2015 State of the Union address: on Homeland Security


Arvin Vohra: Intelligently rethink overall military spending

Libertarian Party vice-chair Arvin Vohra calls Obama out on ignoring here the expensive and destructive Drug War, and his hypocrisy on Internet informational privacy while running, and defending, a universal surveillance state, and his refusal to intelligently rethink overall military spending and postures while talking up a supposedly more intelligent form of constant foreign military intervention.
Source: Reason Mag.: Libertarian response to 2015 State of the Union Jan 20, 2015

Barack Obama: Finish the job: it's time to close Gitmo

As Americans, we have a profound commitment to justice--so it makes no sense to spend three million dollars per prisoner to keep open a prison that the world condemns and terrorists use to recruit. Since I've been President, we've worked responsibly to cut the population of GTMO in half. Now it's time to finish the job. And I will not relent in my determination to shut it down. It's not who we are.
Source: 2015 State of the Union address Jan 20, 2015

Libertarian Party: Intelligently rethink overall military spending

Libertarian Party vice-chair Arvin Vohra calls Obama out on ignoring here the expensive and destructive Drug War, and his hypocrisy on Internet informational privacy while running, and defending, a universal surveillance state, and his refusal to intelligently rethink overall military spending and postures while talking up a supposedly more intelligent form of constant foreign military intervention.
Source: Reason Mag.: Libertarian response to 2015 State of the Union Jan 20, 2015

Rand Paul: We've over-militarized our foreign policy

Secretary Gates got it right when he said that we've over-militarized our foreign policy. Should we be engaged in trying to encourage stability in the world? Absolutely. But we must think before we act.

Hillary's war in Libya is a prime example of acting without thinking. In Libya, jihadists swim in our embassy pool, and we are now more at risk from terrorist attacks than ever before.

Unfortunately, both parties too often seek military intervention without thinking through the possible unintended consequences. Many Republicans complain that we didn't send US ground troops or we didn't stay long enough.

The Middle East is in the midst of a 1,000-year war between Sunni and Shia--superimposed on a century-old war pitting a barbaric aberration of Islam against civilized Islam. We are foolish to believe we will solve this puzzle. We must defend vital American interests, but we must not be deluded into believing that we can remake the Middle East in an image of Western Democracy.

Source: Tea Party response to the 2015 State of the Union address Jan 20, 2015

Rand Paul: Military should be second to none; so audit the Pentagon

To defend the Bill of Rights, we must have a strong national defense. I believe national defense is the single most important, Constitutional obligation of our Federal Government. We should have a military that is second to none in the world, and ready to defend us from all enemies.

To defend ourselves, we need a lean, mean fighting machine that doesn't waste money on a bloated civilian bureaucracy. The civilian bureaucracy at the Pentagon has doubled in the past 30 years, gobbling up the money necessary to modernize our defense. That's why I will propose the first ever Audit of the Pentagon, and seek ways to make our defense department more modern and efficient.

Source: Tea Party response to the 2015 State of the Union address Jan 20, 2015

  • The above quotations are from 2015 State of the Union address to Congress, plus the Republican Responses: Jan. 20, 2015.
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  • Click here for more quotes by Barack Obama on Homeland Security.
  • Click here for more quotes by Joni Ernst on Homeland Security.
2016 Presidential contenders on Homeland Security:
  Republicans:
Gov.Jeb Bush(FL)
Dr.Ben Carson(MD)
Gov.Chris Christie(NJ)
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX)
Carly Fiorina(CA)
Gov.Jim Gilmore(VA)
Sen.Lindsey Graham(SC)
Gov.Mike Huckabee(AR)
Gov.Bobby Jindal(LA)
Gov.John Kasich(OH)
Gov.Sarah Palin(AK)
Gov.George Pataki(NY)
Sen.Rand Paul(KY)
Gov.Rick Perry(TX)
Sen.Rob Portman(OH)
Sen.Marco Rubio(FL)
Sen.Rick Santorum(PA)
Donald Trump(NY)
Gov.Scott Walker(WI)
Democrats:
Gov.Lincoln Chafee(RI)
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY)
V.P.Joe Biden(DE)
Gov.Martin O`Malley(MD)
Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren(MA)
Sen.Jim Webb(VA)

2016 Third Party Candidates:
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Roseanne Barr(PF-HI)
Robert Steele(L-NY)
Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA)
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Page last updated: Feb 24, 2019