There are few politicians in DC that actually believe in national sovereignty and getting the United States out of entangling alliances.
On March 31, 2022, Thomas Massie made his views clear about NATO and how it does not obligate America to go to war with Russia.
According to Virginia Aabram of the Washington Examiner, Massie declared that the US is not treaty-bound to become involved in a war with Ukraine. Nor is it obligated by NATO or other treaties to impose sanctions on Russia. Massie believes sanctions will help Vladimir Putin and harm Americans.
At a conference held by American Moment and The American Conservative on March 31, 2022, Massie expressed strong non-interventionist views. He declared that the DC “uniparty” is always seeking to exploit loopholes to get the US to enter a military conflict abroad without congressional approval.
“Congress has the authority — the sole authority — to declare war, and this also means to make acts of war,” Massie declared. “And everyone is always trying to find a loophole to exploit to say that ‘No, and this treaty obligates us to war, or this agreement here obligates us to mutual defense.'”
He pointed to various “loopholes” such as Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which compels members to come to the defense of other member nations if they are attacked.
“Guess what, there are more articles than Article 5 in the NATO Treaty, including Article 11,” Massie said during his speech at the American Moment conference. “Article 11 says the provisions of this treaty will be carried out in accordance with the Constitutions of the respective members. So in other words, the NATO Treaty acknowledges that you can’t violate our Constitution and go to war.”
He argued that the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, a treaty between the Russian Federation, United Kingdom, US, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, is not binding because it was not formally ratified by Congress. On top of that, Massie noted that the 1973 War Powers Resolution does not grant treaties the power to override Congress’s constitutional powers.
In Massie’s view, the sanctions the US government has imposed on Russia are misguided at best. He believes that these sanctions will blow up in America’s face, especially with US farmers who heavily rely on Russia’s fertilizer exports. In light of these new sanctions, these exports will be sharply reduced, which will have a negative impact on American farmers.
“You empower Putin when you punish the people who are underneath him. We need to win the hearts and minds of the Russian people,” Massie declared. “The things that our government is doing are going to hurt the people of Russia at the same time they’re going to hurt people here.”
The US needs to drop its hawkish behavior towards Russia and normalize relations with it. It needs to recognize that Russia has legitimate security concerns, while also letting Europe take charge of its own security matters. The US must avoid entangling alliances like NATO at all costs.
The Founders were correct in stressing a non-interventionist foreign policy approach because these kinds of alliances have led countless great civilizations down the road of military disaster throughout history.This is a fate that could be completely avoided if the US gets a new ruling class that puts America First.
