In anticipation of the first GOP debate next week (a mere 15 months before the election, with an uncurated field of 16!), I’m discussing my ranking of the candidates on tomorrow’s show…I’m hoping against hope that at least ONE of them will harken back to what Murray Rothbard called The Old Right and acknowledge the folly and danger of intervening in purely foreign conflicts, or even one who acknowledges the principles of a just war – that is, to prevent imminent attack if not simply repel an attack a la an Iron Dome.
No such luck. Apparently, everyone got the memo: you can stray from the pack on anything from abortion (Pataki) to immigration (compare Trump to Rubio) to Obamacare (Kasich), but don’t touch the military industrial complex. Alas, even Senator Paul is toeing the line…But what of the principles of the Old Right, eg, in foreign conflicts likely both are wrong (as in Iran, where the US was instrumental in replacing Mosaddegh with the Shah then replacing the Shah with the Ayatollah), so better to stay strong and stay out…Here is a good article by Atlanta’s own Foundation for Economic Education…
Mere Isolationism: The Foreign Policy of the Old Right
Here’s the original by Rothbard
The Old Right