Kokesh for Congress

• Respect - Trade  - Friendship
• Moral Prosecution of Justified War
• Financial War is not the Business of Government
• Follow The Constitution

Taken as a whole, America's current foreign policy is a grossly unconstitutional one that we cannot afford. It has put us in a situation where children born today are burdened with an impossible debt. It is premised on a twisted version of American exceptionalism which assumes we have the right to police the world without respect for the sovereignty of fellow nations. If we hope to be respected in the global community, we would be wise to heed the advice of Thomas Jefferson and seek, “peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations - entangling alliances with none.”

Since we have allowed the Constitutional power of declaring war to be abdicated by Congress to the executive, it has been abused. Not all, but many of the American military ventures of the past hundred years did not meet the criteria of anything akin to the Christian just war theory. Our leaders get away with this by scaring us into supporting war by using a variety of shifting justifications. Iraq is a prime example of this. Our presence there is not making us safer in any way that would justify the expenditure of blood and treasure.

Just as damaging as our overt military interventions are our less-noticed financial interventions. Through misspent foreign aid, embargoes, and special trade agreements, by the law of unintended consequences we end up perpetuating inefficiencies, impoverishing vast numbers of people, and propping up corrupt governments. It is also morally wrong for our government to take money from the American people to promote and support foreign entities. By not applying American principles to our foreign policy, we allow America to become subservient to international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organization.

If the sovereignty of the United States were to be violated by a foreign military, I would be the first one on the front lines. The best way we can ensure this never happens, is to show other nations the same respect for their sovereignty as we would hope they would have for ours.