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Editorial See other Editorial Articles Title: The Phony Argument Against ‘Isolationism’ - War Party twists history to suit its evil ends The war continues the war against isolationism, that is. This time the latest blows are being struck on the op ed page of the New York Times, where Rutgers historian David Greenberg takes up the cudgels against these hated troglodytes. Bemoaning the sudden Republican turnabout on foreign policy, Professor Greenberg notes his surprise that the all-too-predictable response of GOP presidential candidates to President Obamas Afghanistan speech wasnt all that predictable after all: several declared his withdrawal announcement too little, too late. In the Republican-controlled House, too, some have the nerve to question the Presidents legal authority to take us to war without congressional authorization and, as if all that wasnt enough, GOPers afflicted with balanced budget mania have gone on a veritable rampage, and are actually talking about scaling back defense spending of a sort that Republicans would once have never dared broach. So, what does all this add up to, in Greenbergs view? Well, this: Suddenly, after the aggressive, militaristic foreign policy of the Bush years, isolationism a stance that rejects Americas leadership role in the world is on the rise among Republicans. If you think Congress, rather than the President, has the constitutionally-granted power to declare war, then what are you a constitutionalist? An anti-monarchist? A believer in the rule of law? Well, no youre an isolationist. If you dont sign on to the idea that America must exercise a leadership role in the world i.e. if you dont think we should be invading countries left and right and footing the bill for all kinds of international welfare schemes youre somebody who wants to isolate America from the rest of the universe, no doubt by building a crocodile-filled moat on the border and posting a Keep Out! sign (in English only) just in case potential interlopers fail to take the hint. By posing a false choice between a hyperactive foreign policy and an isolationist one, the War Party gets to argue as if they are the reasonable ones, and everyone else in this case, most of the country are marginal cranks. At this point, they get out their canned history lesson, and lecture us on the evils of our isolationist past, as does Professor Greenberg: But if this comes as an abrupt break, it is also a return to form: the impulse to retreat from the world stage has a long and hardy pedigree within Republican ranks. And while a dose of caution among conservatives can be refreshing, a Tea Party-led reversion to a dogmatic America First stance could damage both the party and the country. Modern Republican isolationism began with the 1919 battle over joining the League of Nations, when Senate Republicans, led by so-called Irreconcilables like William Borah of Idaho, killed the deal even though without American guidance, European affairs were doomed to explode again. A pattern emerged, as liberal Democrats, along with Northeastern Republicans, wanted America to actively manage world affairs, while the Republicans powerful Midwestern and Western factions viewed cooperative international ventures as dangerously entangling alliances. Greenbergs historical overview is pretty much the Establishment party line: always there have been those forward-looking progressive leaders, like Woodrow Wilson, who campaigned tirelessly to get the US entangled in Europes intrigues and her endless wars: and always, opposing these noble souls, there have been those nasty Irreconcilables even the name sounds unreasonable, fanatic who somehow doubted mortal men could actively manage world affairs. What could possibly motivate these Irreconcilables, other than pure malicious contrarianism? The isolationists had complex motives: Congressional vigilance against presidential encroachments on their constitutional powers; a small-town obsession with balanced budgets; and conspiratorial suspicions of foreigners, financiers and in the case of anti-Semites like Charles A. Lindbergh Jews. Naturally, isolationism thrived among Congressional Republicans when a Democrat held the White House as it does again today but it continued through the Coolidge and Hoover years, too. Those mean-minded members of Congress who think the Constitution must be obeyed theyre just selfish reactionaries, obsessed with maintaining their own power. And as for those who think we need to live within our means and balance the federal budget theyre just small-town obsessives, and probably anti-Semites to boot. Left out of Greenbergs pocket version of American history is World War I and its legacy, which embittered an entire generation of American liberals who really did believe it was a war to make the world safe for democracy. That is, until they saw the peace it created, which planted the seeds for yet another and far bloodier world conflagration. That was the warning of the Irreconcilables, who saw the United States becoming an empire molded on the British model and quite rightly wanted no part of it. Also left out of Greenbergs historical overview: the opponents of the isolationists, who, in the post-WWI era, were an ominous-sounding group known as the League to Enforce Peace. The Enforcers wanted to set up a world government, with the US and Britain at its head: anyone who looked cross-eyed at these Global Governors would be promptly invaded, subdued, and occupied. That was their idea of peace pretty much the same vision upheld by todays internationalists, except they hadnt yet thought of proposing a World Central Bank. A whole range of figures come up for Greenbergs opprobrium: Robert A. Taft, Phyliss Schlafly, radio host Paul Harvey, as well as Lindbergh: Taft for opposing NATO and the sacred idea of collective security (i.e. setting tripwires for war), Schlafly and Harvey for questioning the wisdom of the Vietnam war (Abbie Hoffman and the New York Times editorial page are exempted from the isolationist label, although they too opposed that foolish war.) Right-wing isolationism was thought to have died out when Eisenhower stole the GOP presidential nomination from Taft, but no: the monster lives! It reemerged in the 1990s, on account of the fall of the Soviet Union, and the perception that Mr. [George Herbert Walker] Bushs foreign affairs focus blinded him to economic suffering at home (how unreasonable!). This led Republicans to wonder what we were doing in the Balkans that maelstrom of unresolvable conflicts siding with Osama bin Laden. Those isolationist cranks! Will they never learn? And now, when the world needs the US to lead it to stability more than ever, there they are again the isolationists are once more on the scene, doing their mischief. Who will rid us of these troublesome troglodytes? Professor Greenberg to the rescue! And this time, the G.O.P.s old Eastern wing, which used to provide internationalist ballast, is almost nonexistent. A healthy democracy needs critics, particularly when it engages in risky overseas adventures. But the doctrinaire call to drastically scale back our global leadership role has usually led us into error, making the world a more chaotic and dangerous place. Following the path of isolationism today wont serve America well. Nor will it help the Republicans. Let us take a moment, before getting into the meat of the matter, to rejoice that the Eastern Establishment of the Republican party the old Rockefeller wing is dead and buried. From the Lodge clan to the Rockefeller faction, these Big Government-friendly patricians have manipulated both their party and the federal government into enriching the investment bankers they have always served so faithfully. This has been their modus operandi throughout our history, from the invasion and occupation of Panama to secure the Canal right up to modern times, when the Rockefeller wing schemed (successfully) to get us into World War II in the Pacific (the rubber trade of Southeast Asia and the vast China market were in their sights). One has to ask Professor Greenberg: who is being doctrinaire, here the interventionists (like himself) who adhere to a failed policy of global meddling, which has gotten us into nothing but trouble and costs us trillions, or the isolationists who are saying its time for a new course? Greenbergs point is that non-intervention is not a new course, but rather an old pattern that was broken by his heroes Wilson and FDR but what he leaves out is that the isolationists lost. Their advice stay out of both world wars, mind our own business, abjure the temptations of empire wasnt followed: instead, we chose a path to world leadership, and now that the American Imperium is crumbling on every frontier some are beginning to call its alleged necessity into question. It is Greenberg and his fellow interventionists who are the doctrinaires. Not since the end of World War II have we tried any policy other than asserting our alleged right to world leadership. But what if the world doesnt want to be led especially by us? Well, then, these latter-day adherents of the League to Enforce Peace will just go in there and start enforcing, whether the world likes it or not. Except that well-worn policy isnt working out very well for us, as any objective observer of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia will testify. We are coming to the end of our ability and Americans willingness to police the world. Call that small town if you will, but an empire is a luxury we can no longer afford. If Greenberg and the War Partys academic detachment cant or wont reconcile themselves to the economic and political facts of reality, then it is they who are the true Irreconcilables.
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#1. To: F.A. Hayek Fan (#0)
Wharz democrat war protesterz? Anybody seen them lately???
__________________________________________________________ They were as fake as the small government Republicans were when they held complete control of the federal government. Both sides are only "anti" something when the OTHER party is in power.
I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. - Benjamin Franklin
A nicely thought out piece and an introduction to the very valid case against military interventionism. Of course what the author left out is that the most strident voices for perpetual war for perpetual peace have names like Greenberg, Perle, Wolfowitz, Emmanuel, Zakheim, Netanyahu, and their minions such as Bush, Cheney, Obama, etc., .... In other words the most strident voices for getting America involved in unnecessary, from our perspective as Americans, are lieges of the Rothschild Zionist War Club. None of these wars in which we are involved are being fought from necessity nor to further American interests. They are being fought for Israel and ultimately Israel's Masters in the banking district of The City of London.
Isolationsim doesn't reject America having a leadership role in the world.
Well you got it half right. So I guess you are only half a dumb ass.
Of course not but Greenberg is a Zionazi war monger.
I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. - Benjamin Franklin
Of course not but Greenberg is a Zionazi war monger. Exactly. And maintaining a leadership role does not require invading half the planet. Kennedy showed that with the original Peace Corps. By helping others to help themselves and raise their standard of living it created more good will by doing good works than any number of smart bombs ever can.
In the army I was taught that you lead by example. We should be striving to be the "bright, shining city on the hill" as depicted by Ronald Reagan. This is how we should be leading by example. IMO we do that by heeding the words of George Washington when it comes to foreign entanglements and by trading with all nations. Enemies with none and trade with all. We should also be providing the world with an example of how a free people under a Republican form of government should behave, not acting like the former USSR by being the world's bully and using the blowback caused by those bad behaviors as an excuse to build a tyrannical, police state infrastructure here at home. Our only defense needs are a well armed citizenry that has access to all weaponry they can afford, a Navy, a Marine Corp and some group to maintain out nuclear stockpiles. There's no money in that though, nor would this serve Israel's interests.
"Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ must look out on the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless his people" - St. Teresa of Avila.
Certainly there is no doubt that we have a lot more military than we need for defense. And yes we have become a surrogate for other interests which have nothing to do with the safety and welfare of the United States.
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