Via Republican Renaissance, words uttered by Mitt Romney during the ABC debate:

But we’re going to have to move our strategy from simply being a respond to military threat with military action to an effort that says we’re going to use our military and non-military resources — non-military resources, combined with other nations who are our friends, to help move the world of Islam towards modernity and moderation.

This quote succintly reveals just how frightening of an agenda is espoused by the GOP “mainstream.” Romney and those who think- or more often simply regurgitate slogans- like him believe that the United States has some sort of sovereign, even divine right to coerce over one billion people into cultural and political mores which the US would prefer them espouse. They propose that this coercion not be merely that of education or economic development, but the coercion that comes at the point of the bayonet, or under the weight of falling bombs- ours and, as his phrase “other nations” indicates, whatever thug regimes we can pay off to go along on the crusade. They tell us that not only should the rest of the world accept this, but it is a noble venture, that the US should be applauded and indeed joined in its effort to convert- by force of arms if necessary- the infidels to the true faith. 

I might add that words like Romney’s- or McCain’s or Guiliani’s- are precisely what continue to motivate my support for Dr. Ron Paul. I disagree quite strongly with Dr. Paul on immigration, and I have differences with him in other areas, but he has been the only consistent voice against this sort of insane imperialism, or at least the only voice that has any political viability to speak of (and I’ll freely admit that he’s almost certainly not going to get the nomination). Dr. Paul has consistently refused to even come near the violent jingoism of the GOP “mainstream,” and he has the guts to call American foreign policy for what it is- something the Democratic frontline contenders have not and will never do.