New poster boy for the Republican Party, and supposed ‘libertarian’ conservative Rand Paul has an oped at Breitbart today.
I just wanted to highlight some gems only politicians can dig up if they are either terminally ignorant or expect their reading audience to be. I am of the believe that politicians are generally smart, therefor i can only suggest it is a case of contempt for his reading audience’s intelligence.
Let’s start right off the bat with the highlighted intro of the piece:
Russia’s Putin has invaded his neighbor’s sovereign territory. He must and will face serious repercussions for doing so, and the international community must make the price severe.
Gee whiz. Which other country has invaded several countries, and/or at least got involved in conflicts with them, in the last 12 years alone, which weren’t even neighbors but countries on the other side of the world (and therefor of no proven interest to national security)? Be fair and just look at the list post-2001. It’s not supposed to be a homework assignment about America’s overall lust for war.
Wouldn’t it be fair, Senator Paul, to state that this country “must face serious repercussions for invading other nations’ sovereignty territory, and to ask for the international community to make the price severe?”
Let’s look at some more ‘Randian’ hogwash:
I am one who values Reagan’s words to potential adversaries: “Don’t mistake our reluctance for war for a lack of resolve.”
Our reluctance for war? Excuse me?
Is Rand Paul amnesiac? The United States is the most war-hungry nation on the planet (take a look at that list i linked to) and he has the nerve to claim that America is “reluctant to go to war?” Rand must truly be channeling his burgeoning inner lying, deceiving, hypocritical neoconservative here. Whom else would accept this blatantly obvious lie in the face of so much overwhelming evidence to the contrary?
I am one who hates war and sees the endless possibility of trade.
Yes. Senator Paul hates war so much, he happily continues the American empire rhetoric of lecturing other nations, and calling for ‘repercussions from the civilized world’, over doing what America itself is doing all over the world. Invading countries and threatening military might for the sake of American interests. He happily joins in on the Russia-bashing his fellow pro-empire Republicans and Democrats are engaging in to fan the flames while exposing their own virulent hypocrisy for the world to see. He also hates war so much he supports sanctions on Iran over the suspicion of them building a nuclear weapon. How many does America have of those things, remind me? And which country was it, again remind me, that was the only one that ever used this wretched weapon of mass destruction?
Demanding of other countries, at the threat of dire consequences, to stick to rules that they themselves continually wipe their feet on with impunity. This is what we call imperialism.
Rand Paul should just stop pretending he is anything close to a libertarian. He should stop pretending to be a constitutionalist. He should stop pretending to be a small government conservative. He isn’t any of these things. He is a pro-empire Republican statist, plain and simple, no matter how moderate he may wish to appear to appeal to as many people as possible.
Maybe he was adopted.
(HT: Economic Policy Journal)