Dear Jon Huntsman, We Don’t Deserve You
6. He’s not Ron Paul
Drawing in the support of many young people disenchanted by unnecessary foreign wars and spending as well as maintaining a certain element of being “antiestablishment,” 76-year-old Ron Paul has successfully pierced the veil that cloaks the younger set with apathy and sloth.
Despite the amount of miles Paul has trod, he has failed to fall victim to the realism and occasional cynicism that can come with age (though it might be argued that his failure to be realistic is more of a symptom of being senile than it is a fruit of youthful and unbridled idealism). As a result, he has ensconced himself within the hearts and minds of many young Americans in search of inspiration—not even Huntsman, former keyboardist in a veritable “Fuck the Man” garage band—can compete with that.
7. Dropping bombs isn’t the extent of his foreign policy chops
With the exception of Ron Paul, Huntsman is one of the few GOP candidates whose stated possible measures against Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon do not include preemptive bombing strikes near Iranian military sites (re: Rick Santorum). While Huntsman did say that if pressed “all options” would be on the table, he remained a reticent minority as other candidates like Newt Gingrich blathered on about replacing the Ahmadinejad regime if they failed to disarm their yet-to-be developed nuclear weapons.
What’s more, as others were quick to criticize Obama’s decision to bring home troops in Iraq and Afghanistan it was Huntsman who stuck with his nuanced, middle of the road approach to foreign policy: no intervention for nation-building and a reduction in excessive military spending.
A Fond Farewell
Jon, you were swell. If anything, you’ve proven that while your species of conservative may be endangered and shrouded by the antics of some of your party’s more feral denizens, you are not extinct. We’ll see you in 2016; hopefully we’ll be ready for you then.
Hi, I’m the “paranoid member” of the GOP you referenced in your article.
You missed the point of my blog post. I never mentioned anything about being bilingual. I was making a tongue-in-cheek remark about us becoming even more indebted to China as a result of what I would view as Huntsman’s mismanagement if he were president. We would owe so much money to China that we would eventually be completely owned by them and forced to learn Chinese, our new national language.
I’m sorry you didn’t understand but I’m confused as to how you thought that was some slight against being bilingual. Why would I be offended by that? And on what scale did you determine I was one of the more paranoid members of the Republican Party? Or were you just talking out of your ass? Using your logic I would have to determine that you are one of the bigger hacks in the Democratic Party, but I digress.
Thank you for reading and linking to my work.
Hi, I’m the “paranoid member” of the GOP you referenced in your article.
You missed the point of my blog post. I never mentioned anything about being bilingual. I was making a tongue-in-cheek remark about us becoming even more indebted to China as a result of what I would view as Huntsman’s mismanagement if he were president. We would owe so much money to China that we would eventually be completely owned by them and forced to learn Chinese, our new national language.
I’m sorry you didn’t understand but I’m confused as to how you thought that was some slight against being bilingual. Why would I be offended by that? And on what scale did you determine I was one of the more paranoid members of the Republican Party? Or were you just talking out of your ass? Using your logic I would have to determine that you are one of the bigger hacks in the Democratic Party, but I digress.
Thank you for reading and linking to my work.
Loved this!
Much as you have interpreted the piece as “talking out of one’s ass,” I interpreted your saying “if he were to run the country the way he has run his presidential campaign then we will be speaking Chinese by the end of his term” as “we will be speaking Chinese by the end of his term.” Sorry for the terrible misinterpretation. Works both ways, I suppose.
Thank you for reading and responding to my work.
Also, if Chinese were to be our “new” national language we would have to have an official one to begin with. Which we don’t.
I just wanted to say thank you for this wonderful article. I identify myself as a liberal independent, but when it comes to voting for our next president, given the choice I would vote for Huntsman.