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Progressives and the Use of Force: A Coherent Position

If progressives want to reclaim national security leadership and have a voice in national security debates, we must have a coherent view on the use of force.  Neoconservatives have voiced a strategic worldview that we all believe is misguided.  But what is our rejoinder?  We know that the end goals we desire—from promoting peace to protecting human rights—at times require brandishing and using force.  But too many Americans are confused about what we believe.

Before any war is on the horizon, Americans deserve a sense of when progressives think it is legitimate, appropriate, and practical to use force to protect America’s vital interests, or to serve humanitarian purposes.  If progressives want to reclaim national security leadership and have a voice in national security debates, we need a comprehensive statement of our beliefs about force and its use in America’s security toolkit.

Progressives should never—and will never—glorify force nor forget its consequences.  We will never forget the devastation any war wreaks on innocent civilians and the nations caught in the battle.  Yet as people who share a vision of the world based in our hopes for progress, we must balance these visions of horror with an understanding of the freedom from fear, brutality, and chaos that has at times only been gained through force and its deterrent effects.  Truman’s Use of Force Project will help progressive leaders take the time to consider the hard practical and moral questions that accompany the use of force, and forge a coherent, lasting ideology to guide our thinking in this critical realm of national leadership.

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Activities

The use of force project will have three prongs:

• A set of papers and public writings that, through drafting and discussion, will frame and begin to answer the hard questions about the use of force.
• A set of high-level workshops and conferences with leading intellectuals, policy experts, political leaders, and the next generation in the progressive community to discuss these foundational questions, building consensus among the key individuals involved, and illuminating areas where honest disagreement exists.
• Intensive and frank workshops on Capitol Hill sponsored by the Democratic Study Group on National Security and the Progressive Caucus in which Members across caucuses will discuss these difficult questions to deepen personal and philosophical understanding and improve cross-caucus policy development.