The United States government has gone far astray from following the policy of nonintervention overseas espoused by Founders, including George Washington in his presidential farewell address in 1797. Instead of avoiding intervention abroad, the US has pursued it with vehemence in recent decades, with the turning point arguably being the US going to war against Spain in 1898 — just over a hundred years after Washington’s farewell address.
There is not a lot of reason for hope for the US to start adhering soon to a noninterventionist foreign policy. Indeed, President Donald Trump has been moving the US in the opposite direction. He continued US participation in the wars of his predecessor. This includes the Ukraine and Israel wars, in regard to which Trump had promised, in the lead-up to becoming president, to bring peace very quickly. Further, Trump has begun a new war against Venezuela and is threatening to pursue a new “Global War for Christians,” starting with threats of US military attacks in Nigeria. Meanwhile, Congress does nothing to stop or curtail the intervention.
There seems to be little hope of the US government choosing to move toward nonintervention abroad soon. Maybe some of the best hope for change in that direction comes from people in other countries saying “no more” to aiding the US government’s interventionist pursuits.
On Sunday, a majority of voters in Ecuador voted in a national ballot measures election against allowing the US government to have military bases in the South American country. The “no” vote win occurred despite Ecuador President Daniel Noboa strongly campaigning for the ballot measure’s approval.
So long as Americans fail to put an end to their government’s interventions abroad, there is hope that people in Ecuador and elsewhere around the world can impose some restraint.
