National Defense: A Political Perspective
The defense of our nation has always been a strong issue throughout America’s political history. Although our nation has not existed a long period of time, our country has had to take up arms to make the world safe for democracy many times. Liberals and conservatives are also constantly up in arms over the issue of the best way to defend the country.
One of the foremost issues in the ongoing debate is that of a Ballistic Missile Defense program. The idea was first pitched during the tense period of the Cold War. Colin Powell, a prominent conservative, saw Missile Defense “at the time the time not as a Utopian dream but as a useful way of throwing a scare into the war planners of the Soviet Union”(Keller, 1). Typically, Republicans as far back as Ronald Reagan have embraced the idea of a “Shield” against the hostile intentions of any nation with ballistic missiles, but many remain skeptical of a technological dependence that such a system would incur. George W. Bush believes in a limited Missile Defense program, but in order to institute advanced testing of the technology, a way around the A.B.M. treaty would have to be found. This treaty was made in order to reduce the nuclear arsenal of both Russia and the United States. Conservatives generally embrace the program as a viable solution to one of the nation’s top priority’s in homeland defense.
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The Cold War was a period of dark and melancholic times when the entire world lived in fear that the boiling pot may spill. The protectionist measures taken by Eisenhower kept the communists in check to suspend the progression of USSR’s radical ambitions and programs. From the suspenseful delirium from the Cold War, the United States often engaged in a dangerous policy of brinksmanship through the mid-1950s. Fortunately, these actions did not lead to a global nuclear disaster as both the US and USSR fully understood what the weapons of mass destruction were capable of.
The debate at hand is due to an apparent opposition to the rights granted by the second amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Being as the article was ratified in 1791, the language used is far different than that which is commonly used today. For this reason, the amendment itself is a source of debate between those with liberal and conservative points of view. For those who take a libe...
In conclusion, our constitution developed a framework that articulated the necessary amount of government that “secured the blessings of liberty” while recognizing the dynamic institutions it created and the requirement for interpretation. National security will remain the principal task of our government; and the Constitution’s ambiguity, separation of powers, and lawful supremacy will ensure our nation’s policies and actions are grounded in situational context and always open to public scrutiny and debate.
We create a stronghold of power while dealing with hostile countries, asserting our dominance when needed. We need to be the leader in the world, standing in solidarity with our allies. Our military defense is an area we cannot fall behind, especially now when our freedom and protection is at high risk. The Democrats don’t want to use military force against the ISIS terrorist because they don’t want to admit taking troops out of the Middle East was a bad idea. This ideology is what’s causing us to abandon our closest allies, allowing our enemies to become stronger. Putting military force on the ground is what should have been done a long time ago, destroying ISIS before they influenced many people to join their barbaric cause.
This nation was built on the right to bear arms, but this freedom is more controversial than ever. With all the school shootings and gun violence in America today at some point it may seem that just too take away all guns may be the answer to this problem. In defense, this is not the answer. If someone wants to commit a crime, gun laws will not stop them from obtaining the weapon. It is like a drug. Drugs are illegal, but every day you see someone either with, on, or recovering from a drug habit. What about for defense right to own guns to protect your family if part of your constitutional rights. Rights that are supposed to be unalienable rights. Although in this day in time, they are always trying to take away guns either by trying to pass laws or taxing guns and ammo which almost makes guns unaffordable for middle class normal American families.
With this book, a major element of American history was analyzed. The Cold War is rampant with American foreign policy and influential in shaping the modern world. Strategies of Containment outlines American policy from the end of World War II until present day. Gaddis outlines the policies of presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, including policies influenced by others such as George Kennan, John Dulles, and Henry Kissinger. The author, John Lewis Gaddis has written many books on the Cold War and is an avid researcher in the field. Some of his other works include: The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1947, The Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History, The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past, Surprise, Security, and the American Experience, and The Cold War: A New History. Dr. Gaddis received his PhD from the University of Texas in 1968; he currently is on a leave of absence, but he is a professor at Yale . At the University, his focus is Cold War history. Gaddis is one of the few men who have actually done a complete biography of George Kennan, and Gaddis even won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012.
Glynn, Patrick. Closing Pandora's Box "Arms Races, Arms Control, and the History of the Cold War". New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, Inc. 1992.
It has been said by the former Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre, that “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” The United States was founded on the principle of limited government and the most freedom possible for citizens. This included the right to bear arms guaranteed in the Second Amendment. James Madison, one of the framers of the Constitution, wanted the Second Amendment to guarantee citizens the right t...
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Site. 1999. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'S “Cold War.” The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Third Edition. 1994: Columbia University Press.
The Cold War historiography, specifically the issue of nuclear deterrence has provided historians the classic dialectic of an original thesis that is challenged by an antithesis. Both then emerge in the resolution of a new synthesis. Unfortunately, each evolution of a new synthesis is quickly demolished with each political crisis and technological advance during the Cold War narrative. The traditional/orthodox views were often challenged by the conventional wisdom with the creation of synthesis or post revisionism. There appears to be a multiple historiographical trends on nuclear deterrence over the Cold War; each were dependent and shaped upon international events and technological developments. I have identified four major trends: the orthodox, the revisionist, the post revisionist, st and the New Left. Each of these different historical approaches had its proponents and opponents, both in the military as well as the political and
In his speech of March 23, 1983, President Reagan presented his vision of a future where a Nation’s security did not rest upon the threat of nuclear retaliation, but on the ability to protect and defend against such attacks. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) research program was designed to tell whether, and how, advanced defense technologies could contribute to the feasibility of this vision.
... and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems." U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State, n.d. Web. 06 May 2014.
Upon taking office in 1981, Ronald Reagan began to implement a simple strategy to win the war against the Soviets: he would outspend them in an arms race and force them to the negotiating table. Over the course of this erratic arms build-up the president spent a total of $2 trillion on the military alone. The most notorious of these programs was the Strategic Defense Initiative; also know as Star Wars, in which the president authorized billions to be spent to research a program that could defend America against a possible nuclear attack by blowing in an incoming nuke out of the sky. A vast majority of the scientific community thought such a program to be absurd and implausible, but Reagan pushed on. His belligerence in this arms race only provoked the Kremlin, and increased tensions. This massive military funding only led Russia to assume that the United States was planning to attack, and undercut efforts of peace. Also, in order to maintain such large military growth hundreds of ...
The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted two weeks in the midst of the Cold War, and brought the world closer to nuclear war than ever before. In October of 1962 multiple nuclear missiles of the Soviet Union’ s were discovered in Cuba, a mere 90 miles south of the United States. Given the communist ties between Cuba and the USSR, this poised a considerable threat to our national security. Throughout the 14 days the two leaders, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev struggled to clearly understand each others‘ genuine intentions. Actions taken by each state during this crisis demonstrates the realist point of view, in a variety of ways. The fundamentals of Realism will be explored and explained along with actions taken during this crisis from a realist point of view.