An Unacceptable Practice for an Unacceptable World

I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen two hundred limping exhausted men come out of line-the survivors of a regiment of one thousand that went forward forty-eight hours before. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.

~Franklin Delano Roosevelt

War is not and never will be acceptable.

War is not and never will be a productive manner of eliminating one's enemies, nor aiding one's friends.

But take a look at the world around you. How many unacceptable occurrences do you see or hear about on a daily basis? How many more must there be that go unmentioned in our insulated living rooms? How many of us understand the rabid anger and hate that put the bullet in Moammar Gadhafi's head, or the despair that plagues Darfur day and night?

We don't. So how must we as out-of-touch onlookers react? Which wars do we condone and in which do we intervene?
Right now that is a question of the utmost subjectivity. So to speak in absolutes would be ignorant and disrespectful. I have to make clear that from here on out, I will only state my opinion, and I don't want to insult anyone directly.

The world is painfully progressing through a transition that began centuries ago, when the first common people shook the wool from their eyes and began demanding rights and respect. Of this kind of upheaval we are all well aware; after repeatedly bubbling from the depths of the European population, it manifested in America as the Revolutionary War. Before and since then, millions have died in the name of this political crown jewel: democracy.

Democracy is something worth fighting for. Because the conditions preceding democracy often dwarf the losses in the ensuing war for freedom. Because many prefer enduring a bloody war than living another day under totalitarian domination. Consider the conditions in Iraq before Saddam Hussein's expulsion. Though millions have died since then, the numbers pail in comparison to Saddam's organized extermination of entire races of people, very much similar to the Nazis' but with all the efficiency of 21st century technology.

The struggle for democracy is a war I condone. A country like the United States should enter and exit these conflicts as cleanly and efficiently as possible, as NATO did in Libya. Find the despot, destroy his regime, and make sure a stable government replaces him.

But consider all the wars that occur for reasons outside that realm. At first it seems overwhelming to try to categorize them, with all their disparate parties and ideals. But when you look at the core of the conflict, there is always a common theme. They either result from cultures clashing over religious or ethnic differences (Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Congolese genocide, Sunnis vs. Shiites in Iraq) or from economic/political rivalries and alliances (WWI, most of WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War.)

I definitely can't condone these wars. So what should the United States do to help prevent them, and end those already happening? Can the U.S. afford to help, and should it even if it can?

No entangling alliances should propel us into a war. Therefore, we should not make alliances.

No preference for a certain ethnicity or religion should propel us into a war. Instead we should offer refuge to any people, and offer it as close to their home as possible.

No war should be fought for economic purposes. We, an economic superpower, should instead use our and the U.N.'s power to boycott, embargo, and overpower economic practices we find disagreeable.

I believe our policy should be simple and all-inclusive:

The United States should only engage in military action if there is an imminent threat to our survival as a nation, or a threat to the survival of a people struggling for democracy under a totalitarian regime. If we do seek to aid another country, we must have the support of other countries in the United Nations.