The Star Tribune seems surprised at what appears to be Republican retreat from the hawkish foreign policy of the Reagan-Bush years.
But the reason for sudden Republican distaste for "Team America: World Police" has less to do with a different breed of conservatives running the GOP than it has to do with the different world we live in compared to what was the case in those years.
The Soviets? Gone. China? Hardly just our problem. Castro and Chavez? Who cares. Iraq? Mission accomplished. Iran? Israel can handle that. Afghanistan?
Waste of money, they'll never assimilate into anyone's idea of New World Order.
No, the real reason the GOP has had enough of us trying to be all things to all people is because more and more we find ourselves facing useless allies like France and Spain who hardly spend a nickel on their own defense and hostile supplicants like Karzai who don't want accountants auditing their lunch bags.
Perhaps never before has the time been so right for precisely this kind of change in attitude toward foreign policy among Republicans, who, more than any other party, have traditionally accepted the lion's share of responsibility for a more hawkish approach.
MARK D. OVERHOLSER, WOODBURY
