6th Open Letter to the Candidate I’d Vote for

-By Vince Johnson

Dear Candidate for President of the United States: (Either party)

Last week you announced that your next conference would be held near Jamestown, Virginia where you would discuss changes you would advocate in our Foreign Policy. Here’s the speech I’d like to hear:

“Since the end of World War II, America’s foreign policy has been more confusing than it has been successful. Example: America has repeatedly told the world we were concerned about the “domino effect” regarding the spread of communism into North Korea and Vietnam. This totally ignores a reality known as Cuba which succumbed to Communistic rule in 1959. There is no reasonable explanation why Communist nations several thousand miles away were regarded as a greater threat to America than another Communist nation only a few miles from Florida. (Havana is 106 miles from Key West and Hanoi is 7,560 miles from Los Angeles.)

“The total of American lives lost in the Korean and Vietnam wars is 95,083! This is a horrible reality all Americans have to live with. The 2007 CIA World Fact Book classifies North Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba as Communist States. These are the same classifications North Korea and Vietnam had before all those lives were lost several decades ago. America did nothing when Cuba adopted communism in 1959. In 1961, Cuban exiles trained by Americans in Florida were involved in an invasion that failed miserably at the Bay of Pigs. North Korea and Vietnam are still communistic states and Cuba was added to the list after the Korean War and prior to the war in Vietnam! Our record in foreign affairs does not work. It must be changed while there is still time to do it.

“Many believe the American lives sacrificed in these wars have made the world a safer place. My conscience will not allow me to argue the point. The world may be safer than it might have been, but it is become so extremely dangerous we must intensify our guard and never allow it to rest. We are a strong nation and capable of retaliating against any attack with devastating speed and unimaginable force. But we are not strong enough to fight world-wide terrorism and tyranny alone.

There are two clear-cut reasons why America’s role in world affairs must change:

1. If we are to continue to be a secure, healthy, and prosperous nation we cannot afford to man or fund peacekeeping actions at the same level we have in the past.

2. The responsibility to keep peace and spread prosperity throughout the world cannot be limited to one nation while other nations stand by with token support and a constant flow of well publicized criticisms of our efforts.

“As in the past, America will always be ready and generous when humanitarian assistance is needed during natural disasters such as tsunamis, earthquakes, and floods. We are a people who will never stand by when other nations are devastated by natural disasters. When there is a need, we will find a way to help. We always have and we always will.

“With the approval of Congress I will instruct our ambassador to the UN to propose that all member nations start making plans to move the UN headquarters to China or Russia within the next five years. Our ambassador would also ask the UN to consider rotating their headquarters between each member nation of the Security Council every 25 years thereafter.

“There are many reasons why this suggestion would be offered. I will mention two of them:

1. It will broaden and enlighten the viewpoints and perspectives of all member nations.

2. The purpose and spirit of the UN will be closer to the billions of human beings it is mandated to serve.

“I’m making this speech near Jamestown, Virginia which has often been considered the birthplace of the New World. It has a history of overcoming extreme savagery, treacherous deception and problems of deadly consequence. I believe this is very similar to the situation all humanity faces today. If we are to survive and live in a new world of peace, we must emulate the spirit of Jamestown. We will not survive waiting for an outside benefactor to tell us what to do and how to do it. We will survive only when sufficiently inspired to work together until we find a way to live together in peace.

“To those who say the United Nations is not working, I say it is time to make it work.

“To those who say the United Nations is working and we should be patient, I say it is time to make it work better, and patience is not a virtue when we are running out of time.”

Message clarifying other aspects of a new foreign policy to follow.

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Vince Johnson welcomes comments. Please send them to,Vince Johnson(vjadtrak@wvi.com)
See Vince in the new book Americans on Politics. Policy, and Pop-Culture.