Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

GUEST COLUMN:

Nation must lead with strength on foreign policy

Foreign policy has more direct impact on Americans than any other aspect of federal governance. Cyberterrorism, bioterrorism and directed energy weapons are just a few of the real and still emergent dangers that effective foreign policy seeks to avoid.

The United States maintains a unique, dynamic and often tenuous relationship with each nation on earth. Our role as international peacekeeper is as important as it is complex.

As the ongoing war in Ukraine demonstrates, America must be vigilant, protect technological advancements and maintain military superiority to contain the threat of violence by autocratic nations.

America must also improve its working relationships with all nations to provide global leadership that eliminates worldwide problems such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism in all of its forms, forced population migrations, clean and sustainable environments, poverty, and a worldwide health network to ensure localization and mitigation of future pandemics. These steps, in conjunction with enforcing immigration laws,providing a means to contain and process large numbers of refugees, and facilitating real solutions to the root causes of mass migrations will help secure our borders.

Recently revealed cyberattacks against the United States raise concerns that our government may not be maintaining superiority in the technology war, which opens the door to new forms of cyberwar. If power plants are turned off, cities go dark, bank accounts disappear, cellular goes down and the internet is unavailable, how long before panic would set in?

The federal government must make great strides to keep Americans safe from such threats, and the best way to do this is to elect officials who understand the importance of foreign policy and who offer a set of specific policies to achieve our goals.

America stands for freedom, the ideals of which are codified in the Constitution and echoed by all citizens and those hoping to earn citizenship in the future.

Our country has seen a significant number of people subscribing to the idea of an autocratic ruler. It is likely that very few Americans actually want a king. But it is clear that too many feel anxious and fearful, and believe that there are real and imminent threats to their lives and freedoms. They want a government that takes these fears seriously and spends less time on politicking and more time working together, competently, and effectively to address these fears, solve everyday problems, and help keep their anxiety at bay. They want honest and smart solutions from trusted representatives who fix more problems than they create.

America needs a new contract to restore civility, reward honesty and get back to doing the people’s business of navigating the uncertain waters ahead. And foreign policy must be at the center of that new contract.

By repatriating sources of food, water, raw materials and manufacturing, we can reduce inflation and regain some of our lost global economic dominance while correcting human rights violations in countries that are producing for the lowest possible cost in terms of money but at high cost in terms of human rights. We can then use economic superiority to maintain our military dominance so that through our strength, we can project peace and stability around the world. The U.S. military is more capable than any other nation and we must use that leading position to ensure that unwarranted aggression against any nation is not allowed.

We can and must do better in the months and years ahead or we risk losing our ability to be a positive influence on the global stage, making America and the world around us safer for all people.

Bill Hockstedler is a candidate for the U.S. Senate and a disabled combat veteran of the Persian Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield. During his service, he was assigned to the Air Force Electronic Warfare Center, was an Air Force liaison to the Defense Intelligence Agency and was involved with the development of the Joint Tactical Missile Signature Program.