Fox News and a handful of conservative Republican members of Congress question America’s commitment to the defense of Ukraine and the defeat of Putin. As a lifelong conservative, it makes no sense to me.
Perhaps the most extreme voice of opposition to aiding President Zelenskyy is FOX’s Tucker Carlson – my least favorite conservative personality. He was an early opponent of giving any support to Ukraine. In one broadcast, he rhetorically questioned, “What did Putin ever do to me?” He seemed to be in line with President Trump’s inexplicable kindness toward the Madman of Moscow.
Putin is, was, and will be an enemy of Democracy, the United States, and conservative values … period. Yes, we have to deal with him as a matter of pragmatic diplomacy, but we have seen what too much accommodation to Putin has led to. Petting the Russian bear is never a good idea.
Putin has now uncaged the empire-craving bear on the world – brutally gobbling up nations and territories and committing war crimes in the process.
In my view – as readers would know – we are not doing enough to put an end to Putin’s dirty little wars and, hopefully, an end to him. He is an existential threat to the power of world democracies in general – and the United States specifically. In speech after speech, he has declared the United States and NATO to be the mortal enemies of Mother Russia – and we are responding as if it is merely a temporary breach in diplomatic etiquette. He is the new Hitler – and we are the new Neville Chamberlain.
There are a lot of good reasons for America and the world democracies to put in maximum effort to defeat Putin. It is not just a matter of ideological differences. It has to do with world leadership – in business and military defense. We cannot allow Putin to gobble up more and more of the world’s critical resources and strategic geography.
Make no mistake about it. Up until the Ukraine war, Russia’s influence was growing throughout the world. Consider just this one fact. NATO is an alliance to defend the west from Russia – and we wind up with NATO nations becoming dependent on Russian oil. Consider the expanded influence Russia has in the Middle East after the United States abandoned Syria and pulled troops out of Iraq.
So, what is with all these conservatives opposing aid to Ukraine – or even worse, cozying up to Putin? I do not understand it.
Apart from the Tucker Carlson types, who seem to believe that we can be pals with Putin, we have others who argue that the financial commitment to Ukraine is simply too much. We have better uses of our taxpayer money.
In the past few days, they criticized spending on Ukraine when the folks here in Florida need enormous financial assistance in the wake of Hurricane Ian. That, however, is not the binary choice. We can provide maximum support for Ukraine AND provide the money for rebuilding central Florida.
If we need to cut, there are a LOT more places to reduce federal spending to finance Ukraine and Florida. Blowing off the student debt forgiveness proposal is one such area. Out of a more than $4 trillion federal budget, there is more than enough waste and low priority spending to meet the needs of Ukraine, Florida, and border security. It is all a matter of prioritization.
We conservatives have always fought against authoritarianism and maniacal world conquest. We believe in making the world safe for democracy. We believe in the importance of American moral (ergo military) leadership.
It worries me when I see conservative members of Congress suggest that America’s choice is meeting the needs of Florida by allowing Putin to eclipse the United States in world leadership – along with his buddy China President Xi Jinping.
So, there ‘tis.