Foreign Policy
It goes without saying that we live in a fragile, volatile world. Revolutions spring up overnight, powered by Twitter and Google. Instead of tracking armies of thousands gathering against us, we track individual bomb-makers hiding in ungovernable spaces. And as the lone global military superpower, we are, at all times, tempted to enforce world order, and come to the rescue of oppressed peoples.
But we are also a nation that has learned some great lessons over the last decade. We have learned that in this new world order, there are real limits to the impact of American military power, and that amongst the best ways to protect our nation is to reduce the influences that lead young men to join terrorist organizations bent on destroying the United States. It is this belief that America needs to be smarter about using military power in a post-Iraq War world that led me to come out early and vocally against proposed military strikes in Syria in the fall of 2013. And I will continue to argue for a robust American diplomatic presence in the world while being much more stingy with the use of military power.
As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on European Affairs, I am working to increase the foreign aid commitment that the U.S. and Europe make to the rest of the world. Foreign aid is much maligned in America today, but it is an integral component of our national security toolbox. We don’t have to drop bombs in nations that support the U.S. because of strong economic ties. As one prominent foreign affairs columnist is fond of writing, somewhat hyperbolically, no two countries with McDonalds have ever attacked each other. That is a way of saying that the more economically prosperous a nation is, the less likely they are to pose a threat to U.S. of world security. So I will make it a focus of my chairmanship of the Europe Subcommittee to build a new economic axis between the U.S. and Europe, through a new trade agreement that will benefit hundreds of Connecticut companies, so that our two continents can lead the world in economic development, both at home and beyond our borders.
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