11 Steps to a more effective National Security policy....

The other day, I discussed how the United States will continue to be at war for the foreseeable future.  The bad guys, for reasons of their own, need to remove the United States from the picture.  Regardless of what we do, they're going to continue coming.  We are both the Great Satan and Vladmir Putin's primary obstacle, whether we like it or not.  The United States must restore global dominance within the reality created by other global actors pursuing their interests.

Barack Obama's policy of strategic surrender hiding behind tactical belligerence isn't working.  But, quite honestly, George W. Bush's confused muddle of a foreign policy won't cut it either.  While George W. Bush introduced some positive elements in his first term (ie. Preemption and not giving super-national organizations a veto over U.S. action), his second term 'Freedom Agenda' laid the foundation for the disaster we face today.

We can do better.  Thinly veiled appeasement, neoconservative democratization, and Ron Paul style isolationism aren't our only options.  I offer the following principles as guidelines against which to assess future policies.

• A Growing Economy -- Getting our economy moving is step one to restore American dominance.  With robust economic growth, our current problems become much more manageable.  The greatest military in the world is much easier to afford in an economy growing at 4% than in one limping by on around 1.5%; that's even truer if said military is deployed overseas, which ours, realistically, will continue to be.  A crucial component of a growing economy that will also aid our foreign policy is...

• Free Trade -- International trade is a frequently overlooked way to minimize wars.  Under Obama, free trade has taken a backseat to union pandering.  Open global trade is the low-hanging fruit of geopolitics.  Unfortunately, many problems exist that we cannot solve through economics.  When those more difficult problems occur, our first step is....

• Priorities -- After determining what we can afford, the United States needs to prioritize the greatest threats and devote our resources to them.  Right now, the United States squanders too much energy in areas that are irrelevant to our national interests.  In my opinion, the primary threats to U.S. national security these days comes from Iran, Russia (yeah, I know), and our Southern Border.  Egypt and Libya could, unfortunately, become top-tier threats before Mitt's inauguration.  Once you establish priorities, it allows you to project....

• Credible Threat of Force -- This is where peace through strength conservatives differ from libertarians.  Peace through strength conservatives understand evil exists in the world; if we don't defeat evil, evil will grow.  That's not to say every recent U.S. military action has been well advised or prudent (*cough* Libya *cough*; *cough* Kosovo *cough*).  Peace through strength conservatives support military action where it advances American interests, NOT gauzy humanitarian bull-crap.  Regarding Afghanistan and Iraq, most peace through strength conservatives believe we were right to remove the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, but we stayed too long and tried to do too much.  This is important, because a credible threat of force needs to be tempered with....

• Realistic Expectations -- George W. Bush's second-term "Freedom Agenda" is the direct antecedent of today's chaos in the Middle East.  Yes, Obama's treasonous misconduct made the situation immeasurably worse, but Condoleeza Rice's State Department let this cat out of the bag.  If there's one lesson America has learned the hard way this decade, it's that the United States cannot change an Islamic political culture that is theologically incompatible with with Adam Smith and John Locke.  In Iraq, for example, the United States would have been far better served by installing Ahmed Chalabi and drawing down to 30,000 shortly thereafter.  One we've tempered the credible threat of force with realistic expectations, we must....

• Fight to Win -- The rules of engagement in Afghanistan have been an issue since Obama took office. In the Egyptian embassy attack, our Marines weren't allowed live ammunition.  Heck, this is the administration that invented a military award for 'courageous restraint.'  That's ridiculous, once we deploy our military under the circumstances described above, we need to unleash its full force and get the job done.  Unfortunately, fighting to win requires a cultural shift at the top of the Pentagon that we will only achieve if we....

• Audit the Pentagon -- This idea, which originates from the Ron Paul crowd, is one peace through strength conservatives would be wise to adopt.  In his convention speech, Rand Paul said "not every dollar spent on the military is necessary or well spent."  He's right.  Corporate welfare for defense contractors doesn't promote national security, and often hinders it.  Any organization that loses $2.3 trillion into thin air needs serious reform.  More important, an audit would break up the calcified culture of complacency of senior Pentagon management.  Changing Pentagon culture via audit is a precondition to....

• Stop Political Correctness -- Was the Ft. Hood jihadist attack really 'workplace violence'?!?  Are jihadist terror attacks 'man caused disasters'?!?  I could give countless examples, but the fact that our embassy apologized after the Egypt attack takes the cake.  We need to speak uncomfortable truths, and act accordingly.  Islamic Scripture supports Islamic Supremacism.  The Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. government.  Many Latin American drug cartels are Marxist true believers who mean the United States harm.  Jesus said it best: "And ye shall know the truth and it shall set you free."  Before our government will speak the truth, however, we first have to....

• Clean out the State Department -- I can't prove (yet) that Huma Abedin is a traitor.  I can, however, say with full confidence that the State Department bureaucracy is infested with hard-line leftists who advance a progressive internationalist agenda no matter who holds elected office.  From Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, recent Republican Presidents have had their agendas stymied by the State Department bureaucracy.  While I cannot prove it, I strongly suspect the State Department bureaucracy was behind George W. Bush's "Freedom Agenda."  Once America cleans out the State Department, we will be able to....

• Know who our friends are -- One of the best decisions George W. Bush made as President was telling the UN to pound sand over Iraq.  America should not give the a fore mentioned progressive internationalists, or a corrupt French President, a veto over U.S. action.  That does not mean, however, that America should actually follow the left-wing straw man and 'go it alone.'  America has allies and friends we must honor and with whom we should work closely.  Barack Obama's cavalier destruction of longstanding alliances and friendships is another dangerous aspect of his legacy.  America must diligently and unapologetically rebuild those relationships.  Finally, America MUST....

• SECURE THE DAMN BORDER -- Don't get me started, but it needs to be done.

Again, I am not (yet!) advocating a set of policies.  I'm outlining a set of principles to guide future policy-making.  This strikes me as a good start....