fbpx
Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

Change agents

It’s hard to be a “game-changer” when you can’t even get into the game, let alone play. That’s why when it comes to foreign policy, the establishment in Washington, whether on the social democratic right and left, is very strong and why it will continue to call the shots no matter who is in the White […]

It’s hard to be a “game-changer” when you can’t even get into the game, let alone play.

That’s why when it comes to foreign policy, the establishment in Washington, whether on the social democratic right and left, is very strong and why it will continue to call the shots no matter who is in the White House.

President-Elect Obama’s cabinet may very well be a “team of rivals” (which nearly sunk the Lincoln Administration but that’s another story. Just make sure Barak that Hilary Clinton is not another Salmon P. Chase.) but I notice of those rivals for the Democrat nomination in 2008, neither Mike Gravel or Dennis Kucinich is being considered for any cabinet posts, (not even Kucinich’s fabled Dept. of Peace). The reality is that outside of a few scattered Congressmen, there really are no organizations or think tanks devoted to setting up alternatives to present foreign policy course we’re on.  Instead we get the same players and same faces from one side or the other regardless of who ran against who for President because this is the consensus we live under that consensus is backed up by powerful think tanks, funded by major corporations and foundations and promoted by top PR firms.

And what’s the alternative? It would be nice to think that Obama would staff the Pentagon with members of Code Pink but not even their members would dream that’s possible. Nor would Obama tab Ron Paul as Secretary of the Treasury because there’s a big difference between changes in demographics and actual changes in policy.

This experience in watching Obama suddenly initiating Clinton’s Third-Term is utterly predictable when we think back to when Bush II promised a “humble foreign policy” but allowed Dick Cheney to staff the Pentagon and other parts of the bureaucracy with people who were anything but humble. With no credible alternatives to the status quo, other than a Walter Jones Jr., Ron Paul or Russ Feingold perhaps, the powers that be will be entrenched even if a new president comes in calling for “change” because there simply is no one else to turn to competently staff the government. If Obama really did have different ideas about foreign policy than the establishment (and no one’s really sure if that’s true) we won’t see them now nor will we have anyone to carry them out.

That’s why it behooves the Feingolds and Pauls of the world, those on outside of the Empire looking in, to set up counter-institutions dedicated not just to formula different policies and philosophies of foreign policy, but also to be a training ground for future appointees for slots in the State Dept. and Pentagon and the NSC and Homeland Security (hopefully part of their mission will be to eliminate much of this bureaucracy).

Either you create an alternative, or there is no alternative.

Advertisement

Comments

The American Conservative Memberships
Become a Member today for a growing stake in the conservative movement.
Join here!
Join here