Why The New START Nuclear Treaty is Insane

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Any sane individual alive on this giant blue marble we call Earth would prefer to see a world without nuclear weapons. For that matter, any sane individual alive on this planet would love to see a world without war (except maybe Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez - then again, I did say "sane," didn't I?). A desire to see a world without nuclear weapons, or a world without war, does not make all of those people with such a desire anti-nuke activists and raging liberal peaceniks.

Today's American Left reminds me of the long haired hippie people that scurried through our parks singing songs from "Hair" and protesting on college campuses back during the Vietnam Conflict. Their intentions seem reasonable, but their methods are not based in reality. Like their flower adorned hair, their whole strategy is full of bugs.

Ronald Reagan, like the rest of us, also hoped to see a world without nuclear weapons. He realized, however, it could not be done by weakening yourself through unilateral disarmament. You could get rid of all of your nuclear arsenal all you wish, but the enemy would still be armed. Convincing the enemy to disarm anytime soon seems to be an insurmountable task considering the vast array of rogue nations running around with pop-gun missile systems, and the rudimentary beginnings of nuclear devices of their own. So, after Reagan spent a good deal of time thinking about the situation, he realized that in the face of a strong enemy, we had to maintain our own strength by being superior when it came to nuclear weapons, in order to keep the peace.

So, how could he, or any peace-loving nation, work towards creating a world without nuclear weapons?

Technology. We have all of this dang technology, so Ronald Reagan reasoned that the best way to get rid of nuclear weapons was to make them obsolete through technology. This is the reasoning behind his pursuit of the missile defense system technology. "Star Wars," some have called it. The idea was to create a defense grid that would shoot missiles out of the air, or cause them to detonate when they are at an altitude that would make such an explosion harmless. Ultimately, that would make nuclear weapons obsolete, and we'd be back to slinging projectiles at each other again since humanity just has to make war on itself as history is so eager to remind us.

Of course, a missile defense system wouldn't necessarily make all nuclear weapons completely obsolete. We would still have to worry about the crazy people with nuclear weapons that are not deployed by missile systems, or are deployed on a short range launcher. The primary terror of a nuclear war that would ensure mutual destruction would be averted, however, and that would be a good thing.

The lesson here is that everyone desires a world without nukes, but the way to do it properly all comes down to method. Weakening yourself while leaving the enemy with their own armament intact is not wise. Unilaterally disarming yourself, and then setting yourself up to be a sitting duck, like Obama is pursuing, is completely insane.

That creates too much risk. The enemy will not disarm just because you decided to. As much as it may hurt you to say it, not everyone out there desires to dance in a field of daisies while arm in arm singing coombyah.

Please, Obama, get off the unicorn, and rejoin us in the world of reality.

Peace is achieved through strength, and if you have the strength to pursue policies that create systems like SDI, and in turn make the weapons of the enemy obsolete, isn't that a lot better than unilaterally disarming and waving a big white flag?

Leftist liberal Democrats hail the New START treaty as some great step in the direction of peace, and a world without nuclear weapons, because big bad Russia has agreed to reduce their nuclear stockpile with us.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! They chortle in their joy!

What about China? Or North Korea? Or Iran? What good is reducing the nuclear capabilities of America and Russia if the newer nuclear sling-shot crew continues to add to theirs?

Also, a part of New START, is a crippling provision that essentially inhibits our pursuit of making better our missile defense system. So, in essence, what Obama and the liberal progressive Democrats are doing is taking away our ability to work towards making nuclear missile systems obsolete, while reducing our number of nuclear weapons, as Russia agrees to reduce her arsenal as well (with crossed fingers behind their back, I assure you), and China, North Korea, Iran, and a whole host of other crazies, work to build up their nuclear pile of fireworks.

Liberals, unfortunately, are too stupid to recognize that simply reducing our stockpile does not make for a peaceful world - it makes for a more dangerous world.

Hard Left crazies are creating a whole new maddening situation, spinning things ideas like "peace in our time," and "no nukes," in such ignorant ways that they are unable to recognize the obvious, and that is a real travesty, because with idiots like liberals who support dangerous treaties like New START in power, it makes the world a much more dangerous place to live.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary