Have Dems and GOP traded foreign policies? No.

Godfrey Sperling wonders if the parties have switched positions. My answer -- not in the last 35 years. For my entire life (49 years) the overriding principle governing the Republicans on foreign policy was the need to remain strong and challenge the totalitarians who were avowed enemies of the US. The GOP advocated maintaining a strong military and making the effort to undermine our enemies among their own people.

Democrats, ever since the late sixties, have had an unhealthy attraction to any dictatorship which claimed to be communist or marxist. They had a sizeable element within their ranks which believed in unilateral disarmament, preached hatred for the US military and favored diplomacy even when it was proven to be ineffective. In recent polls, about half of those who vote Democratic consider the US to be a malevolent force in the world. A generation ago, Jeane Kirkpatrick labeled these people the "hate America first crowd". They still dominate the Democratic Party leadership.

George Bush has simply continued to follow the principles that most Republicans have favored for generations. He understands the need for a strong military and the fact that it most be deployed to defeat our enemies. When we were attacked by terrorists, he took the war to the home of the terrorists. In analyzing the best way to defeat Islamic terrorists (and totalitarian enemies in general) over the long term, he concluded that supporting democracy was the most effective strategy. This is in keeping with a long tradition of GOP support for tactics which undermine totalitarian states.

The opposition of Democrats to the Iraq War simply reaffirmed their opposition to the use of the military against our enemies that stretches back to Vietnam.

So what is the big switch Sperling talking about? The parties seem pretty consistent to the same policies they have followed for many decades.