Republicans Against War?
How much potential is there for a movement of Republicans against war? This week’s vote in the House of Representatives on a resolution proposing to withdraw all American soldiers from Afghanistan only drew 5 Republican votes in support: Ron Paul, John Duncan, John Campbell, Timothy Johnson and Walter Jones.
Still, these Republicans identify an inherent inconsistency with professed Republican ideology and support for prolonged wars such as the one currently taking place in Afghanistan: Such wars require huge amounts of spending and the maintenance of huge government bureaucracies.
Representative Duncan commented this week, “There is nothing conservative about the war in Afghanistan. In fact, it goes against every traditional conservative position I have ever known. It has meant massive foreign aid which we cannot afford and of which conservatives have traditionally been the biggest critics. It has meant huge deficit spending, shortly after a time when the Congress has raised our national debt to over $14 trillion. Conservatives have traditionally been against huge deficit spending. Conservatives have been the biggest critics of the U.N. and biggest opponents to world government, and certainly the war in Afghanistan has gone right along with that.”
How much longer will the war in Afghanistan need to continue before other Republicans become willing to acknowledge the rather anti-conservative nature of the mission?
