Current IssueĪfter reframing the issue, Sanders dives into the meat of the matter in a way that should ring true for every progressive. He makes clear that a progressive foreign policy also means that “We cannot convincingly promote democracy abroad if we do not live it vigorously here at home.” And in the way he does so well, Sanders reminds us that no progressive view of the world can tolerate the massive wealth inequality both here and around the world.
Sanders rightly connects the dots between an exploding Pentagon budget and Republican attempts to take health care away from tens of millions of Americans in the name of fiscal responsibility. It is about our democracy at home it is about climate change it is about global oligarchy and it is about how American leadership can come together and solve the challenges we face through diplomacy. Foreign policy, in Sanders’s argument, is not just about whether we go to war or not. An expansive view of foreign policy-not merely as the idea of what happens over there, but also as part of who we are here at home-challenges us to enlarge our own thinking.
Laying out the questions he sought to answer, Sanders asks:Īt a time of exploding technology and wealth, how do we move away from a world of war, terrorism and massive levels of poverty into a world of peace and economic security for all? How do we move toward a global community in which people have the decent jobs, food, clean water, education, health care, and housing they need?Īs Sanders admits, these are not easy questions, but they are ones “we cannot afford to ignore.”Īt the heart of his speech was the argument that the divide between domestic and foreign policy is not only artificial but also counterproductive. Taking to the same stage where Winston Churchill delivered his famous “Iron Curtain” speech almost 70 years ago, Sanders’s challenge to the progressive movement, and indeed to all Americans, was to redefine for the 21st century a vision for America’s role in the world.
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