Reflection on Class

I wanted to write this reflection because when I thought about our class discussion I changed ideas from what I said in class on Tuesday. We were asked to discuss what was the more appealing theroy to us, liberalism or realism? In class I said that liberalism was the more appealing theroy. As I thought more and more about this and heard other people bring up a discussion about a balance between the two, I said to myself wait, I think the balance sounds better then picking one theory over the other. Professor Jackson said that it’s hard to talk about liberalism because it is kind of the “air we breathe.” I agree with that because American seems to be a liberal society. But I think there needs to be a healthy mix between balancing a countries own self interests and the institutions within the state to providing security for that state. The realist point that security can be traded away is one that I completely agree with. I believe that there is a bottom “line” of items that cannot be traded . But I also agree with the liberal idea that a countries self interests and institutions in that country are important. But if we cannot defend the country where those institutions are then they might not exist anymore. So, all I’m trying to say is, lets create a balance of realist military security and liberal theroy. So, I believe that the military realists (yes I know this next part probably makes me paranoid) should always be ready to defend their country from the next and coming threat or attack. If the realists are busy defending the country, then others in the government can be working on advancing the self interests of the people and the institutions of that country which is consistant with liberal theroy .