Letters.

The Present Danger:

I agree with Robert Kagan and William Kristol ("The Present Danger", Spring 2000) that the United States should stop frittering away the opportunity to establish a new foreign policy, one designed to strengthen the international order in ways favorable to U.S. interests. I agree, too, with their endorsement of "preserving and reinforcing America's benevolent global hegemony." Moreover, I agree that a principal way of manifesting that benevolence should be by "accepting the responsibilities of moral and political leadership." However, I strongly disagree with their heavy focus on military and other efforts to bring about favorable changes in other countries.

I believe that the military intervention into foreign disputes that they favor, with the United States "being more rather than less inclined to weigh in when crises erupt, and preferably before they erupt", would not only be too costly in American lives and resources, but would generally be fruitless even in the very long run.... I also believe that our efforts since 1991 to help some countries copy our economic and political institutions have consistently, and inevitably, failed because the peoples of the countries receiving that aid have not possessed the values that prevailed in the United States when our leaders established those institutions. Unless and until those values settle deeply into the hearts and minds of those peoples, the prospects for important economic, social and political gains in their countries will continue to be dim, no matter what else we do to help them....

How can we instill these values? We should devise and implement a comprehensive program to help others understand the political system that was initiated by our Founding Fathers and that accounts for our economic, social and political preponderance. We need not, and must not, put any kind of pressure on any-one to follow us. But we can, and should, help those who want help in understanding the values that underlie our Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and our economy....

HERBERT K. MAY

McLean, VA

Without exception I have found the articles in The National Interest to be informative, well reasoned, stimulating and intellectually honest. Until the Spring 2000 issue.

The article by Robert Kagan and William Kristol is informative, well reasoned and stimulating, but less than intellectually honest. The authors have a number of points to make, and they have useful facts and arguments...