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One of the reasons I like Ron Paul is that he keeps bringing the debate back to foreign policy.
Well the fact that Ron Paul is getting so much attention lately indicates perhaps the faint shadow of a debate but generally you are right.
I could add to your depressing litany the results of a poll a couple of days ago that showed that 49 percent of Americans believe we should come to Israel support if it attacks Iran.
David,
What foreign policy debate are you referring to?
A recent CNN Poll showed that over 60% of the American people agree that water boarding is Torture, but 50% thought the Bush Administration was right to use Torture, and 57% don't want what was done investigated, nor anyone prosecuted for those actions.
In other words, immoral actions in defense of the Empire are acceptable, and really ought not to be discussed, let alone investigated or prosecuted.
It is now over 100 years since we began using the "water cure" against Insurgents in the Philippines. In 1902, the Senate ultimately decided not to investigate, just as is occurring
again today.
It appears to me there has been little debate and even less progress in the last century over the fundamentals of US military/foreign policy.
The protestors, of which Ron Paul is one, are about as small a minority as were the Anti-Imperialists in 1902.
I am rather an agnostic, but, if I did believe in a God, I would reflect on Jefferson's observation about Slavery, that he "trembled for this country," when he reflected that "God is just," a proposition, of course, that cannot be proved.