Foreign policy
Agatha will work to stop U.S. involvement in the endless, expensive wars the executive branch has put us in, and take back the right of Congress to declare war. We must work with our allies to create global peace through diplomacy and development programs, rather than expand our ever growing defense budget.
Since 9/11, U.S. engagement in never-ending wars has directly and indirectly killed millions of people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. The United States dropped a record number of bombs in Afghanistan in 2018, yet the Taliban is retaking around half of the country. Meanwhile, the Islamic State is establishing a growing presence, creating instability and worsening prospects for economic development.
Our executive branch, across administrations, has acted unilaterally in sending our troops into battle without congressional approval, putting tremendous pressure on our American military families. Our current President has alienated our allies which we need in order to tackle global issues such as climate change, mass migration and emerging threats such as cyberwarfare.
The World Bank estimates that for each $1 invested in prevention, $16 are saved in crisis mitigation. Yet, we continue to increase our defense budget to over $700 billion while reducing funding for our diplomatic and development programs. While most Americans are in favor of defense spending cuts and increasing environmental protection funding, the opposite is happening.
Our President has pulled out of the Paris climate accords at a time when we need to curb carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. The Pentagon classifies the climate crisis as an urgent national security threat that will fuel more conflicts as resources become scarce and natural disasters become more extreme. Yet, the U.S. military is one of the biggest polluters and emits more CO2 than most countries.
We need foreign policy leadership that reflects our American values. Nancy Pelosi was on the House Intelligence committee in 2002 when she was briefed about the U.S. torture program and did not oppose it. She supports increasing the ever growing U.S. defense budget rather than support initiatives popular with voters like Medicare-for-All and the Green New Deal.
It’s time for new leadership to ensure a better future for all Americans. We must reconsider selling weapons and allying with countries who do not share our values on human rights and further destabilize the world to benefit the profit of the military industrial complex. Agatha supports building strong alliances with European and Asian allies to force China to abide by fair rules on intellectual property rights rather than imposing tariffs that increase prices for U.S. products. The trade war that our President has engaged in with China, for example, is hitting California’s economy the hardest out of any state.