The Jan. 2 Washington Examiner headline “China unveils plan to ‘take over’ Latin America” should focus attention.
That bracing story is just one of the worrisome international developments that should impel leaders in both parties to moderate their agendas. Facing such foreign threats, this nation needs reasons for, and examples of, political unity.
Perhaps they could make (and uphold) New Year’s resolutions to that effect. As unlikely as such a development seems, we all can and should still hope.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, no combination of foreign threats to the United States and the West has been as dangerous as that which we face in 2022 and immediately beyond. The Chinese designs on Latin America, part of which have been described as “buying an empire,” are just a small portion of leader Xi Jinping’s not-so-secret scheme for world domination. Russia’s Vladimir Putin not only continues to ramp up his anti-Western aggressiveness but also now works militarily with its onetime rival China. Iran moves ever and ever closer to nuclear-weapons capacity.
Indeed, it is sobering to know that nonstate terrorism of the ISIS and al Qaeda variety, which the State Department still labels “a persistent and pervasive threat worldwide,” arguably is now just the fourth most pressing danger facing the West. This is only in small part because of the decline of terrorists’ capabilities, but in larger part a result of the growth in practical menace from China, Russia, and Iran.
At times of such peril, domestic political crusading and hyper-partisanship ought to be shunned. Of course philosophical differences will always exist, but patriotic leaders should be stressing areas of unity rather than discord. A polity as bitterly divided as the United States is now will be hard to rally. And a nation as financially indebted as today’s U.S. will be hard-pressed to ramp up greater spending for security.
Consider that in 1941, on the eve of U.S. entry into World War II, this nation was coming off three straight landslide presidential elections. There was no hint of democratic illegitimacy in the air. And despite nine years of New Deal spending, the ratio of U.S. debt to gross domestic product stood at an eminently manageable 44%, rather than today’s economically frightening, unsustainable 122% (not to mention a mind-boggling $123 trillion in unfunded liabilities).
All of which is to say that political leaders for now should abjure grand, expensive visions and utopian dreams. Stop trying for “transformational,” systemic change and instead seek collaborative and bipartisan reform. Re-adopt “regular order” procedurally, embrace incrementalism (on all sides), seek consensus even amid philosophical tensions, and put country ahead of party.
In sum, play constructive “small ball” in domestic politics for the sake of reinstilling public trust in and emotional attachment to the constitutional system, while also making room for potential major investments in security against foreign adversaries. Turn down both the volume and the political temperature. Accept that a nation that votes for incredibly-narrowly divided government in House, Senate, and presidency is a nation that is not ready for domestic crusades.
Out of necessity, not adventurism or our own wishes, the U.S. may need to face down wicked regimes in a battle of wills backed by threat of arms. That’s where the focus of all our political leaders should be.
And, we can hope, maybe the focus alone will change our foreign adversaries’ practical calculuses, such that they don’t attempt to effectuate the evils they desire.
