"The Clinton administration and Senate Democrats, backed by European allies, argue that the pact would not threaten American nuclear might" (Tyson 1). Yet, despite all of the assurances, the predominantly Republican Senate voted against the Treaty. Only a few short hours after the defeat Hillary Clinton stated that "this vote sent a dangerous message to people around the world, to our allies, and to Americans at home" (Nagourney B5). This message that Mrs. Clinton refers to is one that discourages nations to sign the treaty, and as she predicted, an official from Pakistan said "it is virtually certain now that neither Pakistan nor India will sign [the Treaty]" (Johnson). Without signing the Treaty ourselves, we hold no authority on which to persuade other nations to sign (Kimball).
When other nations see the U.S. has not signed the Treaty and they begin to doubt its validity, the Treaty will be left very unstable and practically useless. A major fear that will end up to be the demise of the Treaty is that "every country will use [the defeat] as an excuse not to sign (Johnson). Because of Article 14 in the Treaty, an "Entry into Force" clause, without the signatures of everyone of the 44 international nuclear powers the Treaty cannot go into affect, and the world will remain a nuclear testing ground for those smaller less secure countries ("Hindu"). .
Although there was some legitimate arguments that under the Treaty's present form the U.S. will lose some of its international power, this should not have been enough to invalidate such an important Treaty. Even more so, with such detrimental backlash expected, the Treaty should have been treated with more care. The United States is defensively strong and secure. We can afford to let loose some slack to avoid more damaging aftermath. .
If in the event that after we had signed the Treaty we found it to be threatening in any way to our stability as a nation, we had a back-out option.
