America, will you please go home?

JUSTIN RAIMONDO
The rebellion in Congress against the US intervention in Libyan civil war was effectively quashed by the Democrats when a majority of Republicans voted in favour of a bipartisan resolution to defund the mission, but the Democratic leadership kept enough of their caucus in line to defeat the measure.
The proposed legislation, co-sponsored by Reps. Dennis “Department of Peace” Kucinich, and Justin “Tea Party” Amash, perfectly embodies the spirit of the growing left-right foreign policy alliance as expressed in a recent open letter released by Come Home America, calling for an end to our role as the world’s policeman. The letter was signed by a dizzyingly diverse range of political pundits and publicists, from Ralph Nader and Medea Benjamin to Dan McCarthy, editor of The American Conservative, as well as my reactionary self. In short, a group of people who don’t have much in common politically – except a growing sense of outrage at what is being done in our name overseas.
The fate of this legislation – defeat, in a close vote of 199-229 – underscores the main obstacle faced by this new left-right convergence: the partisan Democrats who are reflexively voting in support of the Obama administration. Voting in favour of Kucinich/Amash were 132 Republicans and a mere 67 Democrats, while 106 GOP’s of the neocon persuasion voted nay, along with the majority (123) of Democrats.
Interestingly, however, while a majority of Republicans supported the Kucinich-Amash amendment, the top leadership of both parties in the House voted nay. As Felicia Somnez reports in the Washington Post:
“The top three members of the Democratic caucus voted against the Kucinich-Amash measure, although the number four and five House Democrats, Rep. John Larson (Conn.) and Xavier Becerra (Calif.), voted ‘yes.’ The number two and number three House Republicans also voted ‘no,’ while the fourth-ranking GOP leader, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Texas), voted in favor.”
A hard-fought battle pitted the President of the United States and the leadership of both parties against a bipartisan (albeit largely conservative) insurgency directly challenging not only the Imperial Presidency but the policy of imperialism per se – and the latter almost won!
The significance of this vote has little to do with the legislative outcome: it signals a sea change, especially among conservative Republicans, on the vital foreign policy issue – and also a similarly fundamental change - albeit in the wrong direction, sadly - on the left. The Democrats’ complete abandonment of any pretence to being the “antiwar” party, which collared more than a few voters into Democratic ranks during the Bush years, is now complete.