Dear Editor
At the risk of belaboring the obvious, an aspect of local Letter-to-the-Editor writing ought to be made explicit: Criticism of MAGA Conservatism is not by nature a promotion of Liberalism. Yes, many critical statements have been written by Democrats, but they are by and large bi-partisan warnings, warnings of radical change. Those statements are hardly Liberal when we remember that “Conservatism” arose in Western Civilization as a bullwork against radical change.
The new-found Republican fondness for Russia is radical, especially when you compare the Trump inspired infatuation with the views of Ronald Reagan, who called Russia “the evil empire.”
The unwillingness of Republican legislators to fund the Ukraine war effort against Russia is radical. When our nation had the opportunity to weaken our chief adversary, through the military surrogate of Afghanistan, thirty-some years ago, there was bipartisan support for Afghan funding.
At that time informed members of both parties believed “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” The geopolitical dynamics are identical today. Conservatives roundly applauded Mtt Romney, in 2012, when he scolded President Obama for suggesting Russian expansionism had run its course.
Flip-flopping 180 degrees on a matter of national security, in just a dozen years, is as frivolous as it is radical.
“Been there, done that,” ought to be the national response to the na”ive politicians who portray our NATO allies as an economic burden. Again, thoughtful members of both parties came to believe that our isolationism in the 1930s was a huge mistake, hastening the greater burden of WWII in Eurupe.