretary Gates.
-Jake
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/159.html
I was planning on discussing this article myself but I see you've beat me to it. While I agree with your thoughts on why Republicans seem to be so against diplomacy through the State Department, Nye's article also pointed out that while DOD spending affects numerous congressional districts, DOS spending does not. I think while the mistrust of diplomacy is maybe an underlying factor, the more important factor given the "cutting" mode of most lawmakers is the chronic habit of leaving DOD spending intact if not increased.
ReplyDeleteI also want to just quickly point out that I think that believing that the US is exceptional just based on its existence and past accomplishments is not just detrimental when held by Congressmen, but also individuals. It feeds the image of Americans as arrogant, patronizing and self-absorbed and makes us unwilling to be self-critical. But that's just my opinion.