American Imperialism vs. Ron Paul



The new Santorum strategy:  If no one cares about your views on Comrade Obama then
attack fellow Republican Ron Paul to get your name in the press.  But the debate on foreign
policy goes far beyond Santorum.


                                                                                             
The eternal tug of war between Imperialism and isolationism


By Gary;

Let's face it.  Mrs. Santorum might care what her husband says, but no one else in America gives a damn.

But to advance his failing Presidential campaign Rick Santorum pounced on fellow GOP candidate Ron Paul’s assertion that U.S. intervention in the Middle East helped motivate the 9/11 attacks.  He said in an e-mail to The Des Moines Register on Sunday.

“To imply that we were the catalyst of the attack on 9/11 disparages the memory of those who lost their lives on that tragic day and is an insult to who we are as a people,” said Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator.

“Congressman Paul’s understanding of the enemy and why they have attacked us is shockingly misguided.”

“Congressman Paul needs to realize that they hate us not for what we do, but for who we are. The terrorist attacks on 9/11 were not the first they executed against this country and, by our enemy’s own words, won’t be the last,” he said. “The Congressman seems to see the enemy through the spectrum of nations, and not what it is – a radical movement founded within Islam that wants to destroy Western Civilization.”

This marks at least the second time Santorum has sparred with Paul over Middle Eastern policy this month. In a heated exchange at the Ames GOP debate, Santorum said Iran seeks to destabilize the region.

At a Saturday stop in Winterset, Paul said that Islam is not a threat to the U.S., but that America’s military presence in the Middle East promotes terrorist hostilities. He referred to University of Chicago professor Ropert Pape, whose research suggests most suicide bombings in the past three decades can be traced to military intervention.

Specifically, Paul mentioned the 1991 U.S. intervention in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, as key provocation to al-Qaeda’s Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Osama Bin Ladin, who was born in Saudi Arabia, had said as much himself.

But talking about war and fighting in war are two different matters, said Drew Ivers, Paul’s Iowa chairman.  Ivers, who served in the Vietnam War and was wounded in action, said that Santorum’s lack of hands-on military experience leaves him with less of a vantage point than Paul, a former Air Force surgeon.

“To debate about warfare that has existed undeclared for years rather lightly as a philosophical debate I think exposes Sen. Santorum and those who have not experienced warfare themselves,” Ivers said.


With Presidents William McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt we saw the rise of Imperial Republicanism.
Soon it was adopted by the Democratic Party and a bi-partisan America became the policeman of the world. 


In the Beginning there was Imperial Republicanism . . . . and the Gods of Politics said it was Good.


Rick Santorum's attack on Paul is not the story.  Santorum is a meaningless political figure.

But the views held by Santorum are the story.

In the last 115 years the Republican Party has morphed into an Imperial party.  The policeman of the world.  The Democrats claim not to be imperial, But they know a good thing when they see it.  The Democrats always eagerly jump at any opportunity to use American military power around the world. 

The fact of the matter is imperialism feels good.  One might say it is good to be the king.  Most the nations of the world bow down to your will.  The policies of nations hang on your every word. . . . and done right it is good for business.  It can make you rich as Hell.

With all due respect to Ron Paul, his views on foreign policy were rejected in the late 19th Century.  Americans have enjoyed the taste of power, money and empire.  The last thing Americans want is to go back to be simple Jeffersonian dirt poor farmers, merchants and craftsmen.

That is not to say that Ron Paul is wrong.  It is just that neither political party nor the people themselves give a damn about the Constitution anymore.  Declaring wars is so "old fashioned".  That Constitution just gets in the way of running an imperial foreign policy and the modern Marxist re-distributive Big Brother state.

Even endless trillion dollar wars and national bankruptcy cannot change the minds of Republicans.  In poll after poll Paul hangs in at about 10% support.  Some 90% of Republicans refuse to give up their dreams of Empire.  There is always some dictator to put down, some ally to support, some rebels that need killing or some nation that needs to be bought off with our tax money.    

The dates, faces and names change over the years.  But bi-partisan America and its voters never waver from their imperial wet-dreams.

So where does this direction take us?  All things come to an end.  Is this endless warfare, printing press money and cradle-to-grave welfare state the end of the U.S.?

No one can say for sure.  But one thing the polls do show is the American people view Ron Paul as a crotchety old party-pooper telling everyone to close down a fun party, go home and get ready for work tomorrow.   Those kinds of candidates don't win elections anymore.

The 1904 campaign for President marks the Death of the Constitutional Federal Republic created by the Founding Fathers.  The poster above says it all.  Theodore Roosevelt steps on the Constitution while waving the sword of militarism.  Anti-imperialist Conservative small government Bourbon Democrat nominee Alton Parker steps on the sword of militarism and holds high the Constitution.

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