Liberty Bell

There is another poll listed in links, called View on War. Since I am planning to spend some time looking at World Peace and different sides on war, especially the war on Iraq, I decided to make a poll on the subject. There is a message section connected with it, if you would like to write your opinions over there. I will be checking both for comments.

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On December 28, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt stated, “The definite policy of the United States from now on is one opposed to armed intervention.”

Now, with the war in Iraq going on, and as more and more people question President Bush’s plan, I believe it is worth going back to look at Roosevelt’s comments on World Peace.

Roosevelt believed that peace could be reach by an agreement between all the different countries. He realized that about 90% of people were content with what they had, and, that if those 90% persuaded the other 10%, “practical peace, permanent peace, real peace throughout the world” could be reached.

He proposed some guidelines to reach this peace: (summarized)

1. An agreement between all the nations to eliminate every weapon of offense in its possession and create no additional weapons of offense.

2. A declaration that no nation will permit any of its armed forces to cross its own borders into the territory of another nation.

Roosevelt did realize that unless all the nations agreed, the plan would fail. So he decided the plan would not go into affect unless “every nation, without exception, entered into the agreement by solemn obligation.”

This policy became known as the “Good Neighbor Policy.”

The Good Neighbor Policy has suffered throughout the years. It is easy to see that World Peace has not been achieved since Roosevelt’s time. From the time Roosevelt made his speech in December 1933, America has participated in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, as well as using military force to settle other issues. Now questions about the Good Neighbor Policy and World Peace have arisen again due to the way President Bush is dealing with Iraq. We begin to wonder if World Peace is a practical idea in the world we live in. Yet we also doubt the effectiveness the direct approach President Bush is taking in this issue. As I mentioned earlier, I believe it is worthwhile to look back at what Roosevelt was suggesting.

The first guideline that Roosevelt mentioned regarding the Good Neighbor Policy was the aspect of weapons. An agreement between all the nations to eliminate every weapon of offense in its possession and create no additional weapons of offense. I would question as to the practicality of that idea. If all nations agreed with this, peace could be kept until someone broke the agreement. Then the other nations would all be in danger. Not good.

The second guideline was that no nation would allow any of their armed forces across their own border.

Okay, you’ve knocked out thousands of jobs. Have fun.

Seriously, if the armed forces aren’t allowed to leave the country, the only reason to have any is to protect the border(s) of your country. Which only leaves the Coast Guard. (in America) Good-bye Army. Good-bye Navy, Air Force, Marines… Nice having you. Wish you good luck finding work.

Also, there are other reasons other than war for armed forces to cross borders. Yes, if the world was perfectly at peace, there would be no need of them. No need of police, judges, lawyers, (hmm… wouldn’t be bad) prison guards or prisons either. It makes a nice dream world, but wake-up buddies – this ain’t no dream! This is LIFE. AND NOT THE GAME. Now that we’ve cleared that up…

Roosevelt was practical, and he knew that unless all nations agreed to perfectly follow those two points, the idea wouldn’t work. He also realized nations striving for peace could still be drawn into war:

“We are not isolationists, except so far as we seek to isolate ourselves completely from war. Yet we must remember that so long as war exists on earth there will be some danger that even the nation which most ardently desires peace may be drawn into war.”

I agree with that. Cool.

That basically summarizes Roosevelt’s ideas for World Peace.