Facing today’s challenges

From the birth of our nation to today, America has always risen to surmount new challenges. In the preceding century, we overcame the Great Depression by creating new jobs, enacting worker protections, regulating unsound business practices and establishing Social Security. During World War II we defeated fascism, and brought peace to Europe and Asia by marshaling unparalleled human and industrial resources. Since then, we’ve made great strides in combating poverty, racism, sexism and other social injustices.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 horrified us and made real the threat of foreign-born terrorism. We can no longer take our physical or economic security for granted – nor can we ignore many of our nation’s most pressing security and foreign policy dilemmas: problems that relate to our often inconsistent engagement in world affairs; our dependence on foreign oil; and our lack of preparedness in dealing with terrorism. As in the past, however, we’re rising to meet these challenges and we’re likely to emerge stronger for them.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair put it best when he said, “Out of this shadow of evil should emerge lasting good.” To truly right the wrongs of Sept. 11, we must eliminate the terrorists and their networks, and we must work to eradicate the despair and oppression that fuels extremism and allows terrorism to flourish throughout the world. To accomplish these objectives, we need to reform many of our existing defense, trade and foreign policy strategies and institutions, and we need to become more fully, responsibly and intelligently engaged in world affairs.

More specifically, we need to do the following:

1. Go beyond current Bush administration security proposals and establish a new, highly integrated National Homeland Security Agency; an agency that not only consolidates and refines the more than two dozen existing federal agencies charged with guarding our borders, protecting our airports and countering terrorism, but also one that more adequately deals with the consequences of terrorist attacks upon the United States.

2. More rapidly transform our conventional military forces so they possess the technological superiority, deployability, survivability and lethality of our best trained expeditionary forces. Too many of our existing forces are trained to fight the conventional battles of the past and too few are prepared to take on the unconventional threats of today and tomorrow.

3. Recognize that unconventional threats include the destabilization of countries across the globe due to starvation, disease, overpopulation and environmental degradation. Humanitarian, social justice and environmental concerns are closely linked to global stability. The AIDS crisis in Africa, for instance, is exploding and causing mass suffering, along with political and economic upheaval. AIDS prevention efforts, along with family planning initiatives, should therefore stand at the heart of any American foreign policy initiatives that seek to mitigate global instability.

To deal with these kinds of challenges more effectively, we need to participate more actively in multi-lateral efforts aimed at ending conflict, eradicating poverty, providing debt relief and promoting social, economic and political reforms in developing countries throughout the world. We’ve benefited tremendously from recent expansions in the global economy. If pursued correctly and justly, global economic development and trade can fight poverty, uproot the seeds of terrorism and create new jobs for people in the United States and elsewhere.

4. Exert greater leadership in the quest for sustainable peace between Israel and the Palestinians. We must also encourage such neighboring countries as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait to undertake long overdue social, economic and political reforms.

5. Invest more in energy conservation and in the development of alternative, renewable energy resources. This will create jobs, protect the environment, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

The tragedy of Sept. 11 has led us all to reflect more readily upon our lives and the lives of others around the world. As someone who worked in such war-torn countries as Cambodia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo and Serbia, I can attest to the horrors of war, poverty, and government inspired intolerance and terror – and, more importantly, I can also speak to the benefits of constructive engagement and understanding. We all share the same goals and aspirations: security, health, love and prosperity. We simply need to be wiser in how we govern ourselves and how we manage our involvement in world affairs.

Thanks to the sacrifices and leadership of those who came before us, America continues to be the most free, prosperous and open society in the world. Today’s challenges call on us to provide even stronger leadership, for our own sakes and for all who live elsewhere.

David Costello of Lewiston, former U.S. foreign aid officer and top aide to Maine Secretary of State Bill Diamond, is a Democratic candidate for Congress in Maine’s 2nd District.