The debt and foreign policy

[Kevin_Kennedy]

True Conservatives believe in a humble foreign policy. They promote honest diplomacy and trade over aggression. However, the old right has been marginalized by current day gomers.

The Old Right was a blip on the history of the Republican Party and conservative movement. Republicans have always been hawkish since the days of Lincoln.

65% of all American wars and actions were started with a (D) in the WH.

You might want to check that hollier than thou shit at the door.

And how many were ended with an (R) in the WH?

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

True Conservatives believe in a humble foreign policy. They promote honest diplomacy and trade over aggression. However, the old right has been marginalized by current day gomers.

The Old Right was a blip on the history of the Republican Party and conservative movement. Republicans have always been hawkish since the days of Lincoln.

65% of all American wars and actions were started with a (D) in the WH.

You might want to check that hollier than thou shit at the door.

I should point out that I'm not stating that Democrats are any better on the war issue. We see the truth now that we have a Democratic President, the so-called anti-war left was largely a fiction simply using the war issue to attack a Republican President. Not all of them, obviously, but a large number of them.

 

[Antiderivative]

That may be, but the influence of the Old Right has been vastly exaggerated in my opinion.

They have been marginalized for decades. Of course any influence has been vastly exaggerated.

What is your point again?

 

[Too Tall]

The Obama Admin is asking for 159 billion for the Iraq and Afghan wars in FY2011. I think our cost for the Libyan "not" war is approaching 1 billion. One estimate for the 2 wars so far is 1.2 trillion. But both wars are winding down, right? We may be out of Iraq by the end of the year and begin drawing down in Afghan this July. So, those wars were very costly in more ways than one, and it may be that the total overall cost is much higher. But how much are we going to save in the future from these 2 efforts? Not much if they're going away anyway.

As a conservative, I think the defense budget has to take it's share of the hit. Fewer new weapon systems or in less numbers, draw down the troop levels a little bit, and stop putting boots on the ground in far off places unless our national security is at stake. Much as I hate to see people dying in the streets of Libya and Syria, we just don't have the money and should not be putting our troops in harms way unless absolutely necessary. And if we do, we get the job done and go home, no more nation building.

As far as foreign bases are concerned, the host countries are going to have to step up and foot more of the cost or we close it down and come home. As it is, I'd do another round of base closures here and abroad, and I'd leave the Congress out of the decision making. It needs to be based on the most effective use of defense dollars rather than politics. Same deal for new weapons systems and other contracts, somehow we need to keep the politics out of the process.

We're never going to fully leave Afghanistan or Iraq. But I appreciate your response.

I think we are, even if a Repub wins the WH. The GOP knows what happened to Bush43 for staying in Iraq, I don't think they'll make the same mistake. But maybe you're right, we'll see.

What mistake are you referring too?

On February 27, 2009, at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, President Barack Obama announced a deadline for the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq. According to the president, by August 31, 2010, after nearly seven and a half years of United States military engagement in Iraq, all but a "transitional force" of 35,000 to 50,000 troops would be withdrawn from the Middle Eastern nation. Obama defined the task of the transitional force as "training, equipping, and advising Iraqi Security Forces as long as they remain non-sectarian; conducting targeted counter-terrorism missions; and protecting our ongoing civilian and military efforts within Iraq". Under this plan, the majority of troops will be withdrawn just a month after the deadline in the signed agreement between former President George W. Bush and Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki where the majority of troops will be withdrawn at one point, and the entirety of troops to be out by December 31, 2011

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

That may be, but the influence of the Old Right has been vastly exaggerated in my opinion.

They have been marginalized for decades. Of course any influence has been vastly exaggerated.

What is your point again?

Well your point seemed to be that the Old Right was made up of the "real" conservatives, when the Old Right's influence on the conservative movement was limited at best. The Republican Party has always been made up of hawks from Lincoln, McKinley, Roosevelt to Reagan and Bush Sr. and Jr. and they've certainly had much more influence on the movement than the Old Right. In fact the Old Right can trace its roots more proudly to the liberal Democratic Party than the conservative Republican Party. From Thomas Jefferson to Grover Cleveland the Democrats were far more in line with the Old Right philosophy than the Republicans.

 

[Antiderivative]

The Republican Party has always been made up of hawks from Lincoln, McKinley, Roosevelt to Reagan and Bush Sr. and Jr. and they've certainly had much more influence on the movement than the Old Right. In fact the Old Right can trace its roots more proudly to the liberal Democratic Party than the conservative Republican Party. From Thomas Jefferson to Grover Cleveland the Democrats were far more in line with the Old Right philosophy than the Republicans.

You would probably have to go back to Coolidge for old right foreign policy. Ike was on the right track with his warning of the MIC, but his love affair for using the CIA to overthrow nascent democracies does not resonate me.

Old school liberals have much in common with the old right. I don't deny this fact. In fact, I am more liberal leaning than the old right.

 

[Too Tall]

The Old Right was a blip on the history of the Republican Party and conservative movement. Republicans have always been hawkish since the days of Lincoln.

65% of all American wars and actions were started with a (D) in the WH.

You might want to check that hollier than thou shit at the door.

And how many were ended with an (R) in the WH?

Only 2 that I can think of. Korea and Vietnam.