As I’ve been saying, I am all for Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion, but I worry about America’s increasing involvement in that fight, feeling that our current leadership isn’t exercising the caution it needs to. So in considering the different presidential candidates, I’ve appreciated the caution expressed by Trump, DeSantis, and Ramaswamy.
But these same candidates who oppose America’s involvement in Ukraine and our recent history of getting involved in unwinnable foreign wars, are all gung ho about sending troops and bombers into Mexico, in an attempt to take out the drug lords!
Others who think that is a good idea are the “neo-conservatives” whose openness to military interventions go back to the Bush administration, namely, Nikki Haley and Asa Hutchinson. So does Christian conservative Tim Scott. So do lots of other Republican lawmakers, who are pushing legislation to define the cartels as “terrorists” subject to our “war on terrorism.” DeSantis has said he would send special forces units into Mexico on “day one” of his presidency. (See this and this.)
The reason, of course, is the fentanyl plague, which kills up to 70,000 Americans a year. The cartels are not only flooding the U.S. with the drug, they are helping to smuggle illegal immigrants into our country. They are indeed brutal killers, organized crime at its worst. The U.S. military did help Columbia to defeat their drug cartels, but they did so with the co-operation of the Columbian government, something we don’t have with Mexico. It’s also ironic that the very candidates who rightly insist on the importance of borders and condemn the immigrants who cross into the United States without permission are fine with American troops and planes crossing into Mexico without permission.
Are the drug lords really “terrorists” in the sense that the members of Al Qaida are? They are selling a product that many Americans are voluntarily buying. Indeed, buying at a time when America is legalizing and decriminalizing other drugs, creating a climate that signals drug use is OK.
And even if we were successful in wiping out the Mexican drug lords, wouldn’t the fentanyl business just switch to other providers waiting in the wings? The other major supplier already is China. Are we going to invade them too? Surely, to stop fentanyl deaths, we need to do something about the demand side of the problem.
Well, I’ve told you what I think. What do you think about launching a military invasion of a country on our border? Is that wise? And, more broadly, is there any presidential candidate who would make it a priority to keep us out of war?
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