[Y]ou’re walking down the street, earning $25,000 a year, barely paying rent, you don’t have any extra money, and you see a homeless person. You feel a lot of sympathy and say, ‘My God, I have to go to the first bank and borrow $1,000 to give to a homeless person.’ No one thinks so. But, in fact, that’s exactly what we’re doing now.
With this, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) delivered one of the most devastating critiques of American foreign policy in a generation. This analogy cut through the fog of Washington’s war rhetoric like a scythe through wheat.
Fiscal insanity is now the hallmark of America’s elite-driven foreign policy. Furthermore, Paul’s analysis exposes the cruel arithmetic of empire: elites mortgage the futures of the nation’s children to fund conflicts that serve neither national interests nor national honor.
This is more than just accounting. It’s a clear indictment of a ruling class that has forsaken the core principle of governance: put your own people first.
On Monday’s War Room, Steve Bannon pointed out that the remnants of the KGB in Russia, the government in Kiev, and America’s foreign policy establishment all want this war to go on. This deserves serious consideration. However, we must resist the urge to blame everything on shadowy “Deep State” conspiracies.
The problem is not hidden puppet masters—it is the visible, arrogant hubris of a foreign policy establishment that has learned nothing from Iraq, nothing from Afghanistan, and nothing from the blood and treasure squandered in a dozen failed secular crusades.
The real conspiracy is conducted in broad daylight: neoconservatives and liberal internationalists who view American power as the world’s policeman, regardless of cost or consequence. These are the same voices who promised quick victory in Iraq and democratic transformation in Afghanistan. They are the heirs of Woodrow Wilson’s messianic vision, not George Washington’s prudent counsel.
Here lies the opportunity for a genuine coalition of the American right. Paleoconservatives, populists, and libertarians share a familiar foe: imperial overstretch.
This coalition understands that “America First” is not isolationism, but rather the oldest and most honored tradition in American foreign policy.
Those who believe in constitutional government, fiscal responsibility, and the simple proposition that American soldiers should not die for abstractions like “global democracy” or “international norms” must come together. Such a coalition will bridge the gap between Rand Paul’s constitutional conservatism and the populist energy that swept Donald Trump into office.
Reflect. The Ukrainian conflict is not about democracy versus authoritarianism—it is about whether America will continue to bleed itself white for the sake of global empire. Every dollar sent to Kiev is a dollar not spent on America’s crumbling infrastructure, its broken borders, or the neglected veterans.
Moral clarity on this issue will unite the right and restore America’s proper role in the world: a republic, not an empire.
The time for diplomatic niceties has passed. America must choose between the wisdom of its founders and the folly of its elites.
This article was originally published on The O’Leary Review.
