When enough is enough

You can always tell when we’re about to wage another pointless and meaningless war when the WWII and Hitler analogies start appearing. Last time, it was Saddam Hussein who was the next Hitler. Now, it’s the Iranians. It’s almost enough to make you feel sorry for the North Korean regime. They always seem to get left out.

My old buddy Orrin Johnson is even getting in on the act. He has a theory as to what might have happened if Ron Paul had been president in the 1930’s and ‘40’s. Orrin also directs us to the Ace of Spades blog, and as might be predicted, another WWII analogy. This one’s about the Holocaust. Would a President Paul have declared war on Germany to stop the concentration camps? No, he would have done nothing, just as President Roosevelt did. Would President Paul have bombed the train tracks leading to the camps once the war had started? No, he would have used those bombs against the trains going from the munitions factories to the front lines, just as President Roosevelt did.

Politics does indeed make strange bedfellows. Whoever would have thought that Ron Paul would be in the mainstream of military strategy? The fact is, humanitarianism is not a cause for war. It never has been. These WWII analogies are really pretty meaningless. They’re like asking what would happen if George S. Patton had been in charge of British forces at Yorktown, or how many states would we have if Genghis Khan had been King of the Eskimo’s.

The US Navy is said to be larger than the next thirteen largest navies combined. We currently have troops in 130 of the 180 countries on the planet. Of all the money spent on the world’s militaries, the US spends roughly 50%. My question for Orrin and Ace is the same that any of us would ask a liberal regarding taxes; How much is enough?

Ace goes on to poke fun at conspiracy theorists who are also supporting Ron Paul. Ace makes the mistake of confusing the symptoms for the disease. I think we can all agree with Thomas Jefferson that the success of a Democratic Republic depends on an informed citizenry. When the government hides behind a wall of secrecy, the public is forced to use their imaginations to find answers.

As I recall, conspiracy theories started with the Kennedy assassination’s Warren Commission. Whether by incompetence or design, there were too many unanswered questions. At about that time the Air Force closed Project Blue Book without explanation. The conspiracy theory industry has been with us ever since.

And now here comes the Department of Homeland Security. DHS was created because the 38 or so federal law enforcement agencies were not only keeping secrets from the public, but were keeping secrets from each other as well. It was designed as a clearing house for all the secrets. How is it working out? Nobody knows. They don’t tell us. It’s a secret.

If you want some insight as to what the Ron Paul deal is about, I suggest Daniel Henninger’s latest effort for the Wall Street Journal. There are really two Ron Paul’s. One is the “cranky Texas Libertarian,” and the other is an idea, the growing realization that there is too much. There is too much secrecy, too many closed door meetings, too many foreign adventures to no effect, too many leaders who are no more than slippery salesmen in disguise, too much intrusion, too many academic theories taken as Gospel, too many non-answers, too much fiddling around the edges, too much kicking cans down the road, too much bullshit.

Really fella’s, haven’t you had enough yet?

The conservatism of Rick Perry (?)

Governor Rick Perry of Texas is running for president. I've heard he is a conservative, but then according to the standards of the Eastern Media Establishment, anyone who talks about Jesus in public is automatically a conservative. I'm not buying it.

He used to be a Democrat, which is forgivable. A lot of people used to be Democrats, and in spite of my best efforts, some of them still are. What's troubling is that he was once the Texas Campaign Chairman for Al Gore in 1988. This bothers me a lot, but not because of Al Gore.

Governor Perry and I are roughly the same age. That means he's been around since Nixon/McGovern. Now if he voted for McGovern that's fine, so did I. Richard Nixon was a lot of things but "popular with America's youth" wasn't one of them. Besides, a day or so before the election, McGovern told some guy at an airport to "kiss my ass." That sealed my vote.

But think of all the things that happened between '72 and '88. There was Watergate, the fall of Saigon, the boat people, stagflation, the Panama Canal, the Ayatollah, the hostages, to name a few. And then there was the Reagan Revolution, eight years of it. William F. Buckley Jr. was popping up everywhere. If you weren't a small government conservative after living through all that, you were never going to be one.

What happened in the '90's to change his mind? Was it something Newt said? Did he get all excited over the prospect of a Bob Dole presidency? Was it the blue dress? I don't get it. Something's not right here.

And then there's all the talk about how he created jobs. Excuse me, but government doesn't create jobs; that's conservatism 101. He was governor while other people created jobs and he ought to make that distinction.

By 2008, Rick Perry was so conservative, he backed the pro gun control, pro abortion candidate Rudy Giuliani in the primary. What accounts for all the buzz about Rick Perry being a conservative? To find the answer, one needs to look to the left side of the Eastern Media Establishment.

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