Bringing It All Back Home

Why the smartest foreign policy choice for the U.S. now is to focus on domestic affairs

By Richard Haass Monday, May 13, 2013
    • Christopher Anderson / Magnum Photos

    Downtown Midland Texas.

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    I wish I were more confident that the right lessons have been learned. But the 2011 intervention in Libya, the flurry of commentary that appeared on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war and the debate over what to do about the situation in Syria leave me concerned. It is not enough to oust bad regimes; it is necessary to think through whether they would likely be replaced by something decidedly better and what that would entail. If the costs promise to be too high or the prospects too poor, we should think twice about acting. There are limits to what outsiders can do with military force; local realities trump global abstractions. It is not enough to want to do good; goals must also be achievable at a cost in line with interests. We ignore these truisms at our peril.

    Don't get me wrong. I have not become another declinist. This country enjoys great strengths and potential alike. But no American ought to be sanguine about where this country is or is heading; it is clear that the U.S. is underperforming. Nor am I an isolationist. It would be folly in an era in which borders are not barriers. But only by getting its own house in order will the U.S. be in a position to set an example other societies will want to emulate. And only by fixing itself will the U.S. possess the resources necessary to discourage the emergence of a serious political and military competitor--or deal with it should one emerge.

    It's time to level with ourselves: we have been overreaching abroad and underachieving at home. Winston Churchill is often quoted as saying, "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing--after they've tried everything else." All I can say is that I hope he is right, because we clearly seem to be intent on trying just about everything else.

    Haass is the president of the Council on Foreign Relations and author of Foreign Policy Begins at Home: The Case for Putting America's House in Order

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