I have been asked by some of my conservative friends recently – “how come all you seem to care about is the war?”
While this isn’t exactly true, it isn’t an unreasonable perception given the frequency of which I address the issue. But my reply remains (to the bulk of the mainstream, conservative movement, anyway) - “how come all YOU seem to care about is the war?”
The dividing line on the Right these days IS foreign policy and war. How come someone like Sean Hannity will kiss a technocratic, socialized medicine-loving moderate like Mitt Romney’s ass, even calling him a “conservative?” Because Romney supports an interventionist foreign policy. Why did Hannity spend the early part of the primary heavily promoting Rudy Giuliani? - an anti-gun, partial birth abortion supporting social liberal, who is to the left of Hillary Clinton on gay marriage and a host of other issues? Because Rudy wants to stay in Iraq and wants to start bombing Iran.
Despite McCain/Feingold, his amnesty proposal, his signing on to stop “global warming,” and a host of other liberal misdeeds, most Republicans will vote for McCain over Obama for one reason and one reason only – foreign policy. They vote for McCain because he’s good on the “War on Terror.” It’s all he’s got – and McCain’s entire candidacy is that of the war candidate.
Likewise, how come men like Glenn Beck and even the allegedly libertarian Neal Boortz would say of Ron Paul – “I like everything Ron Paul stands for, it’s just too bad he doesn’t ‘get it’ when it comes to the War on Terror?”
Ron Paul is the most conservative statesman to run for president in history, and yet most of the mainstream conservative movement considers him beyond the pale. Why? Taxes? Illegal immigration? Abortion? No, no and no.
Ron Paul doesn’t support the war or further wars – which is their no. 1 issue. War and foreign intervention is THE dividing line in conservative politics. I didn’t make it this way, but don’t mind pointing it out.
Here, Ron Paul explains to Iraqi legislators what a REAL conservative foreign policy might look like:
14 Comments
You are exactly right. One can hold almost any view at all and still be considered a good Republican. While governor of Arkansas, Huckebee pardoned convicting murders and rapists, increased spending and taxes, and no problem at all. In the name of global warming, McCain yearns to impose a Eurocrat “cap and trade” system that will do nothing but raise prices and further politicize the economy, and no problem. However, there is one view that isn’t acceptable within the GOP—the notion that American shouldn’t be spending trillions and killing Americans to invade and occupy other countries in the name of “national greatness”. Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan know this well. The GOP doesn’t deserve our support any longer.
Excellent article. Would that it turned a few republicans back to conservative thought.
You hit the nail right on the head. I never have understood why the war issue is so compelling to ‘conservative’ radio talk show hosts like Limbaugh, Hannity, Ingraham, Beck, Boortz, to name a few. None of them would admit they are really NEOCONS.
Amen, Brother, Amen
It seems like the current Republican Party is made up of 98% naive media brainwashed idiots, 1% corrupt intimidated
politicians (and their owners), and 1% murderous Neocon faschists, all of whose loyalties are in opposition to the best interests of the American People.
Fasten your seatbelts Kids, its gonna get bumpy.
YOu raise some very good points about the singular focus of the the main stream GOP concept of Conservatism.
I would further this line of investigation by asking, “How is it possible for the same people that scream Right to Life to condone killing innocents in countries that did not attack us?
Log on to liveleak.com and look at the war! It is not a war it is a slaughter or perhaps it is best described as they IED or sniper us and we AH-64 Hellfire a truck full of guys carrying 200 dollars worth of AK-47s. Yes these are guys that are trying to hurt US, BUT WE ARE IN THIER COUNTRY!
There is a massive moral gap here! How can any party leader condone killing especially when all our enemies are without Armies, Navies, or Missile forces or visible leadership.
The GOP Leadership is LOST! IT is time to brush aside the only school GOP leadership and kick everyone of them out. I mean from the bottom up. City, County, Districts, State and National leadership must be tossed out!
Good essay! Unhappily too many Republican sheep don’t understand that the wars the neocons have pushed them into is also destroying their Party. I’m a registered Republican, and I would never vote for that crazed McCain and his little war-loving string-pulling AIPAC monkey, Lieberman. I’ll vote for Paul and no one else.
Ron Paul 2008!
Excellent post. The GOP is indeed finished. McCain just is not electable – go watch youtube and you will see for yourself. His campaign is DOA.
I am currently deciding whether or not to write in RP or go with Barr or Baldwin.
If the GOP got wise and nominated Paul in Sept. they might just beat Obama. Realistically no one else can.
Obama is too charismatic and will win the American Idle crowd in 5.8 secs. Only Ron Paul has the charisma as well as the brains to beat him.
War = enormous government expenditure, debt financing, fiscal deficit and bigger government.
By what measure is War “Conservative”?
At this point, I’m writing in Ron Paul. I know they say it’s the message and not the man but it’s the message AND the man combined. The revolution has begun. Don’t forget to add your voice to http://www.lettertogop.com if you haven’t already done so.
Why is it the more people tell you about how much they love God, the more they love wars?
Most of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
Bush and McCain have had 7 years to get bin laden but have yet to formulate a plan on how to find him.
The war is all paid with debt- devaluing our dollar and taking away the regular person’s savings.
McCain and Bush want to run the money printing presses day and night to go fight more wars.
It is total madness- a terrible nightmare.
Come the general election, in all likelihood a write-in vote for Ron Paul will not be counted; in most states, even an “official” write-in candidate must file some nominal paperwork to be recognized as such, and Ron Paul is not going to do that. If you are going to cast a vote, cast one that will be counted, for a ballot-listed candidate (e.g., Libertarian nominee Bob Barr).
Very thoughtful article. The fact remains that the GOP, at present, just doesn’t get it. Historically and militarily, invading Iraq after 9/11 would only have been analogous to FDR invading New Zealand after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
With McCain and the current GOP leadership, the message has been reduced to this:
“The jobs aren’t comming back, the illegals aren’t going home, the economy will be better when we hand it over to the liberals, and we will be in Iraq and possibly new wars for 100 years … but vote for us because we’re not Democrats.”
In Novemeber, the Democrats won’t have to kill the Republicans at the ballot box, the GOP, apparently, will just continue it’s brainless political suicide mission.