Every major presidential candidate is asking for more, more, more when it comes to foreign policy. Maybe what we need is less.
A PROPOSITION:
AMERICA USED to be the world's relief pitcher. The secret weapon trotted out in the ninth inning to shore up the win. With all this talk of great-power fatigue, the end of the American era, the squandering of U.S. power and resources, maybe it's time to return to truer and more tried methods. Taking a breather and solidifying our position as global leader-not giving it away by acting as the much-resented world policeman-may serve the United States well.
Ensuring our primacy means selectivity over promiscuity. It doesn't seem lately that we've asked ourselves: Where's the real competitor, and what's the real threat? We're consumed by every problem, every slight. Our vision is too clouded to see where we're welcome, where we're not and where someone else may solve the problem just as well-even if not exactly to our liking. This doesn't mean that we return home with our tail between our legs, but rather that we figure out where our fundamental interests lie before we decide to throw our weight around. It is not about giving up our position. Quite the contrary, it is about picking and choosing our engagements so that our leadership in the world is enhanced, not diminished. The current course seems unsustainable and often counterproductive.
