For decades, U.S. foreign policy has been overly focused on confrontation with perceived adversaries and the global projection of U.S. military power. Doing so has militarized our response to global challenges, distorted our national security spending priorities, toxified our political discourse, and left us woefully ill-prepared to confront the growing transnational threats to human security we face today that do not have military solutions.

We are demanding a fundamental shift in U.S. foreign policy.

The coronavirus has changed everything, and our foreign policy priorities must change to reflect the fundamentally new world that we are living in. As the coronavirus pandemic reveals, our country and many others are woefully unprepared for the crisis that we now face. Without extraordinarily bold leadership, this is likely to be the beginning of a period of profound instability for the entire planet, given the intensifying climate crisis that is also now underway.

The U.S. currently has more than 240,000 active-duty and reserve troops in at least 172 countries and territories. According to one study, the wars we have engaged in the Middle East and Asia have cost $6.4 trillion since 2001.

It is time to end our endless wars and adopt a new approach to international relations, one in which the U.S. abides by international law, encourages others to do the same, and utilizes our military solely for the defense of the people of our country.

This progressive shift of foreign policy principles includes: returning war powers to Congress; reducing the Pentagon budget; engaging with Iran and North Korea; rejecting discriminatory immigration policies and supporting refugees; and ending support for governments that violate human rights, among others.

Sign the petition: Support progressive U.S. foreign policy principles.