Natural Rights and America’s Foreign Ventures

To those who are still looking for a philosophical/moral justification behind America’s current foreign ventures, here is a seminal article that lays out the argument for why our engagements actually promote the freedoms and rights of peoples everywhere. To those who view Americans as occupiers and invaders, this piece argues in fact for equality of human beings everywhere.

What’s interesting about this piece, “The American Philosophy of Government and Its Application to the Annexed Countries,” was that it was written in 1913, by Alpheus Henry Snow, about America’s democratic experiment in the Philippines. It’s a testament to the enduring principles of the American Founding and the Declaration of Independence, which the McKinley-Taft rule tried to embody in their colonial administration of the Philippines, circa 1901-1911. It is both at once enlightening and persuasive.

So much discourse has taken place about how to justify America’s expansionist policy abroad, or how to balance, if not unify, America’s national interests and values against security and stability. Some are stuck in their idealism v. realism framework, faithful students of International Relations that they are. What we need first and foremost is a serious grounding in our first principles, if it’s not too late in the game. This will give us clarity and conviction that should guide our actions abroad.