Since it seems appropriate to this discussion, below is a draft of an essay that will appear in the next JFQ. Since this is just a draft, don't quote it. This is actually a very toned down version. The original took direct aim at those exploiting public hostility toward Islam, including political leaders like Palin and Gingrich, and the Islamophobia industry represented by people like Pamela Geller, Patrick Poole, and Daniel Pipes.

Islam, Domestic Politics, and the Crumbling of American Strategy


In the early years of the Cold War, Republican Senator Arthur Vandenberg, the powerful chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, urged that politics stop "at the water's edge." When facing a major threat--as the United States was at the time--Americans should set aside partisanship, at least in foreign policy and national security strategy. This was sage advice but seldom heeded. The norm was for foreign policy and national security strategy to be used as partisan ammunition, particularly against whoever happened to be president and, by association, other members of the president's party. The reasons for this lie deep within the American strategic culture and political system. As a general rule, Americans are not deferential to public policy experts. The public believes that it should play an important role in formulating policy even on issues where it is not particularly well informed. Expertise is deprecated with the assumption that common sense can substitute. Simplicity is lionized and complexity disdained. Clearly the populist instinct runs deep in American political culture, its ideas advanced by the media in their never-ending quest for a larger audience and politicians in pursuit of votes.

This is good to a degree--it is part of what makes the United States and Americans special. But the intersection of public opinion, domestic politics, foreign policy, and national security strategy is treacherous. Since most Americans have little knowledge of, interest in, or understanding of world affairs, they are vulnerable to exploitation by pundits and politicians looking for a cudgel to use against a sitting administration. To resonate with a mass audience, issues are simplified to the point of caricature. This not only hinders serious policy discussions, but also confuses and antagonizes foreigners, whether allies or enemies (or those trying to decide whether to be allies or enemies). Any domestic consensus which does emerge from this tumult is fleeting and fragile. It may form during a major conflict or crisis, but quickly crumbles as the perception of danger declines. One has only to look at the precipitous decline in the approval rating of George H.W. Bush soon after the 1991 war with Iraq. America loved him but only briefly. Historically, rip-roaring partisanship rather than consensus is the American norm. And today, the United States is once again in a crescendo of this phenomenon. This has a very dark side: growing domestic hostility toward Islam is undercutting the foundation of America's global strategy.

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