The Arrogance of Right-Wing WarmongersYou've really got to feel bad for the old Cold Warriors in the Republican Party. These guys are out of a job and quite lonely without the prospect of World War III. It just isn't fair, is it, boys? After all, the Cold War was never supposed to end when it did. Now all we are left with is these various "peacekeeping" and "humanitarian" crusades around the world to stop "hate" and "genocide" and that just doesn't reach the level of satisfaction as some good old-fashioned Commie hysteria. In the absence of the Soviet Union, the warmongers continue to find reasons to intervene all over the globe and build up the bloated military state. The latest military scam being advanced by the former Cold Warriors is the need to deter threats that so-called "rogue nations," excuse me, "nations of concern" pose. This is the perfect opportunity to start a new arms race and to dump more billions into the military when it should be returned to the taxpayers. Conservatives get very upset when one of their own doesn't swear allegiance to the War State. It is absolute heresy to question the spending of enormous amounts of taxpayer dollars to finance a sham defense shield, or any other military activity for that matter. We've been told for years that to be a "true" conservative, one must desire a huge military and have a love for internationalism (imperialism). There were, at one time, sensible Republicans in the tradition of Robert Taft, who lacked the militaristic mentality of our Bucklyized contemporaries, but they were cast out in the mid 1950s for a lack of enthusiasm of the costly and dangerous Cold War agenda. These days, we simply call the heretics "isolationists." These are the irrational individuals who don't believe that America should concern itself with every ethnic battle going on in the world, and don't really care to get involved in the UN's various "peacekeeping" efforts. They are also individuals who have figured out long ago that the Soviet Union no longer exists, and that perhaps, organizations like Nato no longer need to exist either. Today, this group of people is one of the most detested groups by the Republican Party. The GOP, like the Democrats, loves the government. Instead of worshipping welfare programs, the GOP worships military programs. Unlike welfare, national defense is indeed legitimate. However, the warhawks are not doing anything to advance security and stability with their foolish internationalism and bloated military spending bills. Instead, they have made America countless enemies and manufactured crisis after crisis to keep the war business booming. These bloodthirsty warmongers are determined to re-ignite the Cold War. As of right now, the leading candidate for mortal enemy of the United States is China. China bashing is at an all time high in conservative circles. We are told that America should not trade with China and reap the economic benefits of their large market because they are Communists and hostile to the United States. However, establishing trade links has historically eased tensions between countries. Also, if we really want to "spread democracy" to countries like China, we should do it by spreading our capitalistic economic system across the globe, not by imposing military force. We are also told that we must "stand by Taiwan" if China ever tries to re-claim that island. Taiwan, we are told, is in our vital national interests to protect and defend. Baloney. This inflated rhetoric is absolute nonsense. It is not in the United States' interest to send a generation of young Americans to fight a war with the world's most populous nation over Taiwan. Also, it's not going to be the right-wing warmongers who are drooling for a war with China that will be out fighting. They will sit in their cozy little positions as pundits, journalists and politicians while young kids are dying. Even supposed peace candidates like Pat Buchanan belong to the anti-China brigade. While Buchanan says some great things on foreign policy for the most part, he also foams at the mouth when the subject of China comes up. While Buchanan claims in his latest book that the U.S should stay out of any war that may break out between China and Taiwan, his public statements otherwise seem to contradict that. Buchanan needs to cool his hostile rhetoric on China or his image as an antiwar candidate is going to shatter. (He should also stop defending the Cold War.) Besides being lovers of big government, conservative warmongers also have an anti-capitalist side to them. The warmongers love economic sanctions. Economic sanctions are protectionist tools that prevent businesses from making profits with other nations who would otherwise purchase their goods. Sanctions are also cruel and inhumane acts of war, which starve the young, elderly, and poor of nations our elite don't like. While the innocents of these nations suffer, their leaders stay unharmed. Currently, only several prominent members of the GOP have denounced these sanctions, but most continue to praise their effectiveness. Buchanan did too, until he realized that being anti-sanctions is being pro-free trade, and that it makes no sense to lift sanctions on nations whose goods he would bar for protectionist reasons. It's really no surprise then that the right wing war statists like George W. Bush. Bush claims he will end the Clinton globocop foreign policy, but he has said he has no intention of bringing home our troops from the various countries where they have been dumped for "peacekeeping," nor does he plan to lift all economic sanctions. Most of Bush's foreign policy advisors are war statists. One of them, Condoleezza Rice, is being drooled over by the Republican establishment. She was a cheerleader of the Kosovo intervention and a Cold War hack. While none of this means we want Gore, Bush is clearly going to have to start listening to the vast majority of Americans, rather than celebrity academics, regarding issues of war and peace. And he may have to. Finally, more and more conservatives are waking up to the militaristic propaganda of the War Party. The days of the Right's purging of antiwar advocates are coming to a close. Americans by and large reject their big government, big spending, and pro-destruction policies of internationalism. Once we drive the warmongers from the political arena, maybe we can send them to Bosnia for a few years of miserable "peacekeeping." Then they will get a taste of the misery they have inflicted upon so many others.
Bill Barnwell is a freelance journalist and co-editor in chief of www.thepotatoe.com |
July
14, 2000