Tennessee Tech Professor Michael Gunter said the United States must resist isolationist tendencies to protect national security and maintain global stability.
Former President George W. Bush said this week Americans do not adhere to the main lesson of 9/11 to keep engaged with the world. Tennessee Tech Professor Michael Gunter said the historical tradition of staying remote from world affairs has become obsolete due to modern communications and weapons technology.
“Isolationism goes back to our beginnings because we were isolated by the two oceans, Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, and the founding father himself, George Washington, warned in his farewell address to the nation in 1796 that the United States should not join European wars and get all caught up in these wars, that we should stay remote from the rest of the world,” Gunter said. “On the other hand, of course, given modern communications and the fact you can push a button in Moscow and blow up the United States in about 20 minutes, international continental ballistic missiles and all that, makes in many ways isolationism today obsolete.”
Gunter said the 9/11 attacks demonstrated that failing to monitor foreign threats can lead to immediate and catastrophic consequences at home.
Gunter said the country has recently damaged relationships with long-standing allies such as Canada and Denmark. Gunter said these diplomatic tensions create opportunities for adversaries like China and Russia to exploit divisions within the NATO alliance.
“You don’t treat your friends that way, especially a NATO ally,” Gunter said. “Most borders between countries like between Russia and China are heavily armed and in danger of war and here we are total friendship between the United States and Canada and because of recent American actions toward Canada, we now are creating an enemy in Canada where with more intelligent foreign policy, it would be a friend.”
Gunter said domestic success depends on an intelligent understanding of foreign affairs and the ability to distinguish between friends and enemies. Gunter said the country cannot simply return to the isolation of 200 years ago because the United States remains the leading global power.
“Let’s remember what happened and not just say this is something in the past that is only in the museum because otherwise, it’s going to come back and hit us again,” Gunter said. “We have to get together more and realize that we’re all Americans and not get so angry at each other and also that goes, as I started this out, for our friends to the north, the Canadians.”
Gunter said students should study the history of the 9/11 attacks to understand why international events remain relevant to their own safety.