Bullet Point Election News: John McCain's Proposal for a League of Democracies

Monday, March 10, 2008

John McCain's Proposal for a League of Democracies

On May 1, 2007, John McCain laid out his proposal for a League of Democracies during a speech to The Hoover Institution on U.S. Foreign Policy at Stanford University in Stanford, California.
In this speech McCain said "We Americans must be willing to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies. Like all other nations, we reserve the sovereign right to defend our vital national security when and how we deem necessary. But our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom, knowledge and resources necessary to succeed." he later went on to say "No alliance can work unless all its members share a basic faith in one another and accept an equal share of the responsibility to build a peace based on freedom................"As we speak, American soldiers are serving in Afghanistan alongside British, Canadian, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Polish, and Lithuanian soldiers from the NATO alliance. They are also serving alongside forces from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea --all democratic allies or close partners of the United States. But they are not all part of a common structure." in laying his foundation for the proposal of the League of Democracies.
According to McCain the League of Democracies could "act where the UN fails to act", "join to fight the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa", fashion better environmental policies, "provide unimpeded market access to those who share the values of economic and political freedom", "bring concerted pressure to bear on tyrants", "unite to impose sanctions on Iran", and "provide support to struggling democracies".
The League of Democracies would not replace the UN or NATO. If elected McCain plans to hold a summit of the world's democracies during his first year in office to explore the possibility of creating the League.
In an exclusive interview with Der Spiegel (Germany) McCain was asked "What role will the United Nations play? Bush always ignored the UN." He responded "The United Nations always plays an important role. But right now we are having to deal with a Russia that is clearly intent on blocking action. That's why the UN must act in a league of democracies that share our values and our common principles. "
Democracies in the world today include: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary,
Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jamaica, Kiribati, South Korea, Latvia, Lesotha, Lithuania, Mali, Mexico, Micronesia, Mongolia, Namibia, New Zealand, Norway, Palau, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Serbia & Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, and Uruguay.