Peace Through Strength Never Gets Old

Jillian Bandes | May 12, 2010 7:04 AM

Latest on the docket for the conservative movement is the "Peace Through Strength" platform, which shouldn’t sound like anything new to conservative thinkers.

This policy is most easily attributable to

Ronald Reagan, but I’m going to dust off my old Peace, War and Defense degree and cite it’s original author – the late third or fourth century Roman author Vegetius, made famous for his quote: “If you want peace, you must prepare for war.”

That line graces the first bullet point in this new platform, put forth by big whigs like Edwin Meese, Cliff May, Frank Gaffney, and Herbert London. They and others are re-iterating the need for a strong defense after a series of speeches by Defense Secretary Robert Gates indicated that Gates was seeking to cut the overall U.S. defense budget.

Here’s some of the other bullet points:

Strong nuclear deterrence
A strong stance against Shariah law
Preservation of U.S. sovereignty over international law
Calling a soldier a soldier, and denying terrorists protection from traditional rules of war
Energy security
Border security
A pro-military culture

It is unknown whether the authors of the plan will make a forceful push for candidates to sign on during their campaigns like Grover Norquist's taxpayer protection pledge. For now, there are simply strong words of encouragement:

We call on elected officials, candidates for office and others who share these principles to join us in advancing them and, thereby, to restore the time-tested practice of promoting international peace through American strength.