Donald Trump, Standard conservative

[H. E. Panqui]

http://www.fff.org/2017/03/01/donald-trump-standard-conservative/

DONALD TRUMP, STANDARD CONSERVATIVE (http://www.fff.org/2017/03/01/donald-trump-standard-conservative/)

by Jacob G. Hornberger (http://www.fff.org/author/jacob-hornberger-2/) March 1, 2017

In the second month of Donald Trump’s presidency, it is crystal clear that he is nothing more than a standard conservative, one with a unique personality but a standard conservative nonetheless.
Consider the drug war. After decades of manifest failure, death, destructiveness, and loss of liberty among the American people, what does Trump want to do with the drug war? Why, he wants to ramp it up and wage it even more fiercely.
What conservative doesn’t love that?

He wants to beef up the military with even more money, notwithstanding two facts: (1) the military establishment already receives federal largess that exceeds the amounts spent on the military in the next seven countries combined, and (2) the military has gotten the United States embroiled in forever wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Trump also wants to further militarize American society with grand and glorious military parades, just like they did in the Soviet Union.
What conservative doesn’t love that?

Trump intends to embark on a massive nationwide infrastructure project. He thinks that public works are a way to “invest” in America and bring jobs to communities across the land.
What conservative doesn’t love that?

Trump is committed to saving Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
What conservative doesn’t love that?

Trump is going to keep America embroiled in the forever wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan. He thinks it’s critical to America’s “national security” to go after ISIS.
What conservative doesn’t love that?

He is going to keep intact the military’s overseas empire of bases, along with its thousands of domestic military installations.
What conservative doesn’t love that?

He’s going to keep the federal government embroiled in housing, education, and welfare.
What conservative doesn’t love that?

He’s committed to the Federal Reserve, the engine of inflation in America since the Fed’s founding in 1913.
What conservative doesn’t love that?

He’s committed to federal deficit spending, asserting that “growth” will bring in sufficient tax revenues to cover his grandiose, big-spending plans.
What conservative doesn’t love that?

He favors trade restriction, tariffs, sanctions, embargoes, protectionism, and trade wars.
What conservative doesn’t love that?

He favors immigration controls and the fierce war on illegal immigrants that has now been going on for decades.
What conservative doesn’t love that?

He believes in the NSA, the CIA, the military-industrial complex, NATO, and the parts of the Cold War-era national-security state.
What conservative doesn’t love that?

The only reason some conservatives are opposed to Trump is that they don’t like him as a person. Notwithstanding his personality, however, the fact is that Trump embraces all the principles of standard conservatism — i.e., the principles of socialism, fascism, interventionism, and imperialism.

[H. E. Panqui]

http://www.fff.org/2014/05/27/american-soldiers-did-not-die-defending-our-freedom/ [and oldie but goodie]


AMERICAN SOLDIERS DID NOT DIE DEFENDING OUR FREEDOM (http://www.fff.org/2014/05/27/american-soldiers-did-not-die-defending-our-freedom/)

by Jacob G. Hornberger (http://www.fff.org/author/jacob-hornberger-2/)May 27, 2014

I was at the Washington Nationals baseball game yesterday. Whenever I attend a Nats game, there is an air of militarism surrounding the game, but attending on Memorial Day helps to remind us what a truly militarized society America has become.
After all, what in the world does baseball, a quite peaceful and enjoyable pastime, have to do with America’s countless foreign wars, which have killed, tortured, and maimed millions of people?
One of the most fascinating aspects to U.S. militarism is the bromide that has infected the minds of so many Americans: that U.S. soldiers have sacrificed their lives or limbs in foreign wars to “defend our freedom” here at home. Not surprisingly, it was repeated at the Nationals game yesterday. People who came to watch a baseball game were asked to remember the sacrifices, including deaths, that American servicemen have made in the “defense of our freedom.”
Why do I find that fascinating?
Two reasons: first, The bromide is palpably false, and, second, it is a testament to the power of state to indoctrinate the citizenry.
This is a bromide that is inculcated into every child, from the time he reaches six years of age and heads into the public (i.e., government) school system. By the time the kid reaches his teen years, the indoctrination is taking hold. By the time he becomes an adult, the indoctrination is complete. In fact, the indoctrination is so perfect that actually it doesn’t matter what the troops are doing overseas. Whatever they are doing is automatically considered to be “defending our freedom.”
Consider a hypothetical. Suppose there is some country thousands of miles away that is minding its own business. There are no attacks on the United States or even threats to attack the United States. The only problem is that the regime is not sufficiently submissive to the U.S. government.
The U.S. government decides to invade the country and install a pro-U.S. regime. The troops are sent into battle. Some are killed. Countless more people are killed on the other side.
There is no doubt that millions of Americans will automatically conclude that those U.S. troops killed and died “defending our freedom,” notwithstanding the fact that our freedom was never at risk. Remember: that hypothetical country never attacked the United States or even threatened to do so. Yet, many Americans will nonetheless honor their brave and courageous soldiers who died or lost arms or legs while “defending our freedom.” It is how the indoctrinated mind works.
How can I be so certain that that’s the way many Americans would react to that hypothetical situation?
Because that’s what happened with Iraq, a country whose government never attacked the United States or even threatened to do so. Thus, not one single U.S. soldier died in Iraq “defending our freedom” because our freedom was never threatened by Iraq.
The same holds true for the 58,000 plus American soldiers who died in the Vietnam War. North Vietnam was engaged in a civil war against South Vietnam. At no time did North Vietnam attack or invade the United States. It had no interest in doing so and, anyway, it lacked the military capability to do so. The U.S. government invaded Vietnam and embroiled itself in its civil war. At no time were the freedoms of the American people threatened by the North Vietnamese. The American troops who were sent to the deaths in Vietnam did not die in the defense of our freedom here at home.
The same is true for the tens of thousands of American men who were sent to their deaths in the Korean War. North Korea never attacked or invaded the United States or even threatened to do so. American freedom here at home was never threatened. Thus, those U.S. soldiers in Korea did not die defending our freedom....

[CaptUSA]

Lol. + rep. I hope people read more than the title.

[RonZeplin]

(2) the military has gotten the United States embroiled in forever wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

It wasn't the military that did that, it's the Republican and Democrat party elected officials that did.

Bashing the military, hurts his otherwise good points.