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Dear Editor:
Last week, an opinion article by Congressional Representative Victoria Spartz appeared in the Hamilton County Reporter. Rep. Spartz deserves thanks for trying to focus voters’ attention on the war in Ukraine and related foreign policy matters.
As the son of a Vietnam Veteran Marine, I understand how much events overseas can mean to Hoosier families. The veteran family and friends, in Noblesville and Fishers, convinced me I am not alone in understanding why we need to pay attention to so many other places in the world. None of us wants to see our loved ones sent overseas to fight.
So, what do we do? We speak out and we vote.
In an age of soundbites, slogans, tweets, and memes, we are all tempted to communicate with cute shortcuts. Unfortunately, foreign affairs rarely seem encompassed within a meme. The war in Ukraine is no different. Sure, we know that Russia invaded Ukraine without provocation and cruelly inflicted a horrible loss of life and property in that country. We also know America and its European allies have been supporting Ukraine’s resistance. And still, it is a mess without a consistent message.
Unfortunately, it has been too easy for some folks to use shortcuts when discussing American support for Ukraine, by referring to “unlimited blank checks written by the American taxpayers.” Sounds bad, doesn’t it? What has been sent to Ukraine has overwhelmingly been arms and ammunition from the U.S. stockpiles. And what would have been sent (if the most recent proposal in Congress had become law) would be more arms and ammunition made in America, providing jobs and income here, at home. Framing it that way does not feel as much as reckless spending. It makes us think about the true long-term cost of abandoning our promise.
I completely concur with Representative Spartz when she writes that “the situation in Ukraine is difficult and dangerous” and “if we do not deal decisively with Russia, we will have a further escalation of conflicts.”
But here the matter gets even more complex, as illustrated by one question. What would winning the war in Ukraine look like for America? Ultimately, what is a win? The Ukrainians say they want to evict the Russians from all of Ukraine. Representative Spartz is critical of the Biden administration for a strategy she describes as “trying not to lose.” Does not losing mean the Ukrainians win? If more is required, what is it?
It is probably natural to want to blame someone in government for any failures in America’s foreign policy and the mess in Ukraine. Representative Spartz seems to blame the “book writers in the Washington bubble” along with the “25-year-old college graduates” and “the naïve political creatures” who don’t understand the real situation on the ground. We could have a very short debate about whether any of these labels apply to our elected leaders, but the obvious villain behind the war in Ukraine is Putin.
You might wonder why an educator, like me, would plunge into this topic while running for a seat in the state legislature. The answer is that more respectful and crucial conversations about issues in a public forum are essential for us.
While foreign policy is not made on the state level, it does greatly affect all of us.
Chris Hartig
Noblesville