by David Brown

Created on: June 03, 2009   Last Updated: June 06, 2009

America and its allies or anyone having to liberate the oppressed in other countries, should not charge for such a service. This is not to say that the United States or any country of the free world should continue to involve itself in other countries problems. In a sense, if a country like the United States is going to get involved in another country's problems with its oppressed, it is not a monetary service charge that should be assessed; but to allow the United States to do what is necessary to teach those that are being oppressed on how to fend for themselves, as well as teach them about democracy and other liberties that the free world offers its people.

George Washington, this great country's first president, said it best in his farewell address in 1796 in regards to getting involved in other countries problems: "Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest.... So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils....history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government."

The United States and other countries should work with a country that has oppressed people, along with the government of that country in such a way, to allow for commercial interests to win the day.

George Washington continued in his farewell address in this fashion: "The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities."

This sounds awfully familiar. Think about the Invasion of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944. The United States and its allies asked for nothing in return for the assistance handed to the French for their liberation. It was discovered that the only way and the easiest way to defeat the Nazi Regime, was to come from the English Channel and invade Normandy. This was the easiest way to get to Germany.

So, in essence, according to George Washington, the best thing would have been to stay out of the affairs of other nations. However, since the United States became a super power nation, it has been considered the "policeman of the world." Whenever a nation needs the United States, they call upon its military might or its influence in the United Nations, to stand with those who are oppressed. If the country that needs assistance has no way to pay the United States with financial assistance, then there are other means for repaying the country back for its assistance.

The quotes from George Washington's Farewell Address are from the following website: The Avalon Project - George Washington's Farewell Address 1796 http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp

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