Ben Domenech: Lindsay Graham Is An Unhinged Kook Who Shouldn't Be Taken Seriously

Read the excerpt at Hot Air or Ben Domenech's full article.

I think this is an important piece. Domenech is right; Lindsay Graham is afforded by media progressives as being an "adult in the room" on foreign policy, at least as far as those stupid Republicans go.

But why should he be?

As Domenech lays out, Graham has a very simple, direct, and clear idea of the farthest reach of Executive power: to wit, that there isn't one.

McCain and Graham both share this same conception of civilian society as basically the same as the military hierarchy: Our freedoms must always give way to the Organization's goals, and there is a definite chain of command, and he at the top is, for all intents and purposes, King.

And, of course, we should bomb everywhere on earth that troubles us, early and often.

I think the progressives credit Graham as an "adult in the room" for this very reason that Domenech identifies: Graham's concept of government and society is precisely the same as the progressives' -- we are not important; only acting collectively in the corporate whole can we achieve great things.

This is a conception of society that is abhorrent to the Republican tradition, never mind -- again, as Domenech points out -- the American Constitution itself.

The US military is a fantastic institution. Some who have served in it, like McCain, and, to a lesser extent, Graham, come away with a more profound respect for it than any civilian could have.

However, we are in fact civilians, and if we wanted to serve in an armed forces, we would volunteer. Grahamism is a philosophy which blurs the lines between solider and civilian in very much the same way that Lenin and Stalin did.

I respect the diminished liberty that soldiers have volunteered to live under in order to efficiently protect my life. However, my respect stops well short at embracing those diminishments of liberty for myself.

Related: Chris Christie says, regarding the NSA and Patriot Act, "you can't enjoy your civili liberties if you're in a coffin."

I'm not saying that puts him in Graham's Executive Uber Alles class of statist; but if I don't link this here, I won't link it at all. Christie is plainly no longer a threat to be president.

posted by Ace at 04:11 PM

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