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the inspiring legacy of anti-war conservatism

saturday, june 27th, 2026

Amid continued American entanglements in the Middle East, neoconservative commentators seek to shore up the tired status quo by delegitimizing foreign policy dissent. Nowhere is this more evident than on the ever-radioactive issue of the U.S. relationship with Israel. Fearing an above-board debate, these gatekeepers have marshaled obscurantist phrases such as “Code Pink Republicans,” a guilt-by-association tactic meant to negatively polarize the conservative base in favor of staying the course on U.S.-Israeli relations. Add to the mix old classics like the “isolationist” slur and the conspiracist obsession with the “Soros-Koch” complex, and neoconservative hawks are working overtime to stigmatize long-standing and legitimate bodies of conservative foreign policy critique.

Despite the rhetoric of modern neoconservatives, there is a long history of conservative skepticism about cheek-by-jowl U.S.-Israel relations. Throughout the early Cold War, conservatives in Congress—including Republicans—opposed American entanglements in the Middle East, drawing on an earlier noninterventionist consensus that valued restraint overseas and fiscal prudence at home. Conservative Republicans presented a vocal bloc of opposition to the Eisenhower Doctrine, which expanded American influence in the Middle East, ostensibly to counter Soviet influence and fill the vacuum left by the ignominious departure of the European colonial powers. One such dissenter was Iowan Representative H.R. Gross, one of the most fiscally conservative congressional members in history.

Gross was among the 28 mostly conservative House Republicans who opposed the doctrine and its legislative iteration, House Joint Resolution 117. As an inheritor of the America First tradition, Gross believed that the measure afforded the president undue unilateral authority to issue foreign assistance and wage war without congressional authorization or oversight. Contrary to consensus opinion, he further argued that communism was not the source of instability in the Middle East, the real culprit being the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Excoriating the “hypocrisy of the internationalists” in the United States, Gross highlighted the “934,000 Arab refugees who were chased out of Palestine when the state of Israel was carved out in the Middle East.” Gross and his fellow dissenters resisted the prevailing Cold War orthodoxies, including the incremental involvement in a new front in the Cold War.

Dissenting Republicans voiced similar critiques during the American response to the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Citing concerns over expanding executive authority, burdens to the taxpayer, and the threat of American entry into the conflict, 28 House Republicans (joined by 36 House Democrats) opposed House Resolution 11108, a bill that provided Israel with over $2 billion in security assistance in the wake of that war. Gross, again, was among those leading the dissent. On the House floor, he attacked President Nixon for his unilateral actions during the height of the crisis and the bill itself for affording the president sole authority to turn loans into grants. He invoked the costs of the Vietnam War and warned that the upcoming bill was another example of “a spineless, irresponsible Congress [that] delegates its powers to a President.” Gross’s stand alongside 27 Republican colleagues demonstrated that it was far from impossible for conservatives to take a principled stand in defiance of a Republican president and in support of nonintervention in the Middle East.

Freshman Congressman Steven D. Symms joined the veteran Gross in opposing the measure and the deepening involvement in the Middle East. During the height of the crisis, Symms asserted that the “United States has no more business interfering in Middle Eastern policy than we had entering Vietnamese politics 12 years ago.” As chairman of the National Taxpayers Union, Symms commissioned a full-page newspaper ad challenging the bill on fiscal, moral, and strategic grounds. With Vietnam fresh in American memory, the ad asserted that the U.S. had “already paid grave costs in terms of American lives and American economic stability because of our involvement in other people’s wars” and added that “[w]e cannot afford more lives or the inevitable further deterioration of our economy which involvement in the Mideast conflict could bring.”

These principled strains of conservative opposition to U.S.-Israeli relations and hawkish Middle Eastern policy generally, despite their long pedigree, were snuffed out by the political turmoil of the mid-1970s. While Symms enjoyed a long, if troubled, congressional career, half of the Republican opponents of American involvement in the Yom Kippur War were ousted in the Watergate-fueled wipeout of the 1974 midterms or declined to seek reelection. Into this vacuum flowed the subsequent “New Right”. This nascent political movement held a tight line on U.S. support to Israel and obscured these earlier strains of conservative dissent.

In the wake of the Global War on Terror, the insights of individuals like Gross and Symms and the noninterventionist tradition they drew upon have regained traction, including within the base of the Republican Party. Conservative opinion, particularly among young people, is changing, reverting to earlier norms of dynamism and debate. Disillusioned by direct military intervention and regime changes by proxy, younger Americans, including conservatives, have soured on the stale logic of existing American foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East.

On U.S.-Israeli relations specifically, younger conservatives, like their progressive peers, are less supportive of Israel. In addition to general critiques about bilateral relations and Israel’s conduct of their war in Gaza, noninterventionist conservatives increasingly point to Benjamin Netanyahu’s advocacy for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a war that looms large in the conservative consciousness. As the U.S. flirts with another major Middle Eastern war, this time against Iran, the veterans of the last one remember when Netanyahu boldly asserted that it would “have enormous positive reverberations on the region.” For a generation of Iraq War veterans who skew conservative, such failed predictions are not forgotten, especially considering Netanyahu’s latest push for war with yet another Israeli adversary.

It is in this landscape of shifting opinion that an embattled neoconservative establishment seeks to dismiss critiques as meritless or un-American. These gatekeepers go so far as to call conservative opposition “baseless” and “out of step with the president’s ‘America First’-style realism,” turning America First’s history of opposing foreign entanglements and unilateral executive authority on its head.

The growing conservative critique of unquestioning U.S. support for Israel and continued entanglement in the Middle East reflects a broader rejection of neoconservative orthodoxy, echoing the principled stands of past dissenters. Given the track record of the neocons, it would be wise to ignore their latest attempts at gatekeeping and listen to the voices of restraint.

© 5.5.2026 by Brandan Buck, "The American Conservative".

A Day In The Life.

Up at 7:00a on Saturday, a warm, 63°F, clear sky, breezy morning, I left the AC at 73°, made coffee, fired-up the Win-7 Pentium HP Desktop to let its 32 million lines of code load, had breakfast, had a couple smokes in the garage and checked the leftover errands list. Just the pharmacy 2 Rx p/u. And I'll go over there in a few hours to get it. I scanned the weather and the breaking news websites, tuned into a "CP Show" Podcast 9-12 on local WSBA-910, and relaxed for the morning.

I was told that computer technology would eliminate unnecessary work. Instead, I now have 485 usernames/passwords, 132 verification codes and 23 robots asking if I'm a robot.

I left around 12:15p to get the 3 errands done, and was back home by 1. After lunch, I hit the LR couch for a "short" nap, and 3¾hrs later, woke to noise from next door, as new neighbors were slowly moving in. After dinner, I watched the evening news, and switched to TWC's "Deadline To Disaster" until 11:30p. Lights out.

Up at 8a on Sunday, another sunny, 64°, breezy morning, I made coffee, made coffee and got ready for the day. After 2 loads of laundry, I had some paperwork to do, and enjoyed the patio trips for a smoke. I skipped a nap, did a backlog of condo chores, and by 6p, watched the evening news. I watched Discovery's "Filthy Fortunes" until 11:45p, and bagged it for the night.

Up at 5:30a on Monday, an overcast, cool 59°, breezy morning, with severe t-storms forecast for the day and night, I made coffee and scanned the news and weather websites. I listened to the "CP Show" for a while, and left as bit early at 11:15.

Traffic was light, and I made goo time. Back homer by 12:30, I unloaded and put the Jeep into the garage, due to the upcoming nasty forecast. After lunch, I tried to take a short nap, but couldn't. The so-called t-storm swept thru the York area -- I counted 1933.9 drops of rain; heh -- and it typically went north and south of us, and any breeze or wind we had all morning, also went away. I had stuff to do, so no matter.

By 6p, the news was on and I watched FNC's 2hr weekend "news" offering, and switched to Discovery's "Deadline To Disaster" and TWC's "Rocky Mountain Wreckers", until 1a. Lights out. 9a Jeep service app't in the morning.

Up very early at 5a on Tuesday -- 0-Dark-Thirty -- a rainy, warmish 66°, and I made the first Chemex Carafe of Kona Hawaiian Coffee, scanned the weather and news, and planned the day around the Jeep state inspection & service at 9a. Joanne, my cleaning lady will be in around 8:30, but I'll be gone by then. And I did leave at *:15, made it to the Jeep dealer in Red Lion, where I waited for 2+hrs, after adding a couple things to the service routine, and made it home by 1p, after 2 stops.

I had lunch, tried to get some couch time, but couldn't, so I did some paperwork and scanned the news headlines. By 6p, I watched the evening news, and switched to History's "Curse of Oak Island" until 12 midnight, and unplugged.

Up at 7a on Wednesday, a clear blue, sunny, low humidity, breezy, very nice 59° morning. I made coffee, laid down on the LR couch, and finally woke-up at 10:15. Heh. I had coffee, breakfast and began to wake-up. I tuned into the ongoing "CP Show", and got ready for the day. Sherry would be here around 1p.

No, I have NO sympathy or empathy for NY State -- specifically NYC -- who voted-in more commie scum; I truly want to see the city (NYC) crash and burn. The original demonKKKrats were bad enough; these new commie filth will wreak untold damage, destruction and death.

Sherry arrived around 1:15p, and we were getting ready to leave for the nearby park, to walk in the beautiful day, when the new next door neighbors' moving truck pulled-up and blocked my driveway. No point in causing any scene with the inconsiderate movers, we just stayed home and enjoyed time together inside and on the back patio. She left around 5p, and perhaps she'll be back on Friday.

I had dinner, watched the evening news, and switched to History's "Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch" until 1a, and unplugged.

Up at 7a on Thursday, an overcast, breezy, warm 71° morning, I started a carafe of Kona Coffee, and hit the LR couch for an additional 2hrs of sleep. The doorbell woke me; it was the UPS delivery of 2 medium boxes from Stonewall Kitchens, of some superb foodstuffs I'd ordered a few days ago. I met the new neighbors -- supposedly they have 3 kids, but none there today-- and unpacked the jars of sauces, mayos and toppings.

I had lunch, took a 2hr nap, did a single errand, watched the evening news, skipped dinner, and switched TV to History's "Ancient Aliens" until 2a, and unplugged

Up at 7a on Friday, a heavily-overcast, rainy, warm 74°, I started coffee, fired-up the computer, and hit the LR couch for a "few minutes". 3hrs later, I was back up, and scanned the weather and news. I had breakfast, lounged around until 1:30p, and did 2 errands in Friday traffic. T-storms were still west of Pittsburgh, and moving this way. BFD.

No rain, but lots of humidity. I watched the evening news, and switched to History's "unXplained" until 11:45p, and called it a day.

Tomorrow starts a new week, here in the "Journal", and it's a clear one again, with Sherry here mid-week. We've already planned that out. Good deal. And the America250 Celebration comes on Saturday. Looking forward to that.