Thursday, April 15, 2010

I Somewhat Agree With Glenn Beck On Defense

I was surprised when I heard Glenn Beck discuss cuts in military spending. For years, if you messed with the military's money, you were labeled as "soft," and you were typically called out on it by the Republicans. For years, Democrats have been labeled as "soft," so you can imagine my surprise when I tuned in for Glenn Beck and heard him talking about isolationist policies and defense cuts, echoing the talking points of the once-outsider Republican Ron Paul. While he still put his twist on the issue, claiming "progressives" were he ones who turned the armed forces into the "world's loiterers," ignoring record defense increases by both the Republican Regan administration and the Bush administration, unless Beck has finally turned his back on Saint Reagan, I felt Beck may have actually said something worth listening to.

The military budget is overinflated. We all know it, but why is Beck coming out against military spending? Didn't Glenn Beck criticize the plan to scrap the missile defense shield in central Europe last year, and I distinctly attacking the president for supposedly ignoring General McChrystal... Beck has even come out in defense of the Star Wars program. Here is what he said back in September of last year:
He's taken the time to capitulate to Russia on a Polish missile defense shield and got nothing in return.

Ronald Reagan won the Cold War, in part by not compromising the "Star Wars" defense initiative — even though it didn't even exist, knowing it would strain the Soviet Union to the point of collapse trying to keep up. It was one of the biggest, boldest bluffs of the last century.
Considering Beck's current proposal, you would think he would be for the closure of Guantanamo Bay and ship off the enemy combatants to their native countries with the message of "leave us alone." Is Beck trying to now boost his libertarian credentials so he can wag his finger at the Dems by claiming he isn't strictly conservative? Considering he is still playing the blame game, pointing to liberals as the cause of all our woes, I would believe Beck's most recent move to be political in nature, and not sincere, considering he has said nothing in the past to back up his current plan, except for his "fighting to win" point.

I would have to disagree with Beck on the matter of foreign aid, especially when concerning war. Consider what we had done for Germany and Japan after World War II, or what we didn't after "Charlie Wilson's War."

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