In response to:
"Libertarians ... still probably won't vote Republican unless we agree to legalize crack, support open borders and close all of our overseas military bases." Hawkins really needs to learn more about libertarians before shooting his mouth off. There is no constitutional authority for the federal war on drugs. At the very least, it should be handled by the states. There is also no constitutional authority for having a military presence in over 100 nations.
Win, lose or draw, we're always supposedly hitting a tipping point where social issues just no longer work for the Republican Party. At first glance, this would appear to be a rather puzzling sentiment. After all, in 2010, despite the fact that the GOP was just as socially conservative as we were this year, the Republican Party had its best year in half a century. Furthermore, in 2008 and 2012, the GOP lost despite running moderate candidates who were soft on social issues and who barely brought them up at all. If anything, you'd think that seeing two non-social conservatives...
The Congress also has the authority to provide for the common defense and make all laws necessary and proper to enable them to execute their constitutional powers so if providing for the common defense means building bases all over the world, then they have the power to do it. The federal government also has the authority to enter into treaties with other nations so if they sign a treaty to build a military base in another country to aid in their defense, then they have the power to do that, too.
For instance, the War on Drugs is far too expensive, and we also can't afford to be the world cop. So, what if we closed 1/3 to 1/2 of the bases overseas, and then moved all that firepower to our southern border? Those border towns are being run by the Cartels, and that's just wrong. We should use the greatest military in the world to secure our cities.
Naturally, this would constitute a "war on drugs," but is that all bad? And if we legalize marijuana, that would remove about half the war right there.
But no presence overseas? No, that would duplicate Lord Chamberlain's mistake. I believe we're far too interventionist, but let's not overdo it the other way.
But could I forge a coalition with you? Gladly! You sound like a reasonable sort.