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Does Congress Know Anything About Foreign Policy?

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House Committee on Foreign Affairs, 2014

As America remains stranded in various never ending wars around the world, Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer and executive director of the Council for the National Interest, wonders if Congress knows enough to pilot the country’s foreign policy. He writes at The American Conservative:

A congressman once admitted to me that he and his colleagues know a lot of things, generally speaking, but their knowledge only “extends about one inch deep.” In other words, the briefings provided by staffers and in committees is intended to touch only on what is important to know to look well informed in front of the C-SPAN cameras without any unnecessary depth that would only create confusion. And the information provided must generally conform to what the congressmen already believe to be true and want to hear so no one will be embarrassed.

That such ignorance would be particularly notable in the realm of foreign policy should surprise no one because congressmen as a group are no longer very well educated. Few speak foreign languages and no one any longer studies the history or culture of any country but the United States, and sometimes not even that.

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Richard C. Young

Richard C. Young is the editor of Young's World Money Forecast, and a contributing editor to both Richardcyoung.com and Youngresearch.com.

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