Thursday, November 4, 2010

Peace Out!


By Justin Raimondo

"Last year around this time the Pew Research Center undertook its annual overview of American opinion on foreign affairs. The idea is to measure the views of America’s foreign policy elite—as embodied by the members of the Council on Foreign Relations—against the views of the American hoi polloi, i.e., you and I. The results sent shockwaves through the foreign-policy establishment.

Asked if the United States should “mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own,” 49 percent of Americans answered yes—“an all-time high,” according to the authors of the Pew report. But among the experts, policy wonks, and Washington insiders, answers in the affirmative to that question came to exactly … zero.....

That neither party is consistently able to satisfy its base—let alone the broader American public—suggests that conditions are ripe for an upheaval in American politics. In some ways, the climate today resembles the one that brought forth the New Left in the 1960s. Support for the war in Afghanistan is at an all-time low: according to a recent CNN poll, a mere 37 percent support it, while 53 percent say it’s “another Vietnam.” At the same time, the scene also resembles the one that fostered the anti-tax revolts and New Right of the 1970s. All of this could give rise to a new majority coalition, perhaps one emcompassing the best of the Tea Partiers, Ron Paul Republicans, Pat Buchanan brigades, and the long-quiescent Perot voters.

One thing is certain: thanks to Barack Obama, the change this country seeks will not come from the Left."

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