An aggressive foreign policy wasn't always the staple of the Republican party. In fact, the exact opposite was once true. The rhetoric of prominent Republican president Warren G. Harding reflects this.
My best judgment of America’s needs is to steady down, to get squarely on our feet, to make sure of the right path. Let’s get out of the fevered delirium of war, with the hallucination that all the money in the world is to be made in the madness of war and the wildness of its aftermath. Let us stop to consider that tranquility at home is more precious than peace abroad, and that both our good fortune and our eminence are dependent on the normal forward stride of all the American people.
As I read and hear the words of the Old Right, I ponder as to where the conservative movement went wrong. Even prominent Republican Robert Taft was anti-war. Conservatives didn't want to go into WWI, and some didn't even want to go into WWII - yet today, Republicans cheer on the imperialistic nature of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, completely ignorant of true conservative roots. It was always Democrats who were interventionist. They wanted to regulate industry, expand the size and role of government, and promote "peace" and "democracy" through violent warfare and bureaucratic foreign entanglements. Whether it was Woodrow Wilson's WWI and League of Nations, FDR's aggressive policies in WWII, or Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam, Republicans were never considered the party of war. When Irving Kristol and the Bushes came into the picture, however, that all changed, and the neoconservative movement emerged.
The current Republican party promotes an aggressive foreign policy over diplomatic solutions. The Democratic party, still full of their "peace and democracy around the world" rhetoric, offers no real alternative in terms of foreign policy. Woodrow Wilson's passion for nation-building and the imperialistic imposition of democracy around the world shapes the foreign policy of both parties in Washington today. At the cost of billions of dollars, endless inflation, the unsustainable deterioration of the U.S. dollar, our civil liberties as we know it, and thousands of lives - American and foreign alike - we are pursuing imperialistic wars of aggression in the hopes of strengthening our national security at the risk of our freedoms. What do conservatives believe in anymore? The conservative case for noninterventionism is supported by numerous conservative principles, including, but not limited to:
Fiscal Conservatism - The loss of billions of dollars on two wars that have served no major benefit to our nation or to its people does not represent the "fiscal conservatism" that Republicans still claim to support. Every year, courtesy of the Federal Reserve, we print vast multitudes of worthless dollar bills out of thin air in order to fund two wars the government claims they want to win. The high levels of legislative taxes are not the only financial burden that we face today considering that, as I have stressed again and again in my writings, the policy of monetary inflation is the most burdensome form of taxation there is. Our war budgets are colossal - we have spent over $900 billion and counting on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan alone.
While deficits continue to skyrocket, and more and more of the poor and the middle class are robbed of the fruits of their labor through both legislative taxes and monetary inflation - in large part due to the expenses of our world empire - the Republican party, as ironic as it may be, still promotes "fiscal conservatism." If the Republican party wishes to regain credibility, they must recognize once again the wisdom of the Old Right: war costs money, war causes inflation - war debases currencies. True fiscal conservatives know and acknowledge this fact. War does not save money. It
destroys it.
A Strong National Defense - The major goal of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was to fight terrorism in order to strengthen our national security. Policing the world, building an empire, and entangling ourselves in foreign alliances is now deemed the best and most appropriate way to defend America. Conservatives should know better. Terrorist groups have only grown larger since we invaded Iraq. Al Qaeda and the Taliban have become even more radical, even more dangerous, and an even bigger threat to our national security than ever before. Terrorists are radicalizing, and we are the enablers. When our forces grow in size and we take part in aggressive invasions upon their land, terrorists become even more motivated to commit acts of violence and murder, with God the Almighty being used as a mere excuse for their behavior.
Their forces are growing, and our solution is the equivalent of pouring salt on a wound. We attempt to solve the problem by increasing our forces and sending in more troops. This has been tried for the past nine years - eight years under Bush and one year under Obama. The result has been the expansion and radicalization of terrorist groups. It is obvious by now that our current foreign policy is only making things worse. By invading their territory and threatening our enemies with weapons and warfare, we are only motivating the enemy to come after us. When we motivate our enemies to come after us, we weaken our national security. 9/11 was a consequence of the aggressive foreign policy of the Bush and Clinton years - yet we have learned nothing. Another 9/11 might be coming if we don't change our ways.
Instead, we should be focusing on border security and domestic defense. If the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan were instead placed on our borders, our national security would be much stronger than it is now. If we stopped spending on overseas imperialism and instead focused on defense here at home, our citizens would be much safer and better guarded against the threat of terrorism than if we continued building an empire around the world. The hostility aimed towards us would not vanish completely, but it would begin to shrink and fade with time. If we talked with nations and found diplomatic solutions to our problems, the threat of attack on American citizens would be curtailed. If conservatives truly want a strong national defense, they must be willing to bring our troops home and focus on peace here on our own soil.
Small Government - Republicans still claim to support small government - yet, since the election of George W. Bush, the government has experienced expansion by record proportions. This fact further proves that war provides an incentive for government to grow and expand in size. Bush's Patriot Act takes away our freedoms to this very day, all in the name of national security. Our phone records, medical records, business records, telephone calls, and computer conversations are all subject to the eyes and ears of government bureaucrats, and often times without valid reason. Politicians claim that this invasion of privacy is necessary to protect Americans from the threat of terrorism. However, political "radicals" and those of us who hold hostility towards the government for various reasons have been officially labeled by the Department of Homeland Security as a serious threat.
Through the sneaky and deceptive practice of monetary inflation, men and women with fancy labels have obtained a higher claim on our money than we have ourselves. Hardworking Americans have no control over the value of their currency. Bureaucratic hands make sure of that. We are not free to choose whether or not our money goes to wars that serve no benefit to us or our loved ones. We are forced to pay against our will. The tyrannical empire that has formed due to our willingness to accept the expansion of government and the deprivation of civil liberties in the name of security continues to prop up regimes in the Middle East, with oil and power being the ultimate goal of the politicians in Washington.
The only way to fund these imperialistic wars is through the policy of currency elasticity forced upon us by our central bank, the Federal Reserve. While the value of the dollar plummets further and further towards total annihilation, war is used as an excuse to rob the people of massive percentages of the money they earn. The government no longer spends and expands within its limits because it has no incentive to do so. The Federal Reserve can print money out of thin air, regardless of whether the amount of money printed represents anything at all. There is no incentive for government to stay small, so along with its expansion of wartime budgets, it expands its intrusive social programs and its fascist corporate bailouts.
The growth of government at this point in time is perpetually rapid, and only sound economic policy based on free market solutions and the curtailment of government spending both domestically and abroad can destroy the beast that is government expansion. Violent warfare, policing the world, and building a global empire will do nothing of the sort. In fact, it is and will continue to be an enabler of government expansion. True conservatives realize that when you attempt to trade liberty for security, you lose both. Big government means less liberty and less security for all of America's citizens.
National Sovereignty - The phrase "New World Order" is often equated with conspiracy theory, but it is becoming more and more evident that a world government is in the works. War does nothing to prevent this from happening. In fact, violence and destruction is the tool of globalists. The only way to bring about the planetary regime that they wish to set up is by government force. Instead of focusing on the rule of law outlined in the U.S. Constitution, we are focusing on the rule of law outlined in the structure maintained by the United Nations. "America First" is no longer a principle followed by our nation's leaders. American citizens are forced to take care of people in other nations instead of being given the space and freedom to take responsibility for their own lives first and foremost.
We are ordered by the United Nations to police the world, yet it has no benefit to the citizens of our country or to the countries we wish to defend. It's only beneficiary is the world empire. It took millions of lives and billions of dollars to kill Saddam Hussein and bring democracy to Iraq. We continued with the policy of bankrupting American citizens in order to achieve the goals of warfare. Osama bin Laden has expressed his admiration for the perpetuation of our current foreign policy. His wish is to bankrupt us further, and we are falling right into his trap.
We are at the mercy of the United Nations, the G-20 alliance, and the World Bank. The Founders would be ashamed that we are letting our nation be ruled by planetary systems of law instead of the rule of law in the Constitution - the document that recognizes that rights are not given to us by government, but rather given to us by God. If conservatives really care about our national sovereignty, then it is time to remove ourselves from global leadership and place ourselves under self-rule. Aggressive wars in the name of world democracy weaken that opportunity.
If conservatives really believe in fiscal conservatism, a strong national defense, small government, and national sovereignty, they must realize that the wars pursued in Iraq and Afghanistan only offer the negligence and destruction of those principles. They must realize once again that wars debase our currency, weaken our national security, expand the government, and hand over our sovereignty to world rule. Violence is the tool of dictators, the enabler of tyranny, and the destroyer of freedom. Liberty does not come about by force of government. It comes from the grace of God. The Almighty only asks that we take responsibility for our inalienable rights.
If we lose our freedoms, we will have ourselves to blame. Each and everyone of us, conservative or not, must realize that aggressive wars destroy our individual sovereignty. Instead of protecting our freedoms, violent warfare destroys them. The greatest threat to our liberty is not the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the terrorists in Washington and Wall Street. Let us take back our liberties before it's too late. Let your voice be heard, let your heart guide you to spread the truth, and let your spirit forever be determined to ensure your individual salvation. That is something that no one can take away from you.
