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Open Forum: Foreign Policy
updated: Nov 30, 2010, 5:00 AM

During her next Congressional term, what should Lois Capps prioritize on the topic of foreign policy?

We want to be clear about our objective with these open forum threads. It seems that they have caused some subscribers to become upset.

The goal of these threads is to let our subscribers, people who live in Lois Capps' district, discuss what they would like their representative to achieve in Washington.

Out of this process, we would like to create a list of constructive goals and priorities that will be presented to Capps ... and something that can be monitored over the next two years for progress.

There are two things we feel would make this task successful:

1) People on the comments board must focus on the future; on what can be done. That means no blame, theorizing, or character assassination.

2) A sharp focus on the specific topics. We need to bring up all issues, discuss them individually, and then attempt to come to some sort of consensus on what should be done and its priority. Tangential smart-mouthing does nothing to assist this process.

Our hope is that the end results will be similar to when, a couple of years ago, the Edhat community pitched in to identify problems with public information during emergencies. Those suggestions had a constructive impact. Wouldn't it be great to achieve something similar here?

Thank you for your participation. We would like to be able to continue the forums and truly have an impact on our community.

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 124607	2010-11-30 06:37 AM
Get the 14th Amendent repealed or negated. Giving birth to a child in the US should not make them US citizens. Foreigners are coming to the US for the sole purpose of having their child, hence the new business of "Birth Tourism." This amendment never meant for this to happen.
COMMENT 124627P	2010-11-30 07:31 AM
Lois should work to get our troops out of the war in Afghanistan and out of the conflict formerly called the war in Iraq. And, she should do it without delay.
COMMENT 124630	2010-11-30 07:35 AM
607 - have you read the full text of the 14th amendment? Repealing it in its entirety would be a major problem. Why not focus on simply amending the amendment? My vote for the most important future-oriented foreign policy item would be to take serious leadership to bring about a fair two-state solution in Israel/Palestine. THis is long overdue - it almost happened under Rabin, it almost happened under Olmert, and without serious pressure from Washington, it will never happen under Netanyahu. It would be a landmark contribution to world peace.
COMMENT 124632	2010-11-30 07:39 AM
Having recently returned from almost three months in Tajikistan and Djibouti, and thus working on the border of where our foreign policy meets the road (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen) ... I must say that the locals in those places do not view Americans in a good light. At all. We are seen as big, dopey, blundering invaders. In countries where clean drinking water, electricity and communications are non-existant, couldn't we spend some of our Pentagon bucks on doing things that would go a lot farther in winning hearts and minds, such as digging wells, and other infrastructure projects that would really help people and burnish our image as well?
COMMENT 124634	2010-11-30 07:46 AM
That we blindly support only half the people on an insignificant sliver of desert land shows you who actually rules America. Lois, stop supporting Israel, get our troops out of these unwinnable wars, and spend every dollar available on a viable alternative to Middle East oil. Stop buying their oil and the Middle East (as well as Venezuela)slips in importance to the level of West Africa.
COMMENT 124653	2010-11-30 08:22 AM
End American Imperialism. We have troops/military in something like 170 foreign nations. This is draining our economy and destroying our self image as a bastion of personal freedom, fairness and democracy.
COMMENT 124673	2010-11-30 08:58 AM
Energy independence will be the most significant foreign policy achievement yet.
BECKY	2010-11-30 09:04 AM
Downsize the federal government. BoR #10: "The powers not delegated to the US by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." The USA is broke because government at all levels is too big and too intrusive. We need to encourage responsibility and self-sufficiency, and only help those who truly need help. We need to get the influence of money OUT of politics; it has thoroughly corrupted the system. http://www.fixcongressfirst.org End entitlements. Condense departments. Revisit everything, evaluating need, effectiveness, duplication. [And then we need to do the same thing at the state and local level.]
COMMENT 124685	2010-11-30 09:26 AM
Our foreign and domestic policies are too intimately tied together to separate, yet they are regularly discussed as if separate and unrelated. The largest single discretionary piece of our budget -- one half of all discretionary spending -- is on the military. Yet cutting back on those expenditures is not discussed at all when our political leaders and media observers talk about problems with Medicare, problems with budget deficit, problems with Social Security, problems with the national debt. With 800 garrisoned military bases around the world, we are bankrupting ourselves for no good or positive reason, allowing ourselves to be governed by fear rather than reason -- and shortchanging the American taxpayer in the process. The place to begin our economic regeneration at home is to decrease and ultimately abandon our military presence in the world, abandon our self-appointed role as "the world's policeman." Our foreign policy is bottomed on the conduct of an endless war -- previously the Cold War, presently the War Against Terror. It is only for the benefit of the military/industrial complex and not for the benefit of our citizenry as a whole that we present ourselves to the world as "big, dopey, blundering invaders." We must come to see ourselves as others see us, and, when the blinders come off, we must re-direct our resources toward constructive efforts at home.
COMMENT 124705	2010-11-30 09:49 AM
I think we send an inordinately large amount of money to Israel that is used for war, aggression & land grabbing. ... I know you sympathizers will call it defence. I call in enabling and extending war.
COMMENT 124711	2010-11-30 09:57 AM
"Birth tourism" is a tiny part of the growth in US population. The focus of the right wing on this with misleading terms like "anchor babies" is trivial. While the issue of whether such children should be entitled to birth citizenship may be worth discussing, it has almost nothing to do with the problem of immigration and population growth. Let's focus on getting the country back to a size that allows us to live within our resources, not exploit the land and not exploit the people.
COMMENT 124712	2010-11-30 10:01 AM
The priority of our foreign policy should be to reduce our military industrial complex - figuring ways to work together with other countries using constructive, human centered approaches that focus on sustainable, longterm solutions. Energy independence should be an important part of this effort - not fighting wars over oil. Economic sustainability another - including wise use of both human and natural resources. What has happened to respecting the unique qualities of other people and other countries? Building schools, not bombs. Giving people and countries the tools to be self-sustaining. Promoting health care. Building infrastructure. All of these things are good for our own country and good for the world as a whole. Good luck Lois and thank you for all that you do.
COMMENT 124720	2010-11-30 10:25 AM
She should start reading the entire wikileaks state cables they dumped. Its stuff she would probably never get to read as a mere congressperson.
COMMENT 124733	2010-11-30 10:54 AM
Get the US out of the Iraq and Afghanistan... we simply cannot afford those wars when we are running $1 trillion/year deficits. If those conflicts are necessary for world security, get Europe, Japan, and China to pick up the entire tab from here on out. We've done our share. Help Mexico, where a war truly endangering Americans is underway, and we are partly to blame because of our insatiable demand for drugs. We need Mexico to transform to Switzerland so migrants don't want to come to the US. Collaborate with China on green technology before they eat our lunch. Keep supporting Israel... it is the only rational government in the region, but pressure them more effectively to rein in their extremists. Pressure Egypt to become less repressive.
COMMENT 124736	2010-11-30 11:00 AM
Increase the defense budget. Expand American military influence around the world. Continue to use the military to enhance our policital, financial, and social agendas. Crush and destroy the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran. Use the military at the Mexico border to stop illegal immigration and drug traffic.
COMMENT 124761	2010-11-30 12:43 PM
@124736 How would you fund that increase? With deeper tax cuts for the most wealthy, perhaps? And who is "our" here? Your agendas don't appear to match that of most Americans. As for North Korea and Iran, they should not be mentioned together -- NK's recent actions highlight the differences. And crushing and destroying is what barbarians do -- civilized nations act more subtly, under the rule of law. Speaking of which: using the military as you suggest would violate the Posse Comitatus Act. The most important change we can make in our foreign policy is to stop basing it on violence and threats of violence. In addition to the fundamental immorality of our foreign policy, it is no longer effective.
COMMENT 124862	2010-11-30 06:01 PM
Thank goodness for all the constituents that want to see us end war. Here's another vote - let's get out of Iraq/Afghan/Pak/Yemen ad nauseum, and focus on handling the immense problems that we have at home. Instead of bombing these countries, and creating more hatred toward the US, let's help them to rebuild and create an economy that works for them.
COMMENT 124893	2010-11-30 08:28 PM
Take immediate steps to end our dependence on foreign oil. Two steps to start this process: Make all new vehicle purchases by the Federal govt be natural gas fueled. Phase out gas and oil power plants (with plans to phase out coal plants as well) and replace with nuclear power for domestic electricity. Act to 'level the playing field' with respect to environmental regulation. I support most of our domestic environmental policies. They've improved our air quality and environment significantly over the past 30 years. But what good is it when the industries then move to India, China and elsewhere, operate with little or no environmental controls and send the exports back to us.
COMMENT 124957	2010-12-01 08:39 AM
With regards to global environmentalism, every dollar spent to help China improve its pollution control is worth $100 spent at home to do the same thing.
COMMENT 124962P	2010-12-01 09:11 AM
"In foreign policy, we see no chance of Obama extricating U.S. forces from Afghanistan. He knows the Republicans will call him a wimp if he does, so America will keep hemorrhaging $190 million a day there. Therefore, America will lack the military means to challenge us anywhere else, particularly on North Korea, where our lunatic friends continue to yank America’s chain every six months so that the Americans have to come and beg us to calm things down. By the time the Americans do get out of Afghanistan, the Afghans will surely hate them so much that China’s mining companies already operating there should be able to buy up the rest of Afghanistan’s rare minerals. " Thomas Friedman in the NY Times today. I do not often agree with what he says, but today's Opinion piece is right on the mark. link
COMMENT 124975P	2010-12-01 09:45 AM
I agree with 124632. The images of Americans in all that body army traipsing through Afghanistan villages are embarrassing. The US is much more than that, yet that is our primary image. Obviously, the troops need to be protected, hence the body armor, but so much more valued by those we are trying to help (and want as buffers) would be money into infra-structure and health/welfare: good drinking water, schools, non-military uses. Although I am a woman and despise the treatment of women in so many of these countries, we in the US can not impose our political belief structures on others by force, but only by example. We need to respect others, not dominate them. I would hope Rep. Capps would urge that some of the military spending be converted to health and welfare purposes.
COMMENT 124976P	2010-12-01 09:50 AM
Fossil fuel energy is a huge issue. The US will never be energy independent so long as we continue to drive vehicles, even Piuses, and heat our homes and demand high-speed this and that. Better we work on ourselves, develop our own "alternative" resources, but that is not the question asked here. (ps by 124975P)
COMMENT 124984	2010-12-01 10:08 AM
Foreign Policy? Hell no. That is being handled by the Senate and State Dept. The House needs to focus on domestic issues. God knows we have enough of them to solve......
COMMENT 124988	2010-12-01 10:10 AM
Rep. Capps should do whatever she can to end the wars, which have only made Americans more hated in the middle east and enabled the terrorists to recruit more suicide bombers. All those billions of dollars should be used to create jobs at home and repair the destruction we have caused in Iraq and Afghanistan. We need to erase the reasons that we are hated, which is bombing and invading other countries. We are not hated "because we like freedom!!!"

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