As a diplomat and a public servant, I look at past presidents who had the courage to buck their party line and go against the conventional wisdom to make great gains for our country. It took courage for Truman to reinvest into post-war Europe-including Germany-- with the Marshall Plan. It took courage for the anti-communist Nixon to open China. It took courage for Carter to do what he did at Camp David. It took courage for Reagan to meet with Gorbachev at Reykjavik.
It will take courage to renew America's relationship with the world.... a good place for us to start would be to lead an international effort to protect people trapped in situations like Myanmar and Darfur, where their governments fail to protect their own people. The "responsibility to protect" is a principle that has been unanimously endorsed by 150 heads of state at the 2005 UN World Summit. Such a norm would first demand action to prevent crimes against humanity. But should prevention fail, then the right to protect requires economic, political, diplomatic, legal, security and-- in the last resort-a multi-lateral, UN sanctioned military intervention to stop an atrocity from occurring.
The US has a special role to play in stopping genocide, especially in Africa where the two most horrendous recent human rights abuses have taken place, in Rwanda and now Darfur. History teaches that if the US does not take the lead on ending these abuses, no one else will. We just need to courage to do the right thing. We need to work with our international partners and the United Nations to devise practical mechanisms that will enable the world community to respond quickly, legally, multilaterally and effectively to stop genocide and other great human rights abuses. The norm of national sovereignty is important, and should be preserved, but it is moot when governments fail to protect their own citizens from great suffering."
Stephen Fox is an art dealer from Santa Fe, founder of New Millennium Fine Art in Santa Fe since 1980. Active in international politics, he is working towards banning Aspartame and the establishment of a New Mexico Nutrition Council, with powers to question and even challenge the FDA. He was a "snowball-in-hell" candidate for the US Senate in 1978 and is presently the Managing Editor of the Santa Fe Sun News, a very alternative twice monthly newspaper based in Land of Enchantment's capitol.
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