William Kristol and Redstate.com’s, Erick Erickson are among those calling for Steele’s resignation. Here is what Steele said that drew their ire:

“Keep in mind again, for our federal candidates, this was a war of Obama’s choosing,” Steele said. “This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.”

“It was the president who was trying to be cute by half by flipping a script demonizing Iraq, while saying the battle really should be in Afghanistan,” Steele said, referring to Obama’s insistence during the presidential campaign that the U.S. should be focused on Afghanistan instead of Iraq.

“Well, if he’s such a student of history, has he not understood that, you know, that’s the one thing you don’t do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right, because everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed. And there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan.”

First of all, these remarks seem quite benign to me, especially since Steele clearly does not want to bring the troops home. He just disagrees with the method by which the war is being fought. However, it also seems to me that he’s going a bit Ron Paul here. He did pick up a copy of Paul’s “End the Fed” at CPAC earlier this year. Perhaps that is what his fellow neo-conservatives hear in his words. We all know how much they despise the truth, er… I mean, Ron Paul.

The Left (and Right) are attacking Steele too, for saying “this was a war of Obama’s choosing.” As much as they may not want to admit it, that statement is also true. The U.S had a presence in Afghanistan during the Bush years, but all the effort was happening in Iraq. The U.S. was doing little more than occupying Afghanistan at the time Obama was campaigning on taking the “necessary” fight away from Iraq and into Afghanistan and Pakistan. Then he followed through on that promise by increasing the forces in Afghanistan to nearly 100,000. Calling Steele a liar for saying it was a war of Obama’s choosing is willful ignorance.

I suppose politics wouldn’t be politics if politicians didn’t get fired (or forced to resign) for telling the truth.

Kristol ends his “Steele must resign” public letter with the following words:

There are, of course, those who think we should pull out of Afghanistan, and they’re certainly entitled to make their case. But one of them shouldn’t be the chairman of the Republican party.

Maybe one of them shouldn’t be the chairman of the neo-conservative wing of the Republican Party, but one of them most certainly should be the chairman of the Republican Party as a whole.

Neo-conservatives are the domestic terrorists of politics. They hijacked the conservative and traditional “Old Right” Republican Party from Taft, Goldwater, and Reagan. They were able to culture a Wilsonian foreign policy within the GOP ranks in the aftermath of 9/11.  Having a GOP chairman who’d like to pull American troops out of Afghanistan would mark the end of this Wilsonian, neo-conservative, hijacking. Keep in mind Steele never said he wanted to “pull out of Afghanistan”. This is an intellectually dishonest pre-emptive attack by Kristol. How appropriate for a neo-conservative.

For your further consideration:

Below you will find audio of conservative radio talk show host Jason Lewis excellently defending Steele and the “humble foreign policy” of our Founders on Independence Day (July 2nd). He even later name-drops Ron Paul as an example of a conservative who gets it.  If you’d like to listen to more of Lewis (and I highly recommend you do) see his “on demand” page. For those with little time, I’ve pulled some audio from his July 2nd show here:

Download audio file (jasonlewis-conservative-foreignpolicy-07022010.mp3)

Some may take issue with myself or Lewis including Ronald Reagan as one who practiced a “humble foreign policy”. In fact, many neo-conservatives idolize Ronald Reagan as a war hawk. But was he really a hawk?

For your further consideration, Jack Hunter on Reagan’s “hawkishness”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZICDg0FOUI

Even if Michael Steele is not going down the conversion process toward Ron Paul on foreign policy, the fact that these attacks and discussions are happening at all suggest the neo-conservatives may be shrinking in number with their backs against the wall.

Perhaps Obama’s plan for “change” will create change in a way he had not unintended. Maybe his brand of socialism and corporatism is clearing the way for  “Old Right” conservatives to grow in number and eventually wrestle the Republican Party back from its neo-conservative hijackers.

Yes, the day may come when we’ll see more and more lawmakers give speeches like this recent one from Ron Paul:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij8x2issnpA

Barry Goldwater

We continue our series of Liberty Maven’s Liberty Heroes list with Barry Goldwater. Goldwater was known as “Mr. Conservative”. He is credited with sparking the resurgence of the conservative political mindset in the 1960′s. He is also credited with having an impact on the libertarian movement. He is known for speaking his mind which reminds me of a certain doctor from Texas, Ron Paul. The best way to know Barry Goldwater is to read his book, “Conscience of a Conservative“, which is yesterday’s equivalent of Ron Paul’s excellent , “The Revolution: A Manifesto“.

The main area (and it’s an important one) where Goldwater could not be considered in line with Ron Paul’s view of liberty was with foreign policy. He was an interventionist and supported the cold war wholeheartedly. Indeed, this is the precise position Lyndon Johnson attacked with the now famous “Daisy” advertisement. Many point to this as the reason Johnson was able to defeat Goldwater in a landslide in the 1964 election.

Goldwater was quite libertarian on social issues. He supported legalizing medicinal marijuana, getting the federal government out of the abortion debate, and was quite vocal against the religious right in the early 1980′s. Below are a few choice quotes from our liberty hero Barry Goldwater.

“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!”

“The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government.”

“I’m frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in “A,” “B,” “C” and “D.” Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?”

“The big thing is to make this country, along with every other country in the world with a few exceptions, quit discriminating against people just because they’re gay. You don’t have to agree with it, but they have a constitutional right to be gay. And that’s what brings me into it.”

“Hubert Humphrey talks so fast that listening to him is like trying to read Playboy magazine with your wife turning the pages.”