I’ll start by making it clear that I believe America should be a team player in the world. I believe we all share this planet and it’s in our best interests to work for peace, justice, equality, respect and economic stability for all.
My experience over 80-plus years is that these values have underlaid most of our participation in the world, with, of course, some notable exceptions. I’m concerned now that we, as a country, are being seen as abandoning these values and that we will soon be alone as we pursue “American First” policies.
We appear to be offending our allies repeatably while admiring the anti-democratic, autocratic leaders in the world, including Russia, Turkey, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Syria (who opposed the Paris Climate Accord also).
Constant attacks on our First Amendment rights, including respect for a free press, and degrading respect for our judicial system, show either a lack of knowledge or a total disregard for our Constitution.
Does every country have the right to believe and act as if they are first and, if so, what kind of a world will we be creating? Would we want to live in it?
Barbara Paeth-Haas
Durango
