Issue Position: Upholding America's Values in Our Foreign Policy

Issue Position

Issue Position: Upholding America's Values in Our Foreign Policy

Upholding America's Values in Our Foreign Policy
Millions of people all around the globe have looked to the United States for leadership in an often uncertain world. The United States stands for the values on which our nation was founded: government of, by, and for the people; freedom of speech and conscience; opportunity for all; the rule of law; a strong system of property rights, transparency and a free press; and the principle that basic human rights are inalienable.

In order to keep our country safe and to ensure that our soldiers are accorded humane treatment by our adversaries, I believe that we must follow the laws and treaties to which we have bound ourselves, including the Geneva Conventions, in our treatment of foreign detainees. I have helped lead the fight in Congress to pass legislation banning the use of torture in interrogations, and ending secret detentions beyond the reach of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The principles we demand of others, we must also demand of ourselves. I am also working to close the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, which has come to represent the antithesis of American values.

As the son of a Foreign Service officer, I have seen firsthand the suffering caused by poverty, conflict, and corruption. America must lead the world's efforts to seek lasting, meaningful changes that will help stabilize troubled regions, safeguard human rights, and promote peace.
I am pleased that President Obama has named former Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell as Secretary of State Clinton's special envoy to the Middle East. As he solved a seemingly intractable conflict between Northern and Southern Ireland, I know he will be steadfastly dedicated to resolving the longstanding conflict between Israel and Palestine. His efforts send a signal that the U.S. is standing up for peace and will no longer sit on the sidelines of the conflict.

I am committed to pursuing strategies that will hasten an end to the humanitarian tragedy in Sudan, where mass murder and pervasive human suffering continue unabated. I will fight to increase funding to combat HIV/AIDS, a pandemic estimated to claim the lives of one quarter of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa over the next decade, and other infectious diseases in Africa and around the world. America also must promote sustainable development and stable governance in the Third World. It is in the world's interest and in our interest.

I trust that President Obama will help the United States reclaim its place as a leader of the world, a beacon of hope, a defender of human rights, and a promoter of international law, peace and prosperity. We would do well to follow the advice of America's legendary diplomat, George F. Kennan, when he said that "the greatest service this country could render to the rest of the world would be to put its own house in order and to make of American civilization an example of decency, humanity, and societal success from which others could derive whatever they might find useful to their own purposes."

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