Nation Building

This is late, but it shall be written. The Last day of CPAC was filled with big name speakers (Ambassador John Bolton, Ann Coulter, and Rep. Allen West). All of those speakers were very interesting, but I found myself more interested in a panel discussion called “How to Think About Afghanistan”. As an Army ROTC cadet and soon to be intelligence officer, the war in Afghanistan is definitely an issue that concerns me.

Christopher Preble, Director of foreign policy at the Cato Institute, provided three problems with the nation building that America is involved with in Afghanistan: 1. National building is costly; 2. Nation building is unnecessary; 3. Nation building is deeply inconclusive with conservative principles.

I completely agree with Mr. Preble. America is spending too much time, money, and most importantly American life, attempting to build a democracy. A democracy can’t be built, it is grown. Our founders didn’t wake up one morning declare independence, and write a constitution creating a democratic republic. No, this is not the case as we all know. Our founders were well versed in the history of the transgressions that their ancestors experienced under the monarchs in Europe.

In Afghanistan we can provide them with literature supporting democratic ideals, but we can’t build their government. I was a stanch supporter of the original post 9/11 invasion, and I our army performed excellent in initially defeating the Taliban, but unfortunately our priorities became lost. We must protect our country from terrorist and those who wish to do us harm, but we can’t solve their problems just by setting up a government for them.

-Johnson