We can stop the neo-cons: Here’s what a truly progressive foreign policy would look like

http://www.salon.com/2015/02/15/we_can_stop_the_neo_cons_heres_what_a_truly_progressive_foreign_policy_would_look_like/



America is moving left, or at least to positions Republicans have spent a lifetime opposing. Notice the GOP’s awkward silence on what were so recently signature issues: immigration, minimum wage, even gay marriage and climate change. They want to gut bank reform and prolong the Cuban embargo. No one else does. They vote to repeal Obamacare but with less fanfare since most voters want to fix it, not kill it. All of their racial and sexual politics is now radioactive.

So why did Republicans just beat the tar out of Democrats? One reason is that both parties are so corrupt. This hurts Democrats more; everyone knows it’s in the Republican DNA to service the rich, so it seems less hypocritical when they do. Democrats should value their reputations more — but even if they did, Republicans would retain an advantage on two overriding issues.

The first is the deplorable condition of our democracy. Americans think their government is corrupt, expensive and ineffective — and that Democrats don’t get it. Republicans will never fix the government, but they won’t let it do anything either. When they fail to cut costs, they cut taxes anyway, so they win.

The second issue is national security. Here the Republican advantage is wholly undeserved. Their military adventures, driven by ideology, oil and that other fossil fuel, testosterone, put our government in hock, manufactured refugees by the millions and left tens of thousands dead. They tarnished not only America’s reputation but that of democracy itself.