National morality

[Originally posted on June 06, 2007 at http://pramodbiligiri.livejournal.com/16143.html]

Ron Paul's run for the Republican Presidential nomination made me think about the strong human desire to give a moral underpinning to their worldview. When he quotes the Founding Fathers or the Constitution to find a high moral ground, it resonates with his audience. A world based on life, liberty and pursuit of happiness (LLH, in short) for everyone has idealistic allure. An attempt towards that seems the most natural thing to do.

Realpolitik shuns such aims and moves towards more earthy goals, probably because of practicality.

If you are willing to sacrifice the LLH of "others" in order to further your own, the moral underpinning is suddenly shaky. To avoid this kind of dilemma, the best compromise known till now is the concept of nationalism. A non-interventionist nation which minds its own business ignores moral persecution outside its borders. Thus resources are freed up to maximize the said values within its confines. Thomas Jefferson wrote: "Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto".

A moral worldview restricted to the nation has 2 distinct consequences:
1) It provides leeway for exploiting foreign countries
In particular, if the political and economic elite in those countries profess starkly different values (like in Africa, Middle East, China) it opens economic avenues which are impractical in the home country. Communism, dictators and genocide are brushed aside with much less ado. In fact, it's a foreign policy adage that "only interests matter" (not values).

2) It may fail to handle an increasingly interdependent ("globalized") world
Consider this criticism by Ron Paul: "Our foreign policy is designed to protect our oil interests".

But an isolationist State policy has an impact on access to scarce(?) natural resources like oil, minerals. The country's demand will have to be met through purely commercial transactions. Other countries which use State clout to further business demands might fare better.

Global warming is another problem which straddles national boundaries. Our political, economic structures are not suited to tackle this unless we innovate. International co-operation is required on a massive scale. It remains to be seen if transnational commercial incentives will work.

There is only a thin line between a country "minding its own business" and attacking others to secure this business.