THE AMERICAN SOUTH AND WAR

The American South has a tendency to be very war-like. They not only were eager to start the Civil War, but, when the political Solid South was a part of the Democratic party, it was the Democratic Party that was the war party (WW-I, WW-II, Korea, early Vietnam). The Republican Party had an isolationist bent, and there were those who even opposed America’s involvement in WW-II. Then the Republicans adopted their Southern Strategy and lured the Solid South into the Republican Party, after which the Republican Party has become the war party (escalation of Vietnam, Lybia bombing, Panama, Afghanistan, Iraq; I do not count Reagan’s Granada War as it was a joke. At least Reagan found someone we could beat.).


Now it seems there may be the beginnings of a rift in the Republican Party and an isolationist group of mainly northern Republicans seems to be raising their heads: Pat Buchanan has been an isolationist for a long time and George Will has opposed the Afghanistan war beginning with the last presidential election. Some others seemingly against the Afghanistan War are: Michael Steele, Michelle Bachman, Liz Cheney, and Ann Coulter, though one or more may really be in favor of the Afghanistan war (e.g. especially Michael Steele according to some) and are just using public opposition to the war as an election ploy to be used against the Obama regime and congressional Democrats. But they also seem to be adopting a conservative opposition to big government which has been missing for a long, long time in the Republican Party. Reagan never came close to balancing a budget, nor did Bush-41 or Bush 43. In fact if they could get tax cuts, primarily for the wealthy, they seemed to be happy with any resulting Federal deficits. After all Republicans pushed though two wars that they never tried to pay for, massive tax cuts primarily for the wealthy that they never paid for, and an increase in the large drugs benefit package that they never paid for. In fact, Bush-43 urged people to go out an shop after the disaster of 9-11-2001.

Personally, I have no opposition to these Republican’s claim that Afghanistan has become Obama’s war. It is very nice that several Republicans have come out and said that it is America’s war. But the Obama administration’s major escalation of the Afghanistan War shifts the "ownership" of the war to him. There is no sign the Democratic base favors this escalation, quite the contrary. But if the Afghanistan War should be successful and Afghanistan become a stable country that doesn’t harbor terrorists, then Obama also will deserve the credit