Monroe Doctrine

The Monroe Doctrine was a foreign policy that James Monroe dictated in 1823. It basically stated that Europe should stay out of the Americas and that the Americas should stay out of Europe. At the time, this meant that Europe was not to colonize or retake any parts of Southern and Central America. Today, our current government has to make many choices about foreign policies and relations with other countries, and the Monroe Doctrine is still a key factor in some decisions.
I have chosen an article that covers a foreign policy that the government has recently taken action with, or rather hasn't. This article talks about the Ferguson and Staten Island cases, which have recently dominated the news not only in America but in England, China, Russia, and many other countries. The recent events in these two places have been quite disturbing, not only because of the cruelty of US police officers, but because of the riots as well. As an american myself, I am not only disappointed in the cases but also in the way the public reacted to them. However, the foreign policy comes to play when countries like Russia and China get hold of these stories. They would see America as being weak and unable to deal with issues right there in their own country, like racism and riots. The word of weakness in America could spread to more malicious groups, and if an opportunity to do us harm while we are weak arose no one knows what might happen. But aside from extremist groups, the countries reading about these cases could take away something wrong about how America is truly run.One of the worst things that these countries could see in America and in these cases specifically is police brutality. Communist countries like China would see the great and pure nation of America having its government workers beating and strangling citizens without punishment, so why can't they? Overall, it's a very slippery slope and the article wants to educate people as to not step off the edge.
If the U.S. were following the Monroe Doctrine to deal with these foreign policy issues, that is to stay in your own region, not dominate other countries, and not to intervene, there would be a lot to say. First of all, other countries should not care what was going on in America, because that is in our region and does not affect them in any way. Continuing down this path, there should be no action or intervention by other countries, as again this is an internal affair. Lastly, and most specifically, no country or group should take advantage of us, should we be considered as being in a weak state. I personally think that these three courses of action are quite good, as it not only gives us time to deal with the issues ourselves, but protects the nation while at it.
http://www.newsweek.com/ferguson-and-garner-cases-hurt-us-foreign-policy-289613
Stein, Jeff. "Ferguson and Garner Cases Hurt U.S. Foreign Policy."www.newsweek.com. Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2014. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.