THE U.S. COULD LEARN FROM STAR TREK

By: Dan Clements

In the fiction universe of Star Trek, the Prime Directive, Starfleet’s General Order #1, is the most important guiding principle of the United Federation of Planets. The Prime Directive dictates that there can be no interference with the internal affairs of other civilizations, consistent with the real world concept of Westphalian sovereignty.

The Peace of Westphalia as having several key principles, which explain the Peace's significance and its impact on the world today:

1. The principle of the sovereignty of states and the fundamental right of political self determination

2. The principle of (legal) equality between states

3. The principle of non-intervention of one state in the internal affairs of another state

Senator John McCain advocates an interventionist point of view in regards to U.S. foreign policy. He sites the rise of Hitler and points out that Hitler needed to be stopped. And senator McCain is right, in so far as Hitler took his fascist views outside of the sovereign borders of Germany. If Hitler had been satisfied with staying in his own country and not started another world war in Europe or committing genocide on the Jewish people, would we have been justified in going in and interfering with Germany’s internal affairs?

When ever the U.S. has interfered with other nations sovereignty, it has always come back to bite us in the buttocks. Ever hear of operation Ajax? This little coup removed the elected Prime Minister of Iran (Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh) and installed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1953. This little move brought about the Islamic revolution in 1979 and turned Iran into an Islamic republic, where sharia law is the law of the land today.

Because of our cold war stance in the world, and the USSR’s interventions and invasion of Afghanistan, we caused a bad situation in the country by driving out the vast majority of the elites and intellectuals. This caused a power vacuum in Afghanistan and the Taliban came to power in 1996. We all know the results of this foreign policy gem. Can anyone spell 9/11?

I’m not here to say that our foreign policy excuses another county, or group’s actions, but history is replete with blowback from one country not respecting another’s sovereignty. It is one thing to stop wholesale genocide of a people, (can someone help Dafar?), then you might have just cause to violate a countries sovereignty, but to interfere with the internal workings of another countries affairs is presumptive arrogance.

We say we intervene because our national security is at stake, or we don’t like another governments politics, or you fill in the blank, but I say we intervene because we have a lot of megalomaniacs in politics and predatory global corporations that can’t stand to see the world and other countries develop on their own, because it is not in there best interest. Fighting communism is not a good enough reason to intervene. Communism left alone will self-destruct, because it is not sustainable. If we don’t like what another country is doing, then don’t deal with that country on any level.

Is there really anything that China is producing today that we cannot make here or live without? Do we need to intervene in China’s affairs to get what we want? Do we need more blowback than we all ready have?

We need to rethink and implement a new foreign policy for the U.S. before our foreign policy destroys us.

George Washington said in his farewell address: “The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to domestic nations, is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.”

Thomas Jefferson said in his inaugural address:” peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none."

As a member of the Constitution Party, I urge us all to rethink who we elect to the most powerful post in all the free world. Do we elect someone who believes like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or Thomas Paine? Or do we elect someone who will continue the failed policies that have brought this country to the brink of destruction?

As I started out this article we could learn a lesson from a fictional TV show and make non intervention a prime directive of the United States. We can defend ourselves and the defenseless of this world without violating a country’s sovereignty. It is better to extend the hand of friendship than the backhand of tyranny.

Dan Clements is a member of the Constitution Party and the host of BACK TO BASIC a Christian/political internet talk show. You can listen to Dan from 9 pm-midnights EST. M-F at www.constitutionalwarrior.com

All references are from www.wikipedea.com