A Singer and a Philospher

I know it is coming! When we head back to school after this MLK Day holiday, students are going to be asking what the deal is with Secretary of State John Kerry and "that old guy singing." If you haven't see James Taylor perform "You've Got a Friend" as John Kerry's guest in France on January 16th, please do. Nearly all media outlets have been highlighting the event for the past couple days, and students will surly have picked up on some of the commentary. The tragedy in France against Charlie Hebdo has sparked much discussion among my students about America's role in the global war on terror. Opinions vary on what we should do in response to the attack, but there is no consensus through several class discussions about whether the United States should be more or less involved in international relations than it is now.

Since our founding, American foreign policy has fluctuated between isolationism, imperialism, and moralism. The United States' geographic isolation from the centers of world conflicts, its tendency towards pacifism at times, and the uniqueness of the American experiment all drive our unique approach to foreign policy. When it comes to helping students understand the significance of foreign policy, I feel that it is essential to establish why governments engage with one another in the first place.

Students (and hopefully most Americans) are already familiar with the legislative and executive branches of government. British philosopher John Locke sees a third power, the federative, as significant for a political society. Federative power deals with the community as a whole, in relation to beings outside the community like foreign governments. It is involved with war and peace, alliances and treaties, and all other relationships between the commonwealth and other governments. One could make the argument that James Taylor's performance, as a show of solidarity, is a tool that John Kerry used as an exercise of the federative power. It's not that far fetched, considering gifts to and from foreign governments are commonplace in diplomacy.

Even though executive and federative powers are different from each other, they are usually united in one body. Federative power, however, is based more on the discretion and prudence of those invested with it rather than the adherence to the established, standing laws of the nation. This is because dealing with foreigners is much more difficult and variable than dealing with one’s own nation. Locke believes that it is best for the executive and federative powers to be combined because they both use the force of the public for their exercise and if they were separate, it would lead to uncertainty and chaos.

What then should we make of the outcry from the media and Republicans that Kerry's actions are a weak response? If the federative power should be heavily reliant upon public will, do those opposed to the action suggest the American government should take drastic measures in response to the attack? According to the PEW Research Center, worries about an attack on U.S. soil remains pretty much unchanged after the attack in France. So the question to get students engaged in is whether or not they believe the U.S. should take drastic measures in response to acts of terror abroad.