The GOP Should Dump the Neocons

Edward Crane, founder and president of the Cato Institute has a commentary assaulting the GOP by highlighting the duplicitous nature of the neo-cons, but the essence of his comments should be applied here to Ohio light of Ohio Republican Party’s leadership that plunged Ohio into an unmitigated depression.

It is important to realize that neocons are not just nation-building, America-first advocates. They like big government across the board. No Child Left Behind, the thinly disguised effort to nationalize education in America, was principally a neocon initiative. Consider this comment from the late Irving Kristol, self-described “godfather” of the neoconservative movement: “Neocons do not feel that kind of alarm or anxiety about the growth of the state in the past century, seeing it as natural, indeed inevitable.” Indeed.

There is an insidious philosophy underlying this acceptance of the “natural” growth of statism. Neoconservative columnist David Brooks wrote in the late 1990s that we need “a vigorous One Nation Conservatism that will connect a revived sense of citizenship with the long-standing national greatness Americans hold dear.” In another essay, he wrote: “Ultimately, American purpose can find its voice only in Washington. … Individual ambition and willpower are channeled into the cause of national greatness. And by making the nation great, individuals are able to join their narrow concerns to a larger national project.” A frightening worldview.

Which brings us to the war in Afghanistan. The neocons are predictably enthused about the prospect of a prolonged U.S. occupation there. A dozen or so of them recently sent a letter to President Obama urging him to up the ante. Astonishingly, the president who was elected as the antiwar left’s protest candidate appears poised to take the neocons’ advice and commit tens of thousands more troops to a conflict in which immediate U.S. interests are unclear at best.

Meanwhile, Obama’s domestic agenda is in shambles. Americans are outraged at the prospect of trillion-dollar deficits, auto bailouts and the subsidies to irresponsible bankers. And they don’t want socialized medicine.

The “tea parties” and town hall meetings are essentially libertarian. There is no conservative policy agenda — only a demand that the government stop trying to run our lives.

Republicans should take this opportunity to return to their traditional noninterventionist roots and throw their neoconservative wing under the bus. The Republicans have a chance at this moment to reclaim the mantle of the party of nonintervention — in your healthcare, in your wallet and in the affairs of other nations.

I disagree with him on one point, the tea party is rooted in the desire to return to localism, which essentially has it’s roots in traditional-conservative if one wants to apply a label. All in all I think the tide this country is decidedly against big government of any kind, and in that Conservatives (real Conservatives) and Libertarians can agree.

Honduras and the United States

I had been watching the situation in Honduras developing unfortunately through the mainstream media’s perspective  and I was having a difficult time sorting out the truth. Various “spins” were being promulgated through out by the two sides of the statist media complex, however, the facts are emerging and it looks as though the present administration, along with it’s recipient of the Noble Peace Prize, may be involved with some nation toppling. Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson, of Grove City College, offers an inportant overview and analysis of the situation that points to further mischief on the part of the globalists.

While many call the mainstream news media complex by the labels of liberal or socialist, I prefer to use the term statist because there are many neo-con outlets that subscribe to the ever increasing centralized government agenda (you know who they are) and are only subtly different from the left. Some might categorize them as part of the government media complex. I prefer to call it the statist media complex because the government hasn’t openly taken them over…yet.

What Do Leftists Really Smoke?

The comment written on the bag of coffee says, “Obama’s bringing you home! Yay!”

I received this picture from a friend over in Iraq. He thought it was pretty funny how the lefty really thought Obama meant what he said during the campaign. While it was a great gesture, one my friend really appreciated, the simple fact is the person who sent the coffee must be smoking something.

They are all front men now, that’s just the simple fact.

Eight years after 9/11: Time to Scrap Homeland Security

The Heritage Foundation has short posting urging more government and less freedom. Take a look at this small snippet:

Since 9/11, over 23 attacks have been publicly foiled. Much of this success is the result of legislation enacted after the September 11 attacks–such as the PATRIOT Act and the Homeland Security Act–that has paved the way for:

* Extensive information sharing between federal, state, and local law enforcement,
* The creation of a world-class Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and
* An ever-growing homeland security enterprise.

What does this really mean; first if there was “over” 23 supposed attacks in eight years, where is the evidence explaining the level and composition of “said” attacks. I haven’t been able to substantiate this claim. So what and where were they? Chances are that it was low level amateur criminal activity that certainly local and state officials handled with the support of the FBI. There is no need for the full weight of the federal government to come into our communities for such things. Consider the number of supposed “terrorist” attacks since the 1960s; proportionally the number is so insignificant in comparison to the whole of the United States, how could anyone ever justify this state security apparatus.

Second, an extensive information sharing from the federal authorities straight to local law enforcement means only one thing, federalization of our local police. Why do we need DHS involvement within our local communities? When you consider the very small number of supposed “attacks,” does it really justify having the federal government passing and collecting information within our communities. Think about it, in your town your local law enforcement are reporting information collected on you and your neighbors and sending it to Washington.

Third, what does creation of a world class homeland security really mean. Let’s face the facts and delve into a little history and you’ll see that the only world class “homeland” security organizations came about in China, North Korea, the former Soviet Union, East Germany, to name a few of the oppressive countries they originated from. Free democratic countries simply don’t have world class homeland security organization because the people are supposed to be free. They only become world class when the people become the enemy of the state!

And lastly what does an ever-growing homeland security enterprise mean; easy, growth of the military defense industry. People like the writer from the Heritage Foundation, security and intelligence companies, not to forget the Blackwater types, with SAICs, McDonald Douglas and other large companies, are perpetuating increased government spending, paranoia, and ultimately, a police state, all to create a profit from our tax dollars.

The fact of the matter is that there are bad actors out there. YES, but…but, there are bad actors in every corner of the United States and these problems were handled easily by our pre-9/11 law enforcement professionals. There is no need to have this whole massive “state security” apparatus bearing down on our communities and within our households. With that said, the problem in our country has never been money or resources, but too much bureaucracy…that was the door that allowed the 9/11 terrorists into our country. The bottom-line is that some people and agencies weren’t doing their job, so we don’t need more government to fix the problem. We just need the folks that do the job to simply to just do there job. But that has always been a problem…government bureaucrats doing their intended job.

No, I am sorry, the only thing the last eight years have demonstrated to me is an unbelievable corrupt nature that has been fostered within the DC beltway, where they are the lords and we are the enemy. Yes, eight years after 9/11 it’s time scrap the Department of Homeland Security, before it’s too late.

How Serial War Became the American Way of Life

Thanks to the good folks at The Future of Freedom Foundation.

America’s Wars
How Serial War Became the American Way of Life
By David Bromwich

For two centuries, Americans were taught to think war itself an aberration, and “wars” in the plural could only have seemed doubly aberrant. Younger generations of Americans, however, are now being taught to expect no end of war — and no end of wars.

Read the complete article here and think deeply about this issue. This is telling and distressing…and one facet of our post modern, post industrial, or whatever age you want to call us that needs to change.

Blinded by the Light of Iran

Here’s a challenge for you. Go to any leftist weblog and read the postings about Iran and then do the same thing on a neo-con site. I’ll bet you’ll see no difference in rhetoric. Why aren’t leftist and neo-cons concerned about Sudan, Venezuela or Zimbabwe, where life is significantly worst? Here’s why; both are conditioned to respond to the government media complex anytime their cages are rattled. At the end of the day both democrat socialists and republican neo-cons are imperialists, both are statists, and both care nothing about liberty and freedom.

Kevin Tuma: Sane Foreign Policy for Dummies

Thanks to the good folks at Daily Paul.

AIPAC Pushing US into Next War

From What Really Happened:

‘The Israel lobby is aiming to soften up US public opinion for an attack on Iran,’ writes Richard Silverstein, ‘Americans should resist its propaganda’.

I’m not so sure Obama would keep us out of war with Iran. Events could unfold conveniently that could draw us into an even deeper hole than Afghanistan.

The `Military Industrial Complex’ Danger: A Presidential Warning

Washington’s War Cry for Iranian Blood

Pat Buchanan’s final post for February spotlighted the renewed cry for war with Iran. Make no mistake about this, there is a concerted effort among many in Washington, the self-aggrandizing that believe they are above us commoners, to spill young American blood for the further conquest of the Near and Middle East. To be assured, the two main political parties are joined at the hip with this perpetual war policy. (It’s time for a new way, a new party!)

PJB said:

For, unlike Israel, Pakistan and India, none of which signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and all of which ran clandestine programs and built atom bombs, Iran signed the NPT and has abided by its Safeguards Agreement. What it refuses to accept are the broader demands of the U.N. Security Council because these go beyond the NPT and sanction Iran for doing what it has a legal right to do.

Moreover, Adm. Dennis Blair, who heads U.S. intelligence, has just restated the consensus of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that Iran does not now possess and is not now pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

Bottom line: Neither the United States nor the IAEA has conclusive evidence that Iran either has the fissile material for a bomb or an active program to build a bomb. It has never tested a nuclear device and has never demonstrated a capacity to weaponize a nuclear device, if it had one.

Why, then, the hype, the hysteria, the clamor for “Action This Day!”? It is to divert America from her true national interests and stampede her into embracing as her own the alien agenda of a renascent War Party.

None of this is to suggest the Iranians are saintly souls seeking only peace and progress. Like South Korea, Japan and other nations with nuclear power plants, they may well want the ability to break out of the NPT, should it be necessary to deter, defend against or defeat enemies.

But that is no threat to us to justify war. For decades, we lived under the threat that hundreds of Russian warheads could rain down upon us in hours, ending our national existence. If deterrence worked with Stalin and Mao, it can work with an Iran that has not launched an offensive war against any nation within the memory of any living American.

Can we Americans say the same?

No we can’t; we have misused the tremendous might this country has at it’s right hand. We have wielded our great power for everything other than “defense.”

The call must go out to every citizen to rebuke the Washington insiders march to war. We must demand our congressional representatives exercise their constitutional authority and stop this maddening march to war. Congress decides where, when and if we go to war, not the self-annointed aristocracy, or some Caesar.