After attending the debate between the Young Democrats and the College Republicans, I have to say that I was more than a little disappointed. Fully representative of their respective national parties' agendas, the Democrats came in with no plan and the Republicans a bad one.
Especially in the realm of foreign policy, the Republican Party contends a worldview that is not only deeply flawed, but also dangerous. Dangerous because it is a pre-Sept. 11 worldview that does not understand that our nation is at war and not leaving ourselves vulnerable in any capacity is simply not an option. This issue is what the Democrats should be discussing on the national as well as collegiate level.
The first indictor of a fundamentally distorted worldview is that the Republican energy plan focuses on drilling in protected wildlife refugees. This plan regressively perpetuates our petroleum-based economy rather than promoting the exploration of sustainable energy sources. Net result: We continue to support repressive governments in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Indonesia and elsewhere to protect our oil-supply, engendering the hatred of millions in the Muslim world and forcing us either to join the repression or grovel at the feet of these people who hate us. These are the very countries that in a post-Sept. 11 world we need to be confronting -- not appeasing.
The second indicator of a pre-Sept. 11 worldview is Republican complicity in running up unprecedented budget deficits. As a result China has hundreds of billions of dollars worth of U.S. Treasury bills, giving them the power to destroy our economy through bad management, economic instability, or conscious efforts. This imbalance gives China a virtual veto over our national security decisions; if they object to our actions against North Korea or Iran, or want to invade Taiwan, they pose a vast economic threat to America's ability to protect our own national security is a fundamental national right and something that we cannot allow Republicans to compromise in this post-Sept. 11 world.
Recent developments have indicated that the Republican position has not improved. Now Republicans want to let documented national security threats run our ports. Yes, a company based in United Arab Emirates -- a country that harbored some of the Sept. 11 terrorists --could soon be running our ports thanks to the Republican administration. It is not to say that Arab or Muslim companies should be banned from U.S. government contracts, but when a branch of our military notates something as a grave threat to national security, it cannot be ignored. In short, the Republicans have proven that they hold a worldview that is simply no longer safe in a post-Sept. 11 world.
And while the Democrats do not have a distorted worldview, it often appears that they do not have one at all, unless moral relativism can be considered an outlook. Criticizing America is not a comprehensive international foreign policy approach. It is not going to address the profound problems in the United Nations or abroad and it is not going to make us safer at home. Their response to China and Venezuela on the International Criminal Court is that the United States has made mistakes in the war on terror. Democrats' response to Cuba, Syria and Zimbabwe on the Human Rights Commission is to look at problems at Guantanamo Bay. Their response to the United Nations' inaction in the face of genocide is that the United States makes use of torture-like procedures. Let us make one thing clear: There is no moral equivalency between the United States and Iran or China. That position is dead wrong, an insult to our country, and not going to win supporters at the collegiate or national level. What both sets of Democrats need to do is to expose the Republicans' pre-Sept. 11 worldview for what it is: dangerous and wrong.
So while I have only discussed my disappointment with issues touching on foreign policy component of the debate, this disappointment is deep-seated. For their part, Democrats need to abandon the misconception that Republicans have a monopoly on Americanism and that to debate them means to take a position that opposes America. Republicans need to face the reality that our nation is at war and realize that their pre-Sept. 11 worldview is a dangerous mindset to have in these changing times.
