So long as we’re out to protect our own interests, so be it, but if we thought defending the Dutch or the Koreans from aggression would earn us anything but hatred, we’re sorely mistaken. Here’s what Dutch architects have designed and the South (no, not North) Koreans are building.
I’ve attempted to form a response to this post since you first put it up but I can’t find anything to say other than that I’m horrified and (nearly) speechless.
Ron Paul and Barney Frank co-authored a great piece on why we must reduce military spending back in July 2010. It should be obvious to even the most diehard Rand-ite that our current levels of spending on the Pentagon is unsustainable, and is making us less safe, not more. And CF, you are absolutely correct, there is no justification for defending Germany and Korea 50-60 years after these wars are over. We need a fundamental course correction on the US role in the world. Good luck selling that idea within your party, which is dominated by the permanent war crowd. Where did Paul Ryan say this?
Good Lord, Bill, I must have been thinking of that baseball pitcher turned poet. Anyway, here’s where Ron Paul says it.http://www.ronpaul2012.com/the-issues/national-defense/
But in fact, it is precisely because I don’t support Ron Paul’s call for a military retreat from the world that I can’t support him, despite his other Libertarian views, which I share. The US is the only country still capable of fielding an army of westerners and, sooner probably than later, we’ll want one to fend off the A-rabs,Chinese, Koreans, Chinese or some other threat.
Dude -
It looks like the building has genital warts.
At least that is what a friend of mine told me. I wouldn’t know.
Your Pal,
Walt
I only wish Dollar Bill had the balls to serve in the military
First, you say you “are beginning to see the point” of Ron Paul (your original post, since corrected,said Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican Congressman,who does not remotely share Ron Paul’s views on The military) of our wildly overextended overseas commitments. Then in the next post, you take it all back and say Paul is calling for a “military retreat,” which is flatly untrue. Your incoherence on rhis subject — either Paul has a point, or he doesn’t –is typical of most TPs when it comes to defense spending. It remains a sacred cow for you guys. TSA spending is an atrocity; Trillions in Pentagon spending, let the spigot run! You TPs are a case study in cognitive dissonance.
Glad to know you’re current on Ron Paul’s positions, Bill. Too bad you like his surrender monkey stance and won’t listen to the rest.
“Surrender monkey? That’s not thinking, CF, that’s just mindless sloganeering. Obviously you haven’t through in the least Ron Paul’s libertarian thinking which while not my cup of tea is consistent at least in terms of advocating small and limited government. You can’t be in favor of big government overseas while favoring small government domestically. It’s simply not what Paul has believed in. Sounds like you’re a cafeteria libertarian…
And you’re a cheese eater.
As a right-leaning independent, I disagree with most of Dollar Bill’s arguments; however I agree with him 100% about the knee-jerk and unconditional Republican support of Israel (no matter how many illegal settlements they keep building) and the sacrosanct view of the Pentagon budget, which of course could be trimmed significantly without harming our ability to defend ourselves. I do think, however, that DB could make his positions more understandable/acceptable to those independents among us by toning down the vitriol a bit. Greenwich Old Timer
I guess that South Korean banks still have a lot of cheap money to spend on real-estate boondoggles, huh?