A country’s foreign policy, also called the foreign relations policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve its goals within international relations milieu.  America was founded on the concept of peace and only being one of defense.  The Preamble to the Constitution states that the purpose of the Constitution is to “…ensure domestic tranquility…”  and what is domestic tranquility but, Peace.

The power to wage war was vested solely in the legislative branch, the branch closest to the people and had to go through the people’s representatives to take the nation to war.  The founders understood, from the European model, that the power to wage war had always been invested in the monarchy and this was the reason for heavy taxes, and war weary citizens to pay for the ambitions of the king.

Unfortunately, there have always been ambitious men who would seek greatness abroad with the nation’s (and the people’s) wealth and blood and during the founding of our republic was no different.  So, to exactly “who” has the primary authority in foreign affairs has been one of the most contested items in our nation’s history.  We include several sources of information to read/watch and encourage you to seek out others to help you formulate your own opinion on America’s Foreign Policy.

WALL STREET, BANKS, AND AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY

This fiery monograph shows the “power elite” analysis to understand the relationship between money, power, and war.  In this treatise, Rothbard shows how wealthy elites are only able to manipulate world affairs via their connection to state power. Those mainstream historians might deride Rothbard’s history as a “conspiracy” approach, Rothbard himself is only out to show that world affairs are not random historical forces but the consequence of choices and paths chosen by real human beings.  The grim details of how a network of banks, bond dealers, and Wall Street insiders have both favored war and profited from it.  The pdf version can be downloaded HERE.

THE FOUNDERS AND THE PRESIDENT’S AUTHORITY OVER FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Whatever its roots, the idea that the President has a legitimate, lawful claim to primacy in foreign affairs including the formulation of foreign policy is a twentieth-century innovation in fundamental opposition to our constitutional history, just as it is to constitutional text and original intent.  However, H. Jefferson Powell, a professor of Law at Duke University argues that it is NOT one of simply the 20th century but, was implied by the writings of others during the founding of our Republic.  You may read his analysis in this pdf HERE.

WAR: BIG GOVERNMENT’S BEST FRIEND

WAR

The History of Foreign Aid

The Marshall Plan didn’t help get Europe back on its feet: free markets did. The Plan was another failed giveaway program. The Plan’s disastrous legacy was the wrongheaded approach it inspired in foreign aid programs for the rest of the century.Just throwing money at countries was not beneficial. Aid dependency made people political, not productive. The message that should have been sent was that… Also available for download in Mp3.