Chad’s Morning Brief: How Ted Cruz Looks at Military Action, Growing Number of Adults Not Proficient in English, & Other Top Stories
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of September 25, 2014.
Ted Cruz and the Military
Matt Lewis of The Week wrote an interesting article yesterday defending Senator Ted Cruz and what Cruz has said in the past about military intervention. Lewis believes that Obama is the only one who has learned from both Bush and Obama and their mistakes.
So as we head toward a critical presidential election in 2016, what should we be looking for when it comes to foreign policy? The answer is Ted Cruz.
Don't laugh — he's the only candidate on either side of the aisle who seems to have learned the right lessons from the twin failures of Bush and Obama.
Cruz was right when he joined with other Republicans in opposing military intervention in Syria, arguing Bashar al-Assad's actions — though horrific — weren't a direct threat to our national security. On other occasions, he has demonstrated moral clarity, such as when he penned this op-ed from March arguing that "Vladimir Putin running rampant in Ukraine" shows Obama's "abdication of global leadership." The bottom line is that if after eight years of Obama-style diplomacy you're looking for someone willing to stick his neck out for America, you need look no further than Cruz's line about wanting to bomb ISIS back to the "stone age." Cruz is bold when he needs to be, but restrained in opposing militarism outside of America's core interests.
Now, it's impossible to fully diagnose the foreign policy of a man who has never commanded a state militia, much less ground troops, so we largely have to use his rhetoric and votes as our guide. In this regard, Cruz's foreign policy is arguably the most Reaganesque I've seen since, well, The Gipper. (And last time I checked, he managed to do pretty well for himself — and the nation.)
Now, maybe you think saying you want to bomb ISIS back to the stone age is overwrought or irresponsible. But consider Christopher Caldwell's recent book review of American Bridge. As Caldwell notes, Reagan's "greatest triumphs came on issues that he advanced in the face of unanimous advice to the contrary." As conservative journalist Matthew Continetti tweeted, "Reading this Caldwell review, I can’t help being struck by similarity btw. Reagan and@SenTedCruz."
It's also interesting to note that Reagan's foreign policy was a reaction to past presidents, just as Cruz's is. The Vietnam era and the post-Vietnam era undermined confidence in this country's competence, efficacy, and virtue. These qualities needed to be restored, the conventional wisdom went, and that meant demonstrating American might and influence without getting bogged down. So Reagan eschewed nation-building, instead focusing on moral clarity in the Cold War ("We win, they lose"; "evil empire"; "Tear down this wall"; and so on). He also outsourced fighting to surrogate freedom fighters. That last part doesn't look so hot in retrospect — but it's also the part that seems least Cruz-like.
But overall, Cruz is emulating Reagan's style — a clear sense of America's moral authority, with a realistic appraisal of what we can do militarily. But in spite of all this, Cruz finds himself criticized.
Nationally, Ted Cruz has found himself ignored it seems when it comes to military intervention. One reason for that is because the media is focused on finding out exactly what Rand Paul thinks about intervention.
You can read the full story by clicking on the link above.
Learning English
A growing number of adults in the United States aren't proficient in English. As National Review points out, that isn't a good thing.
“English proficiency is a strong predictor of economic standing among immigrants, regardless of the amount of education they have attained, and it is associated with the greater academic and economic success of the workers’ children,” the study found.
The Wall Street Journalreports that the rise comes out to nearly 1 in 10 adults who lack sufficient English skills, two and a half times more than three decades ago. Two-thirds of those lacking proficiency are Spanish speakers.
In large cities, the numbers are even higher. For example, in Los Angeles and Miami, the Journal reports almost 25 percent of adults lack proficient English. The study also finds that cities such as Indianapolis have witnessed a near 100 percent increase in limited-English speakers since 2000.
Learning English should be something that is stressed in all communities. As National Review points out, learning English helps people become more successful and at the end of the day less dependent on government.
You can read the full story by clicking on the link above.
Other Must Read Links:
These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.
More From News/Talk 95.1 & 790 KFYO
