John McCain recently used the isolationist smear against growing Republican calls to leave Afghanistan. Miss Lindsey Graham recently told Republicans in Congress to shut up in their opposition to Libya. Instead of cowering before these two, many Republicans are holding firm on their new skepticism of interventionism. It’s now becoming clear that Jacksonianism is becoming dominant in the GOP. The majority of Republicans voters are now against unlimited interventionism and prefer America deals with its own issues first. Many Republicans politicians are also reflecting the views of their constituents.
Liberal Republican Mitt Romney has now embraced the cautious foreign policy outlook by calling for withdrawal from Afghanistan. He said America can’t fight for others’ freedoms. I very rarely agree with Mitt, but he’s right. We have been in Afghanistan ten years and the Taliban are still around. Clearly a large segment of Afghans support them. This realization has led many Conservatives to realize that you can’t impose Democracy at the point of a gun.
The Republican presidential candidates’ debate last week raised questions as to where the GOP is headed on foreign policy issues. When asked about pressing international matters such as Libya and Afghanistan, the candidates offered a range of answers striking in their variety. Of course, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) can always be counted upon to call for American strategic disengagement globally. But other candidates such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) also voiced noted skepticism regarding current U.S. military interventions overseas. Romney suggested that the United States cannot fight “a war of independence for another nation,” and offered a rather mixed statement on American efforts in Afghanistan. Bachmann, for her part, laid out a ringing condemnation of the current U.S. intervention in Libya. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, though absent that night, has said similar things about both Libya and Afghanistan in recent weeks. Of the leading candidates onstage in the debate, only former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty offered a clear defense of existing U.S. military engagements overseas. To be sure, the format was hardly one to allow for lengthy position statements, but what was said did raise a lot of eyebrows. The New York Times went so far as to declare that the debate indicated a “renewed streak of isolationism” within the GOP. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) raised similar concerns on Sunday morning about “an isolationist strain in the Republican Party.”
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There has certainly been an adjustment in the foreign policy emphases of many congressional and/or grassroots Republicans and conservatives over the last couple of years. The shift has been away from a Wilsonian approach and toward a more hard-nosed, Jacksonian approach — toward a somewhat greater skepticism of foreign aid programs, nation-building concepts, and foreign interventions. In several cases there is a danger that this skepticism may be applied indiscriminately. But the vast majority of the congressional GOP today supports a foreign policy posture of American leadership, strong national defense, energetic counter-terrorism, and firm support for U.S. allies. The same is true of most Republicans nationwide, including fiscal conservatives as well as tea party supporters.
Read the rest: GOP Isolationist? No, Just More Jacksonian
The Republican Party is going back towards its original foreign policy positions. Whether it is Reagan’s “peace through strength” or Teddy Roosevelt’s “speak softly and carry a big stick“, Conservatives are back to a real conservative view of international relations. One that is based on actual interest or real economic benefits. If the Afghan or Iraq wars had been carried out via Jacksonian principals, they would have ended long ago. American companies would be reaping the rewards of oil or mineral contracts. We would make sure our guys are in charge and won the elections. Our enemies would have been crushed without mercy.
Wilsoniansm is a naive world view. America is a unique experiment in human history. Its success can’t be replicated in all societies. Each nation must have the type of government that suits its culture. At the heart of Jacksonisim is reality. It doesn’t intend to change the world, just make sure America and its interest are respected. Republicans have realized this and are now adopting this approach.
John McCain and Miss Lindsey Graham are the true isolationists. They are isolating themselves from the rest of the Republican Party!
Update: Lindsey Graham tells Congress to shut up over Libya. He’s showing his totalitarian side.
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Tags: Jacksonianism, John McCain, Wilsonian Progressives, Wilsonianism
