The Last Republican?

Once upon a time, there was something called the Republican Party. It was the party of calls for Europe to revert to pre-1914 borders and thus end the First World War, also the position of Pope Benedict XV. The party, as such, of those who resisted entry into the Second World War until America was actually attacked by either side. The party of Eisenhower’s ending of the Korean War, his even-handed approach to Israel and the Palestinians, his non-intervention in Indo-China, and his denunciation of the military-industrial complex. And the party of Nixon’s suspension of the draft, his pursuit of détente with China, and the ending of the Vietnam War by him and by Ford, an old stalwart of the America First Committee.

It was the party of Reagan’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 1983, and of his initiation of nuclear arms reduction in Europe. The party of James Baker’s call to “lay aside, once and for all, the unrealistic vision of a Greater Israel” and to “foreswear annexation, stop settlement activity”. The party of Republican opposition to the global trigger-happiness of the Clinton Administration. And the party of Bush the Younger’s removal of American troops from Saudi Arabia after 9/11, thus ensuring that there has been no further attack on American soil.

That party would seem to retain precisely one United States Senator, Dick Lugar, who rightly demands that the action in Libya be subject to a Congressional vote, as required by the Constitution. Lugar is at or near the top of the hit list compiled by the Tea Party. You know, the Tea Party that claims to uphold the Constitution.