It’s no secret that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is at the top of my list of those for whom I’m rooting in the 2020 Democratic primaries. (Others who excite me include Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) & former HUD Sec. Julian Castro (D-TX).) But as much as I admire Sen. Warren’s domestic agenda, I’ve been anxious to hear from her on foreign policy. Well, today, she made a speech at American University (a common site for politicians announcing a foreign policy) that outlined a foreign policy vision.
Warren rooted the problems in American foreign policy in changes made with Reagan in 1980. She connected international trade agreements that fail to consider damage to workers and the environment with the corruption among political and economic elites and the rise of authoritarian governments around the world. She also connected this with what Eisenhower called (she did not) “the military industrial complex.” Our military spending has been based more on benefiting a few defense contractors than on military need.'
Unlike Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Warren didn’t sound like she wanted an end to all trade deals, but she called for more transparency and re-working them to give labor, the environment, and ordinary people far more say than currently, in which they benefit elites at the expense of all else. She did call for ending the war in Afghanistan and for pursuing a foreign policy based on democracy and human rights and in which military intervention would be far rarer and the burden of proof would be against such.
While this vision will need fleshed out in future, it is a good start and not only pleases my progressive, peace-loving, internationalist heart, but also plays to her strengths by keeping a through-line focused on rooting out corruption. Transparency and accountability are strong, uniting, values that can rally the nation and push us forward—and make a clear and sharp contrast with Trumpism.