The Civic Platform - A Political Journal of Ideas and Analysis

Ain’t My America: The Long, Noble History of Antiwar Conservatism and Middle-American Anti-Imperialism

Conservatives love war, empire, and the military-industrial complex. They abhor peace, the sole and rightful property of liberals. Right? Wrong.

According to Bill Kauffman, true conservatives have always resisted the imperial and military impulse: it drains the treasury, curtails domestic liberties, breaks down families, and vulgarizes culture. From the Federalists who opposed the War of 1812, to the striving of Robert Taft (known as “Mr. Republican”) to keep the United States out of Korea, to the latter-day libertarian critics of the Iraq war, there has historically been nothing unusual about anti-war activists on the political right. And while these critics of U.S. military crusades have been vilified by the party of George W. Bush, their conservative vision of a peaceful, decentralized, and noninterventionist America gives us a glimpse of the country we could have had—and might yet attain. Passionate and witty, Ain’t My America is an eye-opening exploration of the forgotten history of right-wing peace movements—and a clarion call to anti-war conservatives of today. But Michael Tomasky, the former executive editor of the American Prospect who now edits the Guardian newspaper’s American online edition, begs to differ.

We Can’t Kill Our Way to Peace [Ron Paul]

Before the US House of Representatives, March 5, 2008

Mr. Speaker: I rise in opposition to H. Res. 951, a resolution to condemn Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. As one who is consistently against war and violence, I obviously do not support the firing of rockets indiscriminately into civilian populations. I believe it is appalling that Palestinians are firing rockets that harm innocent Israelis, just as I believe it is appalling that Israel fires missiles into Palestinian areas where children and other non-combatants are killed and injured.

McCain is a dangerous nutjob

A few weeks before Super Tuesday, my friend Howard Phillips asked me who I thought the Republican Presidential nominee would be. I predicted John McCain. With the results of Super Tuesday now history, most political pundits are also predicting that the Arizona senator will gain the Republican nomination for President. And with Mitt Romney now out of the race, McCain is all but assured the nomination. One did not need to be a seer to figure this one out.

Ron Paul speech at CPAC 2/7/8 part 1 of 3

More here.

The Madness of John McCain

03/02/08 “American Conservative” — – John McCain’s reputation as a maverick is no recent contrivance. The senator first captured the media spotlight in September 1983, not long after he’d been elected to his first term in the House, when he voted against President Reagan’s decision to put American troops in Lebanon as part of a multinational “peacekeeping” force. One of 27 Republicans to break with the White House, the freshman McCain made a floor speech that reads as if it might have been written yesterday—by Ron Paul:

Ron Paul - Closing Arguments Part 1 of 3

More here.

Ron Paul is insane

John McCain is Dr. Strangelove

Ron Paul makes too much sense for the American people [I hate McCain]

Giuliani Admits Ron Paul Won All The Debates

Leave it to the most sociopathic candidate to tell the truth once it’s politically safe.

John McCain, Multiculturalist

We all know John McCain is terrible on immigration. For years he held America’s sovereignty and security hostage to amnesty and increased immigration, and his newfound support for “enforcement first” is so insubstantial and transparently insincere that it insults our intelligence. He’s so bad that Americans for Better Immigration ranks his performance in office as the worst of all the presidential candidates — including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. (See the GOP grid here and the Democratic one here.) And as Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation has pointed out, passage of McCain’s bill “would represent the largest expansion of the welfare state in 30 years.”

Ron Paul at the Florida Debate 1-24-08

All of the Republican candidates except Ron Paul believe that the war in Iraq was a good idea, worth the blood and money. If a Republican wins the general election, it will be the greatest miracle since the Mother of God (a.k.a. the Virgin Mary) appeared to three children in Portugal (here).