The Machinery of Progressive Foreign Policy

Nice interview at Jacobin between Dan Bessner and Matt Duss:

What is your general philosophical framework for understanding the US role in the world? How does your view compare to Bernie’s?

I think there are a few important areas. One is that we both have backgrounds as the children of immigrants, and we have that awareness of our family’s history and what it meant for them and so many others to come to the United States to find refuge and opportunity here. Bernie has also talked about his family growing up without a lot of money — what that means, to really struggle.

We share the belief that America can do better, not just for ourselves, but for all of our communities. We can treat each other better. We have the resources. We can expect more from our government. And the reason that’s not happening is because certain entrenched interests are stopping us, because they make more money out of the way things are now.

And there are systems in place to protect and enrich those interests at the expense of the rest of us. And that’s fucked up and it should change. And we have the power to change it if we all work together. That’s as simple as I can put it.

There’s a lot more in the interview about what a progressive approach to specific issue areas and specific geographic areas might look like. Many of the Bernie FP folks have migrated over to groups in the Biden constellation, so hopefully some of this thinking will germinate in more traditional foreign policy circles in 2021…