August 3, 2000

MEMORANDUM TO: OPINION LEADERS

FROM: GARY SCHMITT

SUBJECT: GOP Platform

In discussing the foreign policy section of the GOP platform in its lead editorial yesterday (“Half a Foreign Policy,” p.A30), the Washington Post described the party’s “commitment to internationalism and U.S. leadership abroad” as “new.” But new to whom? The platform reflects not only the internationalist perspective of the last two Republican presidents but also the party’s new nominee for that office, Gov. George W. Bush, and his chief challenger, Sen. John McCain. (See the attached op-ed by Helle Bering, Washington Times, “No Isolationists Here,” p.A21)

The GOP platform calls for an American foreign policy that is informed by American principles of political and economic freedom, rests on American military strength and its global network of democratic states, and takes full advantage of the “singular opportunity” America has as the world’s preeminent power to shape the world’s future security environment for decades to come. In particular, it calls for:

• Restoring and transforming America’s conventional military forces;
• Developing ballistic missile defenses for the U.S., and its allies and forces abroad;
• Revitalizing America’s ties with its allies in Europe and Asia;
• Recognizing that China is a strategic competitor of the United States;
• Continued enlargement of NATO with Europe’s new democracies;
• Implementing the Iraq Liberation Act and removing Saddam Hussein from power; and
• Reversing the current policy of indifference toward Latin America.

The Republican Party’s platform calls for reversing the “squandered” eight years of the Clinton Administration and it does so by leaning forward, not by pulling back.