Minding Our Own Business

Sen. John McCain said this morning in an interview on Fox News that he thinks we should be using all means necessary, including military action in the absence of success with less aggressive methods, to stop the violence in Syria.  Syria's dictator, Assad, has been murdering an average of 100-200 Syrian citizens each day as the revolutionary uprisings continue.  I don't even think the dude has a chance of getting into his muslim heaven with conduct like that, but what the hell does it have to do with the United States that we should use any means at all, let alone a myriad of means, to intervene in Syria's problems??

Our foreign policy should be guided by one principle and one principle only:  Is action X good for the United States or does it further any United States interests?  The answer to these questions with regard to Syria is a resounding NO!

I don't know exactly how it happened that our foreign policy shifted entirely from protecting United States interests to running around the world interfering in anyone's and everyone's affairs trying to spread democracy like it's the one-size-fits-all solution to every country's problems.  Personally, I don't care if Syria ever embraces democracy....or any other political, philosophical, or societal structure or ideal.  It's none of our business.

If we were to intervene in every situation where some country's citizens were suffering what would be injustices under our Constitution, we'd literally be fighting wars all the time, have military bases everywhere, and be spending umpteen billions of dollars each year on other countries' problems.  Oh wait, that is what we are doing.

We don't need military bases in Europe - they can defend themselves.  We don't need to be sending money to the Gaza Strip, which is run by Hamas.  We don't need to be deposing dictators that pose no threat to the U.S., such as Saddam Hussein, Hosni Mubarak, and Muammar Qaddafi.  And we shouldn't worry about how ruthless the dictator of far-away Syria is.

It's really sad what's happening there - I feel for the people of Syria who are being murdered for simply demanding the most basic of human rights for themselves.  But it is none of our business and has no bearing on U.S. national security or interests.

But the stage is being set for yet another war.  Before long, we will be engaged in military action against Syria's government, and like with Libya, we will be attacking a sovereign country that hasn't provoked us in any way, and we'll be killing Syrians soldiers and government officials who have not threatened or attacked the U.S. at all.  Does anyone else see the hypocrisy there?

We have enough problems at home.  The world is a harsh place, and we neither can nor should try to solve every problem in the world.

Image:  Map of the middle east - notice Israel, the small island in a sea of anti-semitic, muslim nations.