Former U.S. Representative addresses foreign policy

A speech Lee Hamilton gave on the floor of the House of Representatives in the 1970s could be delivered exactly the same way today, he said, except with the increase of one figure — the amount of United States dependence on foreign oil.

Hamilton, who served as a Democratic representative from Indiana from 1965 to 1999, spoke at Penn on March 25 to address the United States’ role in foreign affairs.

Hamilton is the current co-chairman of the U.S. Energy Department’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.

He stressed the need for a cooperative approach to U.S. foreign policy.

“I don’t want to sound Pollyanna-ish, but I do not think we can solve our problems in this world today without talking to other countries, other people, even when we don’t like them,” Hamilton said.

David Thornburgh, the executive director of Penn’s Fels Institute of Government, agreed with Hamilton’s approach.

The “acknowledgement that international relations is as much about pragmatism and practical realities as it is about lofty ideals” is highly important, Thornburgh said.

Oil dependency remains at the forefront of issues faced by the United States in terms of foreign affairs, Fels graduate student Ana Liss said.

“During the last seven presidential administrations, we’ve been talking about reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and that problem is even bigger today than it was during Jimmy Carter’s presidency,” during which an oil crisis set off by the Iranian revolution skyrocketed oil prices, Liss said.

“There’s no better time than now to start thinking about ways to tap into clean energy because that’s the really sticky part about our involvement in the Middle East,” she added.

The four military involvements of the United States — the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the war on terror and the current intervention in Libya — show how military-driven U.S. foreign policy is, Hamilton said.

“The present civilian-military imbalance in our budget today is just staggering,” Hamilton said.

Strong leaders are needed in times like these, Thornburgh said.

“Politics is not a place for shrinking violets,” he added.

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