A different path

Let me share a treasurable advise by Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, which you wouldn't want to miss.

An article in yesterday's New York Times about Vietnam holds a valuable lesson about U.S. foreign policy and the U.S. government's related policy of trying to isolate the American people from the rest of the world.

Vietnam, as everyone knows, is ruled by a non-democratic socialist/communist regime. That means that the citizenry of Vietnam are not free.

The interventionist philosophy [of the 21st century American mindset] would go something like this: "We got to liberate the Vietnamese from tyranny, just as we have done for the Iraqi people. This decision belongs to our president--the "decider"--not to the people of Vietnam. We love the Vietnamese people and are concerned about their well-being. Attack and invade. Any American who opposes us is a communist sympathizer."

Tens of thousands of Vietnamese people would be killed and maimed in the process, just as in Iraq. Moreover, Vietnam insurgents, who be called "terrorists", would battle to oust the U.S. occupiers from their land, which would result in many more deaths and injuries.

In other words, the entire interventionist operation would be another deadly disaster, just as the Iraq intervention has been.

More important, the U.S. government has no more right to invade Vietnam for purposes of "liberation" than it did invading Iraq. The decision on whether to continue suffering under communist tyranny or to initiate a violent revolution rightfully belongs to the Vietnamese people, just as it did with the Iraqi people, and, for that matter, just as it did with the people of East Germany and Eastern Europe.

So, is there anything Americans can do to help the Vietnamese people?

Yes!

First, rein in the U.S. Empire--dismantle and disfang it to ensure that it lacks the power and the ability to invade and occupy foreign countries.

Second, end our government's isolationist policy by unleashing our private sector to interact with the people of the world. Liberate American businessmen, tourist, and cultural groups to travel into foreign countries, enabling them to inject freedom ideas into the marketplace of ideas.

This brings us back to the New York times article. When the Vietnamese people learned that Bill Gates was visiting their country, "hundreds climb trees and pushed through police lines to get a glimpse at him. He was the subject of the lead article in the next day's newspapers." Dang Doanh, an official in the Ministry of Planning, said, "It is a very clear sign of the new mood of society and the people. Everybody wants to be like Bill Gates."

This is what America should be all about. Not sanctions, embargoes (Cuba), fines, invasions, travel restrictions, wars of aggression, occupations, alliances, and empire, but rather economic liberty, free markets, and open interactions between the American people and the people of the world. This is the key to freedom, peace, prosperity, and harmony.

Jacob Hornberger has got it exactly right! If we continue to take the path of intervention abroad and isolation at home, I can see the end of the road for our country. Instead, we should change course of non-intervention, free trade with everybody, and America, once again, will be friends around the world. America should take a different path, a path towards a free society.