PDA

View Full Version : Conservatives deeply divided on defense - only Rand Paul gets it right (Mulshine)




NACBA
03-04-2015, 08:19 AM
This year we heard a new cliche. Politician after politician took the stage to pledge that if elected he or she will crack down on, destroy, obliterate decimate and/or kill ISIS.

That always got applause. But few of those applauding seemed to realize that Islamic militants rose to power in the Mideast precisely because we Americans kept using our military to remove the dictators who kept them in check.

But so what? One more war will make it all work out. Or so said Rick Santorum. The former senator from Pennsylvania and perennial presidential candidate pushed that point of view to its logical - of should I say illogical? - conclusion.

After reporting that he had recently visited Israel, Santorum told the crowd how he had met with an unnamed "senior advisor to Benjamin Netanyahu." The guy confided in him that "In 2016, America needs to elect a wartime president," he said. Santorum left little doubt just who that president should be.

I can see the bumper sticker now: "Want more pointless war? Vote for Rick."

This is not exactly a winning position at the polls but it's where the majority of the contenders were headed. The sole exception was Rand Paul. The Kentucky senator made it clear that his bumper sticker would read "Tired of pointless war? Vote for Rand."

Paul also made it clear what sort of war he considers pointless.

"We need a defense that is unparalleled, undefeatable and unencumbered by nation-building," he said

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/03/conservatives_deeply_divided_on_defense_-_only_ran.html