Heritage Foundation: U.S. Foreign Policy Must “Advance Liberty”

A new policy brief by The Heritage Foundation, entitled “A Conservative Foreign Policy,” argues that “defending liberty should be the central goal of [U.S.] foreign policy and the organizing principle for the alliances, international institutions, and treaties we join,” adding that “our role as leader of the free world will not endure unless others know that America still stands for liberty and justice for all.” The brief calls for broad American efforts on behalf of human rights and freedoms, stating, “We must take the lead and increase cooperation with like-minded nations to advance liberty in every form—e.g., a Global Economic Freedom Forum to advance free markets, a Liberty Forum for Human Rights to promote individual freedoms and human dignity, and a Global Freedom Coalition to advance global security.” On Iran specifically, the brief says that the U.S. “should expose Iran’s human rights abuses and support democracy activists.” Criticizing President Obama’s policy of engagement, the piece says that “engagement assumes that we must appease the anxieties of dictatorial states and international institutions as well as friendly nations,” asserting that this strategy “has not worked.”