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Declaring British Independence |
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TheSequitur.com Editorial Board
July 2, 2007
Our birthday wish list is short this year, mate. We need a friend, a real one. For America’s birthday, we ask that Britain’s new premier, Gordon Brown, be a friend and declare his government’s independence from the United States and its catastrophic foreign policy.
[O]ur common past and common enemies by no means suggests that U.S. and British foreign policies should be in lockstep.Friends aren’t simply military allies. After all, isn’t it always friends, not enemies, who – with a nudge – will subtly tell you when an uncooperative broccoli floret has stuck in your teeth? Isn’t it your friends who are bold enough to confront you when you commit a wrong and challenge you to make it right?
U.S. foreign policy is dead drunk, and someone needs to take the keys. We need a friend. We need Gordon Brown.
Brown has a unique opportunity. His new government has both a mandate and the momentum to operate in ways Tony Blair & Co. didn’t. This fresh blood leading a country whose opinion Americans value and trust – even when in disagreement – has a real chance of positively influencing the way the United States behaves on the international stage.
We look to Britain because it is our heritage, because we’ve fought against and beside each other, because the U.K. is a microcosm of everything global – that is its imperial heritage, and consequence. Thus, we unfortunately also look to Britain and see a bit of ourselves: under attack, under suspicion and under the weather, security-wise, that is.
But our common past and common enemies by no means suggests that U.S. and British foreign policies should be in lockstep.
We know, for instance, that Nigel Six-Pint wants action on climate change, hates British complicity in American shames like Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and suspects the Anglo-American alliance to the death may be drawing more terrorist attention to the U.K. than would be otherwise. But we also believe that, in the end, the British and Americans are and should remain close allies and good friends.
U.S. foreign policy is dead drunk, and someone needs to take the keys.As a friend, Brown would have credibility were he to demand the closure of Guantanamo and America’s not-so-secret prisons, insist on a new way forward in Iraq and pressure the United States to come into the mainstream when it comes to combating human harm to the environment.
His lobbying may fall on deaf ears in Washington, but at least he will have taken a stand, shown a uniquely British resolve to do the honourable thing and clearly distinguished his new government from that of Blair, widely seen as the Barney Fife to Bush’s Andy Griffith.
If Brown’s declaration of independence doesn’t spur action in the United States, it - at a minimum - will show that British foreign policy is seeking a higher moral footing and that Americans have a true friend in the United Kingdom.
Senior Editor Jared Leone and Member-at-Large Vish Mehta did not participate in this editorial. Senior Editor Dwayne Robinson abstains from all staff editorials.
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Comments
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Perhaps they should also be independent from the opinions of the Sequitur editorial board.
Posted by Larry Craycraft, on 07/07/2007 at 10:00
1 Page 1 of 1 ( 1 Comments )
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