By Linda Grace-Kobas
Quoting the patriot John Paul Jones, who in 1778 proclaimed, "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way," Messenger Lecturer Clifton R. Wharton Jr. described America's ship of state 200 years later as careening "from crisis to crisis, confusing ourselves as well as those whom we want to influence."
A mean-spirited political process and the United States' role as the world's largest seller of arms has produced a foreign policy that lacks vision and is too focused on the short term, said Wharton, former deputy secretary of state. He presented the lecture, "Presidential Politics and Foreign Policy: Diminishing America's Global Stature," on April 18 to an audience of more than 200 in the David L. Call Alumni Auditorium.
Wharton's long career in public service gives him special insight into the U.S. role in global affairs. He has held foreign policy appointments under six presidents and was deputy secretary of state for Clinton in 1993.
The presidential election process "is an overly extended period when cant, demagoguery and outright falsehoods ooze through the electoral marketplace like algae on a stagnant pond," he commented, betraying his expertise in agricultural development. He gave a harsh critique of the level of political discourse, in which a presidential candidate can get laughs by mocking the names of foreign officials.
U.S. policy-makers complicate matters by their inconsistent reactions to real or perceived threats to American security, Wharton said, citing Cuba, Bosnia, Haiti, North Korea, Granada and Panama as examples of confusion for anyone trying to identify consistency.
At a time when the United States claims to be the world's only superpower, funding for foreign affairs expenditures has declined by 51 percent since 1984, Wharton noted, with only $640 million earmarked for "building democracy" in the former Soviet Union republics.
The United States is last among 21 nations in funding for promoting sustainable development, and while we -- sometimes -- respond with aid in emergencies like flood or famine, we no longer wage a "war on world hunger"; Clinton's budget calls for only $704 million for sustainable development in Africa, he said.
Wharton said he had some success in moving aid for agricultural assistance to a higher priority during his brief term in the State Department, and added, "it was even more difficult than I had imagined to include American universities, to whom we once turned for inspiration and expertise, as part of the enterprise."
"I believe agricultural assistance continues to have a crucial role in the quest for a better, peaceful world," he said. "With global population growing at the rate of over 90 million a year, and megacities taking away both the farmer and the farm land, new and more efficient production methods must continually be devised if these millions are to be adequately fed."
The three principles on which a solid foreign policy should be based are respect for and protection of human rights, reliance on private initiative and institutions to enhance social well-being, and the fair rule of law and responsive, participatory civilian governance, Wharton said.
"What world conditions call for today is a greater reliance on preventive diplomacy -- those actions and programs which, if pursued early, may help avoid the need of force," Wharton recommended. Such diplomacy would deal with root causes, such as poverty and illiteracy, that affect global security and prosperity.
"Such diplomacy understands the dependency between our domestic economic well-being and the well-being of the rest of the world," Wharton said.
Wharton describes himself as pessimistic that the United States will adopt a "reasonable" superpower foreign policy anytime soon, however.
"We need clear horizons, not more 'foggy bottom,'" he said. "The critical question is: Are we capable of stepping boldly and wisely into this new leadership role?"
Full text of Wharton's remarks: http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicles/4.25.96/Wharton-text.html.