I wrote this post to piss off conservatives. No, I really did. Why? I realize that the loudest voices in the Republican Party right now are all military conservatives (foreign policy-wise). According to the Trinitarian logic of the Reagan coalition, in order for Republicans to win national campaigns, social, fiscal, and military conservatives must come out in droves on Election Day.
In May of this year, Sarah Palin dumped Randy Scheuneman as foreign policy advisor, one that leaned toward neo-conservativism (worldwide empire and perpetual war). Of course, he was a left over from John McCain’s presidential campaign, and John McCain’s foreign policy, is well, irrational and insane, and that’s putting it nicely.
Take this exchange between Ron Paul and Rick Santorum at the recent Iowa debate:
Rick Santorum failed to realize that installing a dictatorship in Iran IS AN ACT OF WAR. It is not an innocent project or working for peace and liberty–sorry, President Ike, you were wrong on the Shah (but right on segregation and domestic affairs). So we declared war on Iran decades ago.
Flash back to last year, in February, Rand Paul is endorsed by Palin over neocon Trey Grayson for the KY GOP Senate candidate. In a recent Facebook note–On the Future of Libya, she goes to the left, yes, left of the pro-”peace” Left:
“That said, we should not commit U.S. troops or military assets to serve as peacekeepers or perform humanitarian missions or nation-building in Libya. Our military is already over-committed and strained, and a vaguely designed mission can be the first step toward a quagmire. The internal situation does not seem stable enough for U.S. forces to operate in a purely humanitarian manner without the possibility of coming under attack. Troop deployment to Libya would mean placing America’s finest in a potentially hostile zone that is not in our vital national security interest.”
In a statement, Will Libya Descend into anarchy?, Ron Paul said,
“This episode is all too familiar. We were already involved in two wars that have dragged on years longer than the people who led us into them initially predicted. We can no longer afford to police the world, in terms of both dollars and American lives. We will destroy ourselves if we do not stop, build a strong national defense at home, and focus on trade and commerce with the world instead of Empire.”
Interesting, I guess we need to stop comparing to the familiar (George W. Bush) and maybe start comparing her views to more like Ron Paul.
I don’t know … the way I see it, Gov. Palin just wants to be saying what’s trendy.
In Republican circles, it was trendy to say that Pres. Obama was wrong for committing any US troops to Libya. They key thing being, she was saying Pres. Obama was wrong.
She still runs with a lot of neocons when it comes to Middle East policy and US meddling in the rest of the world. I’m not sure that this was so much a good principle as staking out the position opposite the President, whatever it was.
If she starts talking more sense, though, then I’ll recant that. For the moment, though, I don’t see any hint that she’s generally on the pro-restraint side.
I see that she has a libertarian streak. Look for the second post in support of this view, tomorrow.
Yeah, I just read that.
I might have to recant less than 24 hours after making my statement … hmmmm …
That would be nice. I’d prefer that she’s not quite as phony and devoid of substance as I think she is.
As always, it brings a grin to my face that any video involving Ron Paul talking to someone gets titled “Ron Paul destroys _____”.