Security at home means we must renew American leadership around the world and build an effective international order that can respond to our many challenges in a multipolar world that faces global threats like rising authoritarianism, a belligerent Russia invading Ukraine, climate change and pandemic disease. History has shown that neo-conservative foreign policy has been an abysmal failure and that former President George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have blood on their hands. You’d think they would have learned their lesson by now. They haven’t. The current system is broken which has left our national security weakened.
And the system is broken because both Democratic and Republican administrations embraced a neo-liberalism domestic policy and a neo-conservative foreign policy. Instead of developing a national industrial strategy that builds an economy from the perspective of the American worker, we focused on supply-side economics, tax cuts, free trade deals and building up other countries in our image.
Every other developed country has an overarching national policy that strengthens industry, keeps a check on foreign imported goods, makes the rich pay their fair share and invests billions into basic science research. But not us. (The Chinese economy did not become the largest in the world by relying on free market forces like wide-open trade deals with minimal government involvement.)
And we got sucked into almost every conflict because we thought it would foster a “new, new world order.” Instead, we found ourselves chasing our tails or playing a game of whack-a-mole in which the next military flare-up popped up before the previous one was extinguished.
Hate to break it to you, our elites could care less. Tom is tired of losing blood and treasure to these black hole military conflicts while diverting precious resources away from building up our local economies and strengthening our communities.
Russia
Russia’s unchecked and illegal invasion of Ukraine must be defeated. This cannot be allowed and Biden is right to pursue sanctions and a multilateral response with our European and NATO allies. The Ukraine invasion also shows the importance of getting off fossil fuels so we are not dependent on corrupt petrochemical states for our energy needs. The invasion of Ukraine also demonstrates the need for a stronger welcome policy for refugees. As a U.S. Senator, Tom will always strive to make the United States a place where those driven from their homes have a place to belong.
China
China has been eating our lunch thanks to their national industrial strategy and our corporate elites who have handed them our technology and offshored our jobs and manufacturing. Now we are dependent on them for everything from PPE to basic pharmaceutical drugs to shipping containers. It is high time to crack down on their intellectual property stealing, currency manipulation and recognize the national security threat they pose to American interests. China’s incompetent and dishonest handling of the COVID crisis impacted everyone on the planet. The U.S. needs to be better prepared for the next pandemic and to confront China’s continued coverups and hold them accountable for human rights abuses.
Tom talks China: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW6z9C5KUKc
Middle East
The United States has a long and proud linkage with Israel through our shared democratic values. Tom is a firm believer that violence does not induce peace, and both Israel and the Palestinian territories have seen more than their fair share of violence that has taken too many innocent lives. Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorist attacks and indiscriminate rockets being fired upon civilians. That is non-negotiable. At the same time, we must insure that the Palestinian people have an avenue to peace and dignity.
In the Senate, Tom will always speak out in favor of human rights. That means that he will condemn Hamas’ immoral attacks on civilians, and he will condemn the forcible acquisition of Palestinian homes by Israeli settlers. The opportunistic terrorist acts committed by Hamas and the implicit support from Palestinian leaders is also unacceptable. We must preserve and strengthen the long-term security of both sides, and protect those who are unable to protect themselves.
Military Budget and Readiness
We need to end war profiteering and a bloated military budget that enriches defense contractors at the expense of our troops. In addition, corporate monopolies and private equity have weakened our ability to maintain our readiness as deindustrialization and outsourcing meaning we are dependent on our foreign competitors such as China for critical technology such as 5G. Nearly two thirds of DoD major weapons system contracts have only one major bidder, and the top 10 aerospace and defense companies account for 86 percent of industry revenues.
Tom’s Agenda:
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Tossing aside failed neo-conservative policy that has sucked us into endless wars such as Iraq and Afghanistan
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A foreign policy focused on diplomacy and human rights
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Getting a Blue-Green New Deal so we are not dependent on petrochemical states for our energy needs
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Supporting a two-state solution to secure the stability and peaceful future of Israel and Palestine. The U.S. should play a fundamental role in helping to broker that peace.