That’s what Democrat Presidential hopeful Bill Richardson seems to want:

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson said Thursday the United States must lead the way on global struggles by reducing its nuclear weapons, closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and dramatically cutting energy use.

In the first foreign policy address of his nascent candidacy, Richardson indicated he would reverse many Bush administration policies if he is elected to the White House in 2008. The New Mexico governor called his proposals “new realism.”

“This administration’s lack of realism has led us to a dangerous place,” Richardson said during a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “So America needs to take a different path — a path based on reality, not unilateralist illusions.”

Except, isn’t saddling ourselves with expensive environmental regulations and reducing the size of our nuclear weapons stockpile sort of a unilateral action?  If we’re going to weaken our economy with energy conservation, or a crackdown on emissions from power plants, shouldn’t we make sure that we’re not doing it alone?  So that we don’t find our defenses and economy weakened while the rest of the world gets stronger?

People like Richardson (and Al Gore who, who made comments about America unilaterally adhering itself to stringent environmental codes earlier this week) don’t seem to consider the fact that countries like China are rooting us on when it comes to taking the lead in disarming ourselves or taking on new environmental restrictions.  While we’re shutting down power plants and making gas and electricity more expensive with government regulation China is busy building coal-fired power plants all over the place to fuel it’s massively expanding economy.

I hate to rain on the left’s parade, but just because we jump out in front on some of this stuff doesn’t mean other countries will follow.  Or that we’re putting ourselves in a good position.