Glenn Beck’s new attempt at serious “Sixty Minutes”-style reporting gets its debut this week. It doesn’t seem like Breitbart or Daily Caller fabulism. But its examination of the relentless growth of the national security state echoes Rand Paul’s constitutional concerns about unfettered executive power in a forever war with no geographical boundaries. Some of us were on this case when the abuse was much greater – under Bush. But the secrecy seems to have become close to hermetic under Obama and the CIA still seems a government unto itself – above the law, above accountability, even permitted to destroy evidence of war crimes with impunity.
What if the libertarian right begins more and more to realize that the neoconservative vision is incompatible with constitutional freedoms? What if this stops being a “fringe” idea and starts to reintegrate into its natural home: American conservatism. The wild card? Israel, of course, where Christianists believe theology should dictate foreign policy. But we could end military aid, couldn’t we? And I’m beginning to see the strong chance that if the neocons get close to their next war on Iran, the GOP might not be unanimously behind it.
The Dish 