Negotiation Process Quotes
Adams urged paying tribute to the Barbary Pirates who had an incredible extortion racket going in the Mediterranean. If nations would pay them an annual sum each year, they would not attack and seize merchant ships of that country and sell the ships and goods while holding the sailors for ransom. Most of the European powers were paying the annual tribute as they calculated that it was cheaper than patrolling the Mediterranean with warships or going to war with the Barbary States. More important for Adams was that he did not think that the country would support such a military action. See {640847} That was Adams’ thinking. Jefferson however, sent our Navy and Marines to our first foreign war, and they were very effective. However, despite the American military victories, and because of the inability for the European powers to collaborate and share the burden of naval patrol, the United States went back to the craven policy of paying the blackmail. See {640846} & {640848}.
This position is a classical example of what some call a “hard line” negotiation stance. It argues that the enemy will never agree to anything that would be reasonable or acceptable to you UNTIL he has given up all hope of getting everything he wants. So this approach says there is no point in even discussing or negotiating anything until the military and economic and diplomatic situation is such that the other side has no hope of winning all it wants. In the case of the Arab Israeli dispute, for 50 years the Arabs believed that they would defeat the Israelis and push them out of the Middle East. For almost 50 years they would not even sit at the same table and negotiate anything. After starting and losing several wars, and falling further and further behind, the moderates began to be reasonable and hinted that they would accept Israel’s right to exist. However, there are some Israelis who argue as Jabotinsky did that there should be no discussions at this time until Hamas and all the terrorist groups have either given up or have been disarmed. This sort of hard line has rarely led to peace—especially if there are hard liners on both sides. They say never negotiate when you are weak. However if you are strong, there is no imperative to negotiate.
Although the note was sent under Smith’s signature as Secretary of State, it was actually written by President James Madison. Smith was not particularly competent, and Madison personally authored most critical diplomatic correspondence during his administration until he replaced Smith with James Monroe.
This is an important political quotation because it illustrates one of the major reasons that Congress was so gridlocked at the time and passed hardly any legislation at all. Farenthold was a relatively new Congressman supported by the Tea Party extreme conservatives. He had no Congressional legislative experience and viewed the House / Senate Conference Committee process more like a Middle East rug bazaar than a serious democratic process of constructive legislation. The position that he wants to take to the Conference Committee which is “livable” to him is not only unlivable to the majority of the Senate, but unlivable for a large part of his own House of Representatives, His position is so extreme that most Senators and many House members on the Conference Committee do not even bother to attempt to negotiate from there. Experienced Congressional legislators realize that negotiation can only take place between realistic options. Otherwise no legislation gets passed which was at that time, OK with most of the Tea Party supporters.
