Poor Tacklers, But Great Blockers

Trey Smith

In an article from earlier this month, Don Kraus wrote on Other Words, Our National Failure to Commit, that the US Senate "hasn’t approved any major multilateral treaties at all since it endorsed the Chemical Weapons convention in 1997." That's truly astounding! While the rest of the world is trying to get its act together, we are standing off to the side.

I shouldn't be surprised at all because the US leadership lately has developed an aversion to tackling issues. Domestically, we have a problem with high unemployment and yet neither Congress nor the president has done much of anything to alleviate the problem. Ditto for foreclosures. Ditto for Wall Street malfeasance. Ditto for the environment. Ditto for our nation's crumbling infrastructure. Ditto for gun violence (which may or may not change).

But while our leaders are be poor tacklers, the know how to block. As Kraus writes, every time a major international treaty comes before the senate, a silly excuse is proffered to convince enough senators to thumb their noses at it.

That global women’s rights treaty? Too pro-abortion. The International Criminal Court? A kangaroo court out to get American service members. The Convention on the Rights of the Child? Kids could sue their parents. The UN Law of the Sea? An excuse to slap unfair global tax on Americans. An arms trade treaty? A ploy to deprive Americans of their right to bear arms.

Across the political spectrum, one of the things we hear in almost every single stump speech is about the importance of American leadership in world affairs. It sounds good, but it's difficult to lead when you repeatedly refuse to sit at the same table and act like an adult!