Added on September 2, 2011
Jason Rink
The Return of the Smear Brigade
ron-paul3
As the crisis of the American empire lurches into its
final stages, and conservatives begin to
question the costs of imperialism, the neoconservative counterattack is going into overdrive. When
prominent conservatives rose to say, “Cuts in the defense budget are not ‘off the table,’” the neocons
began to worry that their formerly
iron grip on the “conservative” brand is
beginning to slip. As more Republicans
in Congress and
on the presidential campaign trail began sounding like the
staunchly anti-interventionist
Ron Paul, the neocons went on offense:
Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin decreed that such proposals “
are not an option,” and
various members of the
Kagan clan went on to point out that cutting back on a “defense” budget
nearly equal to that of all other nations on earth combined would seriously imperil the nation’s very survival.
This attempt to prevent the USS Perpetual War from sinking into the ocean of government debt is not succeeding, in part because of the weak arguments advanced by the spend-more-on-defense crowd – do they really expect that conservative Republicans are going to agree with Robert Kagan that “it doesn’t make fiscal sense to cut the defense budget when everyone is scrambling for measures to stimulate the economy”? A generally unstated but important part is because of who is making these arguments.
After all, these are the same people who, in the 1990s, invented something called “National Greatness Conservatism,” which held up wars, the building of gigantic national monuments, and other costly pyramid-building schemes as the ne plus ultra of conservative thought. More recently, they claimed the Iraq war would be a “cakewalk” that would “pay for itself” – and dreamed of a large-scale military/social engineering project in the Middle East that would “drain the swamp” and lead to a “global democratic revolution” led by George W. Bush. And we all know how that turned out.
Read the whole story here.
by Jason Rink
Jason is a contributing author of "Ron Paul: A Life of Ideas," the biography of Congressman Ron Paul, and the author of"Disciple of Liberty: Seven Priorities of a Christian Patriot."
His work has also been featured on the anti-war, anti-state, pro-market website Lewrockwell.com.
He has appeared as a guest on FOX Business Channel's "America's Nightly Scoreboard" , the FOX News program "On The Record with Greta Van Susteren," and "Freedom Watch" with Judge Andrew Napolitano.
Jason is a former pastor and church planter. He also was a Vice President with JP Morgan Chase, a position he held while simultaneously working as a grassroots activist to End the Federal Reserve. He is one of the founders of the Ohio Freedom Alliance, and Ohio Liberty Council. Currently, he is the Executive Director of The Foundation for a Free Society, a 501c3 non-profit, educational organization in Austin, Texas.
Over the last 10 years, he has spoken over one-hundred times to audiences of all ages, ranging from 20 to 20,000 in attendance. He speaks on topics such as State Sovereignty, the U.S. Constitution, Early American History, Political Activism, Money and Economics.
Jason lives in Austin, TX with his wife of 11 years, Tisa, his 10-year old son, Ethan, and dog named Rocco. Check out his personal website at JasonRink.com.
