Featured Publication

“‘America First’ Then and Now,”

by Kiron Skinner

The ideas of liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism, laissez faire, and democracy constitute the creed upon which the United States was founded. Of course, these were not new ideas when the American Revolution took place; political theorists, statesmen, and politicians had been attempting to infuse them into government for centuries. The ideas were new, however, as the fundamental basis for government and governance. Thus, speaking non-normatively, Seymour Martin Lipset declared the United States the first new nation precisely because it was the first modern nation to be born of a set of ideas drawn from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century liberalism, now called classical liberalism. The issue is not that the United States is better than other societies; rather, it got there first.

If we agree that the American creed is the doctrinal embodiment of a set of ideas that unify Western societies, then we are on safe ground in saying that at least since the post–World War II era, the United States has been the main defender of Western civilization. The existence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an objective demonstration of America’s leadership of the West. NATO is an enduring mutual security pact for Western protection. Article five remains the organization’s touchstone because it is the clearest statement available of Western societies adhering to collective defense—“an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.” It goes on to say that force may be used by the signatories “to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.” The United States has been at the helm of NATO since it was formed in 1949.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump talked about NATO as a problem for the United States because only four or five of the 28 member states have lived up to the pledge of committing 2 percent of GDP for defense. He also said, “I’m not isolationist, but I am ‘America First.’” Trump laid out what he meant by “America First” in a speech in April 2016:

It’s time to shake the rust off America’s foreign policy. It’s time to invite new voices and new visions into the fold, something we have to do. The direction I will outline today will also return us to a timeless principle. My foreign policy will always put the interests of the American people and American security above all else. It has to be first. Has to be. That will be the foundation of every single decision that I will make. America First will be the major and overriding theme of my administration.”

He echoed those words in his inaugural address: “From this day forward, it’s going to be only America First. America First. Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families.” During his first one hundred days in office, President Trump continued to advocate for greater military spending by NATO countries but reaffirmed America’s commitment to the organization.

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