Franklin's Involvement And Washington's Isolation example essay topic

Recently, the United States of America has entered a time when its foreign policy has been questioned more than ever. Benjamin Franklin and George Washington initially offered ideas and views as how to handle foreign affairs, Washington believed in isolation while Franklin advocated involvement. These two noble men held opposite positions on the issues regarding foreign relations. Yet, at one time or another, each of these positions have greatly influenced out country's foreign policy.

Exploring the pros and cons of each opinion is an important step in realizing that America has followed both men's views at different times in history. As with any other idea, Franklin's involvement and Washington's isolation each have their own feeble and powerful areas. Being involved as an active diplomat would do many things for our country. By being involved, we allow ourselves to be more informed about the happenings of other governments. Leaders are more willing to share with allies, so being involved with other countries brings ours more knowledge. It also shows the world that we care about more than our country.

We are given the opportunity to protect the less-fortunate countries. This allows us to gain power. However, the combination of protecting while all the time gaining power can be deadly. Thin lines are easy to cross when a country believes it is invincible.

Washington suggests isolating ourselves, and protecting only those areas around us. America has been known to protect other counties in North America, such as Latin America, but this protection is not always welcome. While isolation might provided safety from war, it seems unlikely that isolating ourselves can help when countries as far away as China can launch nuclear missiles against us. Up until recently our country seemed to follow Washington's advice of isolating ourselves.

We took advantage of being protected by two oceans, and grew more confident because of it. As mentioned before, we began to think we were the reigning protector of North America. Administrators published things like the Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt Corollary telling the European Powers to stay out of the Western Hemisphere. The United States jumped from being a protector of North America to a patrolman of the Western Hemisphere.

Although done in good faith, this brought resentment from our neighboring countries. With the inauguration of George W. Bush, we saw the beginning of a movement towards a more Franklin-like policy of foreign affairs. Although he began inclined to Washington's views, Bush soon commenced his crossover to Franklin's beliefs. He sent troops all over the world, getting the United States involved in places of the world it should be. One may surmise that Franklin wanted involvement to be a beneficiary thing, but Bush has begun to torment varying countries based on almost nothing.

Instead of being patrolmen, American troops are now the tormentors in many fights all over the world. Terrorism could be to blame for this, but progressive thinking could be used to find better solutions than attacking countries appear ingly haphazardly. We have become an obtrusive nuance instead of a helpful super power. Recently foreign policy has become more important than usual. Different leaders have different ideas about how various situations should be handled.

Bush alone cannot be blamed for the state of our country and its foreign affairs. He is an easy target as head diplomat of our country and the only person aloud to speak on her behalf, but we cannot blame one person. We can only be glad that precedents have been set up by George Washington and Benjamin Franklin to follow. Our country has followed both men's ideas, and will continue to alternate ceaselessly.