Nixon Doctrine

Earlier this summer, I purchased on ebay a 1972 Nixon campaign button with the famous "Now More than Ever" logo next to a profile of the late President. The reason behind my purchase was a personal resignation (apropos term I suppose in this case) to my complete lack of confidence in the 2008 Presidential candidates of the Republican and Democratic parties. I do not know either of these gentlemen personally and while I was sure they "meant well" neither of them inspired me with the confidence of forming a truly bipartisan gameplan in which our various economic and foreign policy concerns would be carefully evaluated and re-tooled to effect a solid plan of future success.

I reflected back on my knowledge of Nixon's exploits and Conrad Black's book "Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full" allowed me to interpret an interesting variation and definition of the Nixon Doctrine. For those unfamiliar with the Nixon Doctrine, a key construct of the plan was that the US expected its allies to take responsibility for its own military defense. These comments were primarily directed at South Vietnam in Nixon's November 3, 1969 address to the nation.

The word "responsibility" seems to hold more political truth for me...and I think that our society's avoidance of responsibility of ones' own actions has provided the impetus for numerous failures of our national "personal infrastructure". And no...I'm not talking about the infrastructure of bridges and roads and railway systems. I'm referring to a personal accountability perspective and the various manifestations of a lack thereof. The corporate greed endemic within the present shakedown on the present international financial system (no...sorry...it's just not about us anymore) comes most presently to mind. I am unable to fathom how it was possible for highly educated financial MBA types to have not figured out the potential inevitability of today's situation. And the layers of lawyers and business people who represent all of us in Congress weren't aware of this debacle? I find that this present dilemma not having been foreseen to be extremely unsettling. Perhaps I'm way too naive.

But the concepts of responsibility do represent importance for me. I will push for guidelines to establish a greater degree of oversight and responsibility when it comes to the public good. I can no longer tolerate a system where the foxes are allowed to guard the henhouse over and over again just to protect isolated interests unrelated to the general public welfare. I'm wanting to know why the desires and hopes of the citizenry are considered to be an impediment to economic and political growth by various interest groups as opposed to a valued partnership in maintaining the strength of our United States.