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Reader question: Please explain this sentence: “America has a proud tradition of letting politics stop at the water’s edge.” Water’s edge? What’s that? What water? My comments: This means, in short, that Americans prefer unity when it comes to foreign policy. In other words, they don’t like having domestic differences interfere with foreign-policy unity. By domestic differences, we’re talking about the two political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats who are always ready to strangle each other over how their country should be run. When it comes to foreign polity, both parties are usually able to put their differences aside in face of a common foe abroad. Tribalism, in a nutshell. Anyways, the question remains for us: What’s that “water’s edge” about? Well, that water’s edge refers to the country’s coastline. America, you see, is flanked on both sides by ocean water, the Pacific to the west and the Atlantic to the east. By letting politics stop at the water’s edge literally means stopping playing politics when it comes to dealing with other nations, across the seas. America has land neighbors, too, of course, Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. But since America usually doesn’t have a whole lot of problem handling these neighbors, Canada and Mexico are ignored when they talk about stopping playing politics at the water’s edge. In other words, America is aiming at countries across the great seas, such as Russia, Europe, China, Japan and so forth. | 
