Last week, I covered the idea of lowering taxes. It is something I would like to see from the next president of the United States. Now, here's what I hope to see from the next president in regards to foreign policy.

Now, foreign policy is a very difficult subject to tackle because it is very complex. It is not as easy as being an ally or an enemy. It requires attention to detail and understanding the cultures of each country we communicate with. It is also something I feel we, as a country, have been struggling with.

Simply put, it would be too difficult to go back to a pre-World War I foreign policy, where we maintained a near isolationist state. World War I made it extremely clear that we must work on a global scale, for better or worse, to be successful. We could no longer focus on just the United States. As years continued to fly by and technology became more and more advanced, our presence on the global scale increased. However, we haven’t necessarily been making the greatest choices.

The first major thing I would like to see in regards to foreign policy with the next president is the willingness to have an open discussion with every country. Currently, we tend to only talk in a positive light with the countries we have established relationships with through NATO. (i.e. Germany, England, France, etc.) This is understandable, but why can’t we extend this relationship to countries such as Russia? I understand that there have been hostilities between Russia and the United States for many years, but that shouldn’t matter when discussing world politics. We need to understand why they take the actions they do instead of immediately heading towards sanctions against them. I am sure when we make a decision to put troops in a country or craft a deal with someone, other countries would like to gain a better understanding of why we are doing it. Currently, we tend to act hostile with a country like Russia instead of understanding why they are doing something. Russia is not the only country we do this to, but it is the primary one. So, this is the first thing I would like to see from a new president; better discussions with countries, no matter the relationship state. Understanding is key to creating friendships.

The second thing I hope to see is a bit less of a military presence around the world. Now, the United States Military has installations in many countries that do serve a purpose. Many countries rely on that presence and support it. One of the places where support is not necessarily high in is the Middle East. The wars in the Middle East are very difficult to understand and are complex on many levels. It is not as simple as saying we are leaving. Many people rely on the protection of our military in these regions. However, I feel we have become a bit war-wary and worn down from these conflicts. It has also put a rather large financial burden on the country. While the enemy in these regions is still very much active and at-large, I feel that we need to find ways to make this conflict less our war and more of the countries in the regions war. Getting these countries involved in fighting the wars in their area is a daunting task. It isn’t as easy as saying, “Hey, you should fight this war!” We need to search for new ways to involve these countries and begin removing ourselves from the conflicts. I do understand that terrorism is definitely a global issue, but it seems to have become only our issue. This needs to change for us to begin focusing on rebuilding our own economy.

Finally, I believe we do need to begin looking inwards instead of outwards. We need to bring back industry in the United States and look to become a larger exporter. This begins with finding new and efficient ways to produce energy, enhancing education, and restoring American industry. Now, we can’t become an isolationist state again because we do play an important role on the World Scale. However, we can put ourselves before other countries occasionally. We do not always need to be the first to help, especially when we need to help ourselves. It isn’t bad to become more self-focused now, in hopes of improving our abilities on the world scale in the future.

I understand change does take a while and nothing ever goes perfectly. These are just some things I hope a new president can look into changing. Even something minor in the right direction is better than nothing. Hopefully, we can start moving in the right direction.