In his Washington Post column Josh Rogin expresses skepticism about an “America First” foreign policy that doesn’t promote “American values”:
Just governments that respect the rights of their people, limit their own power, permit dissent and open their societies make better allies. This is the message Khashoggi sent in his final column for The Post , a plea for international support for basic freedoms inside Saudi Arabia. His story shows why the Trump administration can’t succeed overseas unless it finds a way to incorporate American values into “America First.â€
Okay, I’ll bite. What are American values? Judging by recent performance it’s forcible regime change, something we’ve been trying make stick in Afghanistan without a great deal of success.
Although his prescription sounds like the romanticism I just posted about I can’t help but think he has his causality reversed and that what he really means is that Western European countries, the countries with which we have the most in common politically, economically, socially, culturally, linguistically, and in just about every other way make better allies. English-speaking countries probably make the best allies of all.
Take a look at the record. For most of our history the American value that we promoted most aggressively in other countries was Christianity. Does Mr. Rogin think we should be sending more missionaries?
And, in the real world, it’s not possible to have a foreign policy that is completely consistent with our “values” whatever they may be. The difficult part is determining when compromises are necessary or justified. The problem is there is no agreed standard for such compromises, so justifications end up being self-serving and shallow.