The American Spectator

The Spectacle Blog

I see that Esteemed Editor Antle (it's important for writers to shamelessly suck up to editors) has highlighted the Peter Berkowitz piece on conservatives rallying around the Constitution.  It's an interesting argument, but another problem with Berkowitz's thesis is including a hawkish military policy as part of the constitutional scheme.  The original founders desired a national government strong enough to defend America, not to remake the world.  The idea that we should be protecting prosperous and populous allies throughout Asia and Europe and engaging in nation-building throughout the Third World runs counter to both the original constitutional design and sensible national security policy.  Europe, Japan, and South Korea are all able to defend themselves from whatever threats lurk about them.  For instance, South Korea has a GDP about 40 times that of North Korea.  These so-called allies are the ultimate international freeloaders and welfare queens, living off of American taxpayers.  Conservatives should echo George Washington and say no more unnecessary foreign entanglements.  Let's be strong enough to smite our enemies, but let other countries take care of their own enemies.