My entire life, even as a teenager, I have been a conservative and a Republican. Yet over the past thirty some years the Republican Party has moved away from the party of my childhood and the party of the majority of my adult life. Today it seems as if the Republican Party can only use political brinksmanship in it’s actions. It seems no longer to be the party of ideas, the party able and willing to put it’s proposals on the table and then negotiate outcomes that move the country forward. It seems to me it has become the party of “No”, the party against “things”, the party that has resolute “litmus” tests that it cannot breached. It also seems to be the party that cannot do anything without the use of brinksmanship, taking our economy or our nation’s security to the very edge of an abyss. This is happening again with the funding for Ukraine, and funding support for Israel.

The continual use of “brinkmanship” within Congress, more specifically, the Republican controlled House is reaching the level of self-destruction.

Sounds too alarming?

Think of the budget crisis that was manufactured by the Republican controlled House, even after their elected Speaker – Kevin McCarthy – had negotiated in good faith an agreement with the White House administration. The disruption that followed, including the expulsion of the Speaker from his role (never done before in the history of the USA) led to a downgrade of our country’s credit rating. No big deal you think? That downgrade made it more expensive for the government to borrow funds, the interest on those borrowings will haunt the USA for years to come, costing each one of us if we go to get a car loan, a home loan, credit card debt.  Those costs will stay with us for years.

Now we face another act of brinksmanship concerning the funding and aid to both Israel and Ukraine. The Republican controlled House is refusing to fund either country unless they can wring concessions on border security. At least for some of the Republican House members. And that is understandable, to a degree. Our immigration laws are at fault here. Challenges in Central America to the populations in three countries in crisis are the basis for the extraordinary efforts for people to seek refuge in the USA. Yet for many Republican House members they blindly wish to cease any funding to support Ukraine. For those, they are ignorant of history, ignorant of the USA’s most critical security bulwarks (Europe’s security is a bulwark supporting US security, it is a barrier to dire security threats to our economy, our wellbeing, and a barrier to the threat of a much greater conflict which will put our military and our country on a path of direct engagement on the ground in Europe). What is worse, their ignorance is willful ignorance, intentional ignorance – and that ignorance puts all of us at risk. Putin wishes to reestablish the Soviet Union, by conquest or by dominion over the following states: Ukraine, Moldova, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo.  This is not a short list and represents a reconstituted Russia and an expanded sphere of influence.  If Putin succeeds in Ukraine, the likelihood of his success in all these other countries goes up exponentially. To this date not a single American service members has died in this conflict.  We have provided Ukraine around FIFTY BILLION in military aid and another THIRTY-SIX BILLION in financial aid.  Of that EIGTHY-SIX BILLION dollars sixty percent (60%) are loans to be paid back.  Only THIRTY-FOUR billion is direct aid and that represents LESS THAN FIVE PERCENT (<5%) of our military budget of nearly NINE HUNDRED BILLION.   In the meantime, the Russian military has seen their military capacity nearly cut in half.   Should Putin succeed, even without direct involvement of US military, the USA’s military budget will expand to over ONE TRILLION FIVE HUNDRED BILLION within three to five years due to increased security threats and a weakened security structure in Europe.   Imagine the cost to our economy, to YOUR TAXES to support that necessary increase in military spending.  And all of this does not consider at all the China is watching and should the USA fail to continue to support Ukraine it will provide them a GREEN LIGHT to take military action against Taiwan.  And another risk of USA direct military engagement – which would be sharp, and costly in men and material.

This Republican brinksmanship on the continued support and funding of Ukraine is not just short sighted, but it is destructive of the most basic USA security arrangements that have stood the test of time over the past seventy plus years.  Their current brinksmanship is a threat to each and every one of us.