Monday, March 28, 2011

against doctrines

honestly, i wish presidents would dispense with the idea that they have to develop some kind of one-sentence doctrine as the guiding light for all their foreign policy decisions. foreign policy is complicated. a lot of factor have to be weighed. reducing all problems to a single formula, while politically appealing, is only going to get the country into trouble.

really it's all james monroe's fault. have you thought about the monroe doctrine since grade school? we all had to pretend to learn about it when we were kids, but looking at it with modern adult eyes, it's almost embarrassing. in case you've forgotten, the monroe doctrine was the united states laying down the following principles:
(1) european powers can no longer interfere in the internal politics of the americas.
(2) but we can.
(3) hahahahahahahaha.
let's face it, whatever a modern president comes up with as his doctrine is going to look just as embarrassing in the future. wouldn't it be better to just ditch the whole idea that presidents have to develop a doctrine?