The GOP literally has no use for diplomacy and have co-opted the State Department into a division of the Defense department. This goes beyond war, it goes into a wide variety of aspects including our treatment of people requesting passports, our use of the UN, our participation in various international initiatives. We don't aren't using the State Department to ENGAGE the world, we're using it to CONFRONT the world. We need to reclaim the State Department for diplomacy.
Truth is, we need to be engaging the "bad people" in the world not through our Defense department, but more generally through the DoJ. We need to be "arresting" and putting people on trial, even if that is in the Hague. We need to wage law enforcement vastly more than we are waging war.
If you plan for war and hope for peace, generally you'll get war. We need to start the long range planning for peace. That means starting the kinds of traditions the warriors have created. We need the diplomacy academy where young people can get a college education by committing to 6 years of service in the State Department. We need a section of Arlington for the people who lose their lives in service to their country WITHOUT gun on their shoulder. We need for politicians to wear their
State Department service on their sleeves, just as warriors do when running for public office.
The Peace Corp should be part of the State Department. Truth is, the Ebola crisis should be addressed through a State Department office that looks a bit like Doctors Without Borders. They should have a "policing" section that could go into countries immediately after revolutions and establish order and train an indigenous population to police themselves.
We need to engage our world through our State Department. The Defense Department needs to stay home more.
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