Security Racket

Cowboy-booted conservatives constantly remind us we’re in danger, and that only they can protect us. From crime to drugs to terrorism, conservatives wear the mantle of security. Meanwhile, they ignore real risks, dismiss success stories and stir up hornets’ nests all over the world.

Related Conservative Failures

Quagmire in Iraq

Who benefits from the Iraq War? Certainly not the families sending off their brave sons and daughters to fight. Certainly not taxpayers footing the $12 billion monthly bill. But people like Bunker Hunt—a Bush crony rewarded with a lucrative oil franchise in Iraqi Kurdistan—will do just fine. Why not a national security strategy that works for the rest of us?? read more »

Failing Hurricane Katrina Victims

The first instinct among conservative leaders when Hurricane Katrina made landfall was to reach for militaristic solutions: to lock down a traumatized city against a fearsome epidemic of violent crime that turned out to be more apparent than real. Already, Blackwater is hoping to build a new training center in Southern California to help further militarize disaster response. Great for the arms merchants and the mercenaries; not so great for everyone else. read more »

Abandoning at Patients Walter Reed

Today's military—recruited from America's most economically vulnerable populations—are honored the day they're sent off as cannon fodder for the neocons' foreign adventures, and treated as disposable Americans once they come home. Who cares, as long the important ideological points get made?read more »

More conservative failures

Conservatism is not an ideology of security, it’s an ideology of fear. Conservative policy is designed to sound tough, but too often it’s political posturing or an excuse to transfer funds among friends. If it doesn’t keep us safe, so much the better. People will be more scared, pay more money and vote redder in the next election.

Meanwhile, conservatives are ideologically blind to threats that don’t fit their cowboy script. They don’t see the dangers of dependence on foreign oil or trade imbalances that threaten worldwide economic stability. They don’t recognize the security consequences of global warming or Third World poverty.

The result isn’t safety. It’s a protection racket.