John McCain: An Enduring Peace

Senator McCain's address today is the third of three policy speeches and we'll focus today on foreign policy. His topic is titled An Enduring Peace Built On Freedom. George Shultz our distinguished fellow here at the Hoover Institution was disappointed that he couldn't be with us today and he wrote me a note that I would like to share with you and with the senator. He writes to me, dear Dear John I join in welcoming Senator John McCain. He is a man with a depth of character that is impressive by any standard. I have had the privilege of working closely with several Presidents and in a clutch character is the name of the game. I urge everyone to read the speeches given by Senator McCain in the last few weeks. Beyond solid positions on a wide range of subjects two points stand out in these speeches, first senator McCain is a serious man making serious proposals about important issues. Instead of sound bytes there is careful reasoning. Secondly you can see in his speeches or if you have had the privilege of talking with senator McCain that he has fought through his positions and he understands the reasons why he believes what he believes. In his steadfastness he reminds me of Ronald Reagan, whose strong backbone helped us win the cold war. President Reagan's constancy under pressure came from the fact that he understood clearly the reasons that lay behind the positions he took. So I join this audience in welcoming senator McCain and I say, "Listen carefully you are bound to be impressed." So would you give a warm welcome from Hoover to Senator John McCain. Thank you very much John, thank you. Thank you very much John and thank you for those kind words and I am honored by George Shultz's support but I am most honored as an American by the many incredible contributions he has made to the security of this nation. I can't let this moment pass without mentioning the presence of at least one of my dear friends but also the strong right arm of President Ronald Reagan and a man who I have known and loved for many years and I am grateful that you are here today. My friend since the dawn of our Republic Americans had believed our nation was created for a purpose. We were as Alexander Hamilton said a people of great destinies in the revolution, the civil war in World Wars I and II and the many struggles of the cold war our forbearers met and overcame threats to our nation's survival and to our very way of life. They believe they had a duty to serve across greater than their self interest. They kept faith with the eternal principles of our declaration of independence against the evils of despotism, fascism and totalitarianism and they changed the world. Democracy was born and then spread across globe from North America to Europe to Asia and Latin America to Africa and the Middle East. Today we stand grateful on this foundation of freedom. Now it's our generation's turn to build, it's our generation's turn to restore and replenish the faith in our nation and our principles. We have suffered terrible attacks at the hands of a new enemy that relentlessly seeks our destruction. New dangers of have arisen, great powers are emerging and seek to shift the international balance of power and we are in the midst of two wars whose outcome will shape our future. Here at home there is discord and doubt and our famous optimism as a people has began to flicker. It need not, it must not. Ever since Jamestown we have displayed courage in the face of adversity. We are a hardy spirited and steadfast people, a nation of pioneers and inveterate problem solvers. Today America remains the most attractive of nations where people the world over wish to visit, study, live, start businesses, invest and look for inspiration, in our values and our freedoms. That's why I believe we are about to enter our greatest and proudest years as a nation. Our great President Harry Truman once said of America, "God has created us and brought us to our present position of power and strength for some great purpose." In His time that great purpose was to erect structures of peace and prosperity that could provide safe passage through the Cold War. Today we face new dangers and new opportunities and we must have a new common mission to build an enduring global peace and to build it upon the foundations of freedom, opportunity, prosperity and hope. There is so much promise in today's world, we live in the era of unprecedented human progress and increasingly global commerce is spreading a better and freer life to millions. Our scientists and physicians are eradicating diseases that once ravaged populations. More people live under democracy that at any time in human history. More than ever before a father and mother can pass on to their children a happier, healthier, longer and freer life than they themselves knew. Yes, we seize and expand these opportunities. We must recognize, at the same time the dangers posed by the forces of terrorism and tyranny that look backward into a world of darkness and violence. With our democratic friends and allies around the world, we need to build a new global order of peace, a peace that can last not just for a decade but for a century where the dangers and threats we face diminish and our human progress reaches new heights. Almost two centuries ago James Madison declared that the great struggle of the epoch was between liberty and despotism, many thought that their struggle ended with the Cold War but it didn't. It took on new guises such as the modern terrorists' network and enemy of progress that has turned our technological advances to its own use and in reverse trying to rebuild 19th century autocracies in a 21st century world. Today the talk is of the War on Terror, a war in which we must succeed. But the War on Terror cannot be the only organizing principle of American foreign policy. International terrorists capable of inflicting mass destruction are new phenomena. But what they seek and what they stand for are as old as time. They comprise part of a world wide political, economic and philosophical struggle between the future and the past, between the progress and reaction, between liberty and despotism. Upon the outcome of that struggle depends, our security, our prosperity and our democratic way of life. Democracy and freedom continue to flourish around the world, but there have been some discouraging trends. In China, despite miraculous economic growth and a higher standard of living for many millions of Chinese, hopes for an accompanying political reform have diminished. The ruling party seems determined to not dominate political life as in the past. The talk is of order, not democracy; the supremacy of the party, not of the people. China astonishes the world with its economic and technological modernization but then spends billions trying to control that great icon of the modern era, the internet. China recognizes its vital interest in economic integration with a Democratic world but is also joined with Russia in hindering efforts to put pressure on dictators in Iran, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Burma and the other pariah states. China expresses its desire for a stable peace in East Asia but it continues to increase its military might, fostering distrust and concerns in the region about Beijing's ambitions. We must insist that China use its new found power responsibly at home and abroad. A decade ago the Great Russian people had thrown off Communist tyranny and seemed determined to build Democracy in a free market and to join the west. Today Russia looks more and more like some 19th century autocracy, marked by diminishing political freedoms, shadowy intrigue and mysterious assassinations. Around its borders Moscow has tried to expand its influence over its neighbors in eastern, central and even Western Europe. While the more democratic Russia of the 1990 sought to deepen its ties with Europe and America, today a more authoritarian Moscow manipulates Europe's dependence on Russian oil and gas to compel silence and obedience and to try to drive a wedge between Europe and the United states. The Russian government is even more brutal towards the young democracies on its periphery, threatening them with trade embargoes and worse if they move too close to the west. It supports separatist movements in Georgia and Moldova and openly intervened in Ukraine's presidential elections and is supplying weapons to Iran, Syria and indirectly to Hezbollah. But if some of the Russia yearned to turn the clock back two decades the zealots of Islamic radicalism would turn it back centuries. The mullahs of Iran and the leaders of Al Qaeda and Hezbollah want to cleanse the Muslim world of modernity and the ideals of the enlightenment and return it to an imagined past of theological purity. They stake their goal plainly. A universal Islamic theocracy, a new caliphate across all the lands once dominated by Islam including the lands held in Europe centuries ago. Meanwhile Mid-East autocracies fuel this radicalism by denying their people political expression, economic opportunity or hope for a better future. These governments differ from one another in a thousand ways and our principle toward them must reflect those differences. Our national interests require that we pursue economic and strategic cooperation with China and Russia. That we support Egypt and Saudi Arabia as well as peacemakers in the Middle East and that we work with Pakistan to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda. But our national interests also require that we continually press for progress. We have seen how autocratic governments often work against our interest. Iran is able to aggressively pursue nuclear weapons and had hegemony in the Persian Gulf in part because it has been shielded by the worlds powerful autocracies. North Korea defies the international community with its nuclear weapons and missile programs and an obscene - an obscene human rights record. Last month North Korea unsurprisingly missed the first deadline in the most recent nuclear agreement and it remains to be seen if China will use its enormous influence to demand better behavior. The path to an enduring peace lies in a clear eye pursuit of our national interest that does not accord, exceed to autocratic trends. We must expand the power and reach of democracy, freedom and human rights using our many strengths for the free people. But that means making substantial changes in how we do business. Change must begin at home. Back in 1947, just the year into the Cold War the Truman administration launched a massive overhaul of the nation's foreign policy defense and intelligence agencies to meet new challenges. Today we must do the same to meet the challenges of the 21st century. I'll have much more to say about this in the future but our needs are clear in the organization, skills and capabilities needed to prevail in the conflict with violent extremist. An intelligence community that is able to collect and analyze information on and conduct operations against our enemies, a public diplomacy effort that makes our case to the world effectively, a diplomatic core that understands stability does not mean supporting dictatorships. Foreign aid programs that foster good governance, generals that understand and learn from past wars and apply those lessons to the future, defense procurement that's transparent, accountable and effective and civilian defense leadership that is held accountable, that is held accountable for results and provides the resources necessary to achieve results. We must never again launch a military operation with too few troops to complete the mission and build a secure, stable and democratic peace. When we fight a war we must fight to win. We cannot build an enduring peace based on freedom by ourselves nor do we want to. The Declaration of Independence proclaimed our duty to pay decent respect to the opinions of mankind. When I think back to the 1980s, the decade of triumph in the Cold War, I think about our great alliances. Reagan, Thatcher, Kohl, Mitterrand, Nakasone they were all strong leaders who jealously guarded the interests of their peoples, but they linked arms against Communist tyranny. Today we need to revive that vital Democratic solidarity, we need to renew the terms of our partnership and strike anew a grand bargain for the future. 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. When we believe international action is necessary whether military, economic or diplomatic we must work to persuade our democratic friends and allies that we are right. But in return we must be willing to be persuaded by them. To be a good leader, America must be a good ally. Our partners must be good allies too. They must have the will and the ability to act in the common defense for freedom, Democracy and economic prosperity. They must spend the money, they must spend the money necessary to build effective militaries that can train and fight alongside ours. They must help us deliver aid to those in need and encourage good government in fragile states. They must face the threats of our world squarely and not evade their global responsibilities and they must put an end, they must put an end to the mindless anti-Americanism that today mars international discourse. 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. If we strike this new bargain and renew our Trans-Atlantic solidarity, I believe, we must then take the next step and expand the circle of our Democratic community. As we speak American soldiers are serving in Afghanistan alongside British, Canadian, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Turkish and Lithuanian soldiers from the NATO alliance. There are also serving alongside forces from Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea. All Democratic allies were close partners of the United States, but they are not to all part of a common structure, they don't work together systematically or meet regularly to develop diplomatic and economic strategies to meet their common problems. The 21st century world no longer divides neatly into geographic regions. Organizations and partnerships must be as international as the challenges we confront. The NATO alliance has begun to deal with this gap by promoting global partnerships between current members of the alliance and the other great democracies in Asia and elsewhere. We should go further, we should go further and start bringing democratic peoples in nations from around the world into one common organization, a worldwide league of Democracies, a league of Democracies. This would not be like the universal membership and failed League of Nations of Woodrow Wilson but much more like what Theodore Roosevelt envisioned, like minded nations working together in the cause of peace. The new League of Democracies would form the core of an international order of peace based on freedom. It could act where the UN fails to act, to relieve human suffering in places like Darfur, it could join to fight the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa and fashion better policies to confront the crisis of our environment. It could provide unimpeded market access to those who share the values of economic and political freedom, an advantage no state based system could attain. It could bring concerted pressure to bear on tyrants in Burma or Zimbabwe with or without Moscow's or Beijing's approval. It could unite to impose sanctions on Iran and thwarts its nuclear ambitions. It could provide support to struggling democracies in Ukraine and Serbia and help countries like Thailand back on the path to democracy. This league of democracies would not supplant the United Nations or other international organizations. It would complement them but it would be the one organization where the world's democracies could come together to discuss problems and solutions on the basis of shared principles and a common vision of the future. If am elected President, I will call a summit of the Worlds Democracies in my first year to seek the views of my democratic counterparts and begin exploring the practical steps necessary to realize this vision. Americans should lead this effort, just as we did 60 years ago in in founding NATO, but if we are to lead responsibly, our friends and allies must see us as a responsible nation, concerning not only about our own well being but about the health of the world's economy and the future of our planet. Throughout the Cold War America's support for a global economic system based on free trade and free flows of capital went hand in hand with our support of political freedom and democracy. To build a new era of peace based on freedom we have to work even harder through our economic and trade policies to encourage open societies and create a climate of opportunity and hope. Our economic strategies in the Middle East must compliment our political strategies by supporting modernizers, one who improved the lives of their people against those radicals and autocrats who would impoverish them. In Latin America and Africa we need to support those who favor open economies and democratic government against populist demagogues who are dragging their nations back to the failed Socialist policies of the past. In Asia, we need to show that growing democratic economies can do more for the average man and woman and less for corrupt senior officials than growing economies in a one party state. Americans are the most generous and caring people in the world. No one has sacrificed more in lives and treasure to save the world from tyranny. No nation spends more in combined public and private philanthropic efforts to combat disease and poverty around the world and no one works harder to ensure the continued health and vitality of the global economy. Still there is more we can do, to be successful international leaders we need to be good international citizens. This means upholding and strengthening international laws and norms including the laws of war. We must champion the Geneva Conventions and we must fulfill the letter in the spirit of our international obligations. It is profoundly in our interest to do so, since our failure to abide by those rules put our own soldiers at risk. Our moral standing in the world requires that we respect what we are after all American principles of justice. Our values will always triumph in any war of ideas and we can't let failings like prisoner abuse carnage our image. If we are model citizens of the world more people around the world will look to us as models. When our nation was founded over 200 years ago, we were the world's only Democratic Republic. Today there are more than a 100, electoral democracies spread across the globe. We must reaffirm our faith in the principles that our founders declared to be universal. That all people are created equal and possess inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We fought a revolution, a civil war, two World Wars and a Cold War to vindicate all these principles and ensure that freedom could be enjoyed, as Abraham Lincoln promised, by all people of all colors everywhere. We were right we have a right to struggle for democracy then and we have a right to do so now. This is not idealism, my friends. It's the truest kind of realism. Today, as in the past, our interests are inextricably linked to the global progress of our ideals. The vision of a new era of enduring peace based on freedom is not a Republican envision, it's not a Democratic vision, it's an American vision. The American people have known instinctively for two centuries that we are safer when the world is more Democratic, whatever our differences, we all share the same goal, a world of peace and freedom, of prosperity and opportunity, of hope. We have a duty to ourselves to be true to these beliefs, to use our great power wisely on behalf of freedom. As Ronald Reagan proclaimed in his speech to the British Parliament in 1982, "Let us go to our strength, let us offer hope, let us tell the world that a new age is not only possible but probable." Thank you very much.