But this is the biggest the tent has been since then (IMO). Thanks mostly due to the extremist Pugs going stark raving mad. The clown car of candidates for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination had to embarrass the shit out moderate republicans.
As to the antiwar wings significance and influence in the Dem party it has been bittersweet at best as the party grows and the MSM becomes more entrenched and owned by the corporate elite. The message certainly seems to have been lost.
The antiwar wing of the Dem party isn't huge but it is significant. As the party keeps pushing farther to the right on foreign policy and the military the tent balloons with those that embrace the war on terror, the war on drugs, the Iraq war and other acts of violence as a necessary evil. They trust our leaders and believe that they do these these things in order to protect them from the evil elements in our society and the world.
On a precursory level they are correct in their thinking. But beneath the facade lies a truth of military and corporate profits that pumps the ever ending war machine.
Some Americans still would call you a conspiracy theorist and a nut if you claimed that elements of the Reagan government allowed cocaine to be funneled into the US and dumped on our streets to buy guns to sell to terrorists to buy more guns to pay for their illegal war.
But the facts tell us otherwise. Just ask john Kerry:
http://newsone.com/187661/john-kerry-says-cia-lied-about-iran-contra-cocaine-dealing/
And some must still have truly believed Bush when he said "They hate our freedom." When in all actuality it may be closer to the truth to say "They hate our corporations and military exploiting their countries."
Perhaps that's what they really hate. Yes, there are the religious jihadists that hate us for our religion but much of that is the bastardization of the Christian religion to justify our dominant position in the world both militarily and economically.
The antiwar wing has always been just a tolerated fringe of the Dem party but it's goals have always been a part of the ideals purported by the party both in words and as part of the Dem platform. Unfortunately like you say though, those in control of the party often are part of the globalists and elite that still support wars for profit and protection of their ill gotten & imperial assets in third world countries.
To be clear I am not against foreign investment and ownership by people and corporations. What I am against is the people and corporations who abuse the legal system (HERE in the US as well as in other countries) to exploit the general populace for their financial gain.
Many on DU hate Ron Paul and his followers. I rather enjoy seeing an antiwar wing of the Republican party.
While I overwhelmingly disagree with Paulite libertarianism on the majority of domestic issues; there is much agreement on for me on America's foreign policy and police state issues. In other words I disagree with them less than I do neocons and other pugsters who pump the war machine as well as sucking on domestic issues.
The Pugs pissed off the majority of Paulites big time and it cost Rmoney a huge chunk of voters that were either siphoned off to Gary Johnson or stayed home.
http://www.policymic.com/articles/18815/the-ron-paul-effect-how-the-gop-threw-the-election-by-disenfranchising-ron-paul-supporters
Obama may have won the election handily even without Paul's involvement. But I personally believe Paul exposed a very dark side of the Republican party and damaged the party greatly by doing so. Neocon war was laid naked for many GOPers who never questioned the motives of war before RP stood up and called it out in the debates.
It is refreshing to hear any candidate call out war for what it is. To that end I look forward to Alan Grayson's presence in congress. How I wish more Dems were like him in this regards.
If the majority of Americans understood the corporate underpinnings of war they'd be more vehemently opposed to our constant build up and use of force that creates a huge residual financial cost for our nation.
American blood, sweat, tears, lives, and dollars are being used to protect the assets of multinational corporations. Many of whom evade their tax obligations to America by hidig their profits offshore. Of these corporations many get to enjoy additional tax breaks through loopholes to then steal away American jobs to third world countries. Countries where workers have little rights and unions are violently opposed like in Columbia:
http://killercoke.org/crimes_colombia.php
http://www.workersuniting.org/connect/news/oil-union-leader-murdered-in-colombia
This type of behavior and way of exploiting people in third world countries runs rampant with multinational corporations:
Corporations and Worker’s Rights
by Anup Shah
This Page Last Updated Sunday, May 28, 2006
Structural Adjustment programs of the IMF and World Bank have led to a race to the bottom, where standards of living are continuously reduced. Labor, as one example of this, gets cheaper and cheaper which benefits the multinational companies, but not the workers themselves. Various international trade agreements that large corporations are able to strongly lobby favorable conditions in, are often designed in part to make resources (including work forces) cheaper.
As some corporations and industries become increasingly globalized, they effect more and more people.
Take for example the situation in Massachusetts — they were trying to put laws in place to prevent or restrict corporations doing business with regimes that violate certain rights of people in some way — they were pressured by a coalition of 600 major corporations in that State, saying that this is unconstitutional. The judges agreed.
Famous brands like Nike, the Coca-Cola Company, and many others all do this. In some respect it is a cycle of competition driving each other to such measures to keep up and to maximize profits. Nike, for example use cheap labor in South East Asia, where they can get away from the tighter enforcement and regulations of USA and Europe. In fact, they have been exposed for using child labor, as well. Coca Cola for example, have been accused of intimidating workers around the world, even hiring (often indirectly, through intermediaries) paramilitaries to intimidate or kill union leaders....
~Snip~
"Our merchants and master-manufacturers complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price, and thereby lessening the sale of their good both at home and abroad. They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people."
— Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book I, (Everyman’s Library, Sixth Printing, 1991), pp. 87-88
~Snip~
There are numerous other political factors, and geopolitical/military factors as well, related to the historic struggle and control for resources, and the wars that have revolved around that to maintain such disparities. ...
~Sip~
Full article:
http://www.globalissues.org/article/57/corporations-and-workers-rights
The American people are being sold the justification for war on terror on a false premise that these terrorists are an imminent threat and actively working to kill Americans here in America. But rather many are targeted for death for fighting the multinational corporations who occupy their land after cutting deals with dictators who could care less about the rights or conditions of its citizens.
So yes these people are a threat to American multinational corporation's personnel and assets in these dictatorships and our military AND private security forces in the region. But this a huge difference in it's nature from a true terrorist attack against American citizens on American soil and the American people deserve to understand these details about these wars we wage that their government is part of.
Smedley Butler said it best. "War is a racket."
War Is a Racket
~Snip~
"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Is_a_Racket
Smedley Butler
Smedley Darlington Butler[1] (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940) was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps, an outspoken critic of U.S. military adventurism, and at the time of his death the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. During his 34-year career as a Marine, he participated in military actions in the Philippines, China, in Central America and the Caribbean during the Banana Wars, and France in World War I....
Full bio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler
Smedley D. Butler > Quotes
“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”
― Smedley D. Butler, War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/115545.Smedley_D_Butler
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