5). We need an effective terror prevention regimen.

At this point most of us bloggers are well aware of PNAC, and their agenda of world domination and American Empire building. Most of us are disgusted by it. While I'm not suggesting we should pursue an "anti-PNAC" agenda, we should however study the PNAC agenda closely to see where it went so wrong.

1). Our foreign policy should be morally good.

This may sound like a no-brainer, but of course to the winguts it would be a novel idea. The ends NEVER justify the means, period. No matter how worthy our goals, if they can't be acheived with moral rectitude, they are not worth acheiving.

In the foreign policy arena, this means that we should not be using war as a way to enrich our corporations. We should only declare war when our survival is threatened by an aggresor, not when one of our major economic sectors would get a few quarters of boost.

2). Our foreign policy should advance our ideals, without imposing them at gunpoint on other nations or groups.

Exactly what "our Progressive ideals" are, is of course open to debate. And no doubt it would be a vigorous one hehe. But such things as 'everyone wins, not just major corporations'; 'it is appropriate for government to actually govern' (as opposed to marketing itself in constant campaign mode, like BushCo, or outsourcing all government functions to poorly performing third parties); 'health care for all is a national security issue, not merely an economic issue'; 'peaceful cooexistence is preferable to armed interventionism'...and etc.

Some of our domestic ideals become foreign policy ideals, as we project them onto the world stage. Being Progressive does not make us "anti-globalist"; in fact if anything, globalism is only going to accelerate over the coming decades, and we have a wonderful opportunity to make sure it happens in a way where most people in the world benefit from it. The "Party of Davos" should not be the only ones reaping the rewards of globalism. Being pro-globalist does not mean we are in favor of selling our citizens short to enrich corporations...it means we can see that enriching everyone, regardless of national identity, is good for everyone, especially our own citizens. We have to make sure that it happens in a way that not only the strong and rich benefit, however.

3). Our foreign policy should help derail the insane foreign policy agenda of the Neocons and Neoliberals.

By pushing our foreign policy agenda, we can help corral the lunatic fringe into an open and more honest debate. Specifically, we need, as a nation, to engage our "enemies" abroad in dialogue. We don't have to like them, but we need to talk to them. We kept talking to the Soviet Union throughout the duration of the Cold War, while thousands of nuclear warheads were aimed right at our cities. One button push could have wiped us out. And yet we kept talking! It's time to put an end to this doughy pantload foreign policy of fear, so beloved by Bush, Lieberman, and their ilk.

We need to normalize relations with Iran. And Syria. And Cuba. And North Korea. We need to talk to extra-national groups like Hezbollah. And the other "terrorist" groups. Hell, BushCo engages in the same kind of terror tactics as these groups do...kidnapping, torture, etc. We need to stop these affronts to human dignity in our own actions, and we need to engage all of these groups in dialogue, even if they haven't yet renounced terror. I'm not saying these nations and groups are nice. They are not nice. But we need to talk to them anyway. Yes it will drive Israel nuts. AIPAC's collective head will be spinning around like the girl in the Exorcist hehe...but tough shit.

4). Our foreign policy should peacefully promote democracy.

Rather than try to impose democracy from without, while occupying nations with our military and killing hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians, like BushCo is doing to Iraq, we should peacefully promote the ideals of democracy. The idea that every person has value, and has a right to representation within their government. This also means that we need to speak out against anti-democratic regimes around the world.

Currently we appease and prop up these authoritarian regimes, because they gave us something we wanted in exchange. Like oil deals. Or access to ports. This must end. We need to support the democratic governments of the world, and put the other governments on notice that their lack of democracy is unacceptable.

This does not mean we arm rebels. This does not mean that we immediately break off relations. This does mean however that we use our influence to bring about peaceful, democratic regimes in these countries.

5). We need an effective terror prevention regimen.

The "Global War on Terror" is a failure. I don't think it was ever meant to succeed; I think it was just a convenient way to justify trillions of dollars of corporate welfare...because the whole basic tenet is flawed. You can't wage war on a method of warfare, it's absurd.

We do, however, need to effectively defend ourselves from terrorists. We don't do this by invading random countries and destroying their infrastructure, and pissing off their citizens even more, and thereby genereating even more terrorists. We do this by keeping cool heads, and protecting ourselves here at home.

We scan every ship that enters our ports. The technology to do this exists already. American companies sell it to foreign governemts already. It is cheaper than the Iraq debacle.

We scan every piece of luggage that enters a plane. Carry on and otherwise. All of it.

We secure our border. This does not mean a fence. Or armed militias wandering around lawlessly. But we do have to make sure that everyone entering the country is doing so legally.

Immigration. Ah, the political football of immigration. Neither Dems nor Repubs are willing to talk about it honestly. But we Progressives must. We must not allow the Republicans to frame the Immigration debate, or we will end up with a President like Tom Tancredo. We need to legally allow in as many immigrants as businesses need to staff their job openings, after exhausting the pool of willing applicants who are citizens. Anyone working illegally needs to be deported, and the corporation employing them heavily punished. But the big issue with immigration is not really numbers coming in, or border controls...it's people overstaying their visas, and there being no follow up on that. We need to more aggressively make sure people leave when their visas expire...or more forcefully encourage them to get extensions to the visas.

There is much more to be said about what a Progressive foreign policy would look like, but hopefully this is a helpful place to start.