Rep. Scholten voted against Lebanon war powers resolution, demonstrating once again that Democrats are equally committed to US imperialism and forever wars

There has been a great deal of rhetoric in recent months regarding to US involvement in forever wars. This rhetoric has come about since the beginning of the year when the Trump Administration sent the US military into Venezuela to kidnap their president and his family, followed by the US military actions against Iran and now the ongoing threat to invade Cuba.

On Thursday, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib put forth a resolution that would have limited the Trump administration’s military options in Lebanon, yet the resolution failed with only 91 members of Congress voting for it and 324 voting against. This resolution would have forced U.S. troops out of Lebanon in seven days.

According to a recent post on Politico regarding the resolution, “House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California said the fact that there are currently no U.S. servicemembers involved in combat operations or hostilities in Lebanon gave them pause.”

A major reason why so many Democrats voted with the Republicans against this resolution is because of the loyalty that the Democratic Party has to Israel, and since Israel invaded Lebanon the Democratic Party will not support any efforts to weaken Israel’s position or oppose them.

However, another major reason for voting against the Lebanon war powers resolution is because the Democratic Party is equally committed to US Imperialism, US militarism and the US involvement in forever wars.

Take for example the 3rd Congressional District Representative Hillary Scholten. Scholten was first elected to Congress in the 2022 Election and began her tenure as a member of Congress in 2023. During her few years in Congress Rep. Scholten has consistently voted for the annual US Military budget, both during the Biden Administration and now under the Trump Administration. Rep. Scholten has also consistently supported Israel and their genocidal campaign against the Palestinians and she only objects to the lack of a formal declaration of war against Iran.

However, Rep. Scholten is the norm when it comes to Congressional Democrats and even Democratic Administrations regarding war, militarism and US Imperialism. In the US Foreign Policy since 1945 class that I offer, I provide a list of US President’s since WWII and what countries they have supported war or longterm US imperialist policies, a list you can find here. See also Normal Solomon’s excellent book, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.

Here are a few examples of how US militarism and US Imperialism are a bi-partisan reality.

Iran – The CIA engaged in a coup in Iran in 1953, which resulted in putting the ruthless Shah in power, which every US Administration supported until he was overthrown by his own people in 1979. Since 1979, every US President has treated Iran as a terrorist state and done everything in their power to undermine that country. For more details go here.

Venezuela – The US has been trying to undermine democracy in Venezuela since Hugo Chavez became president in 1999. Watch the documentary The Revolution will not be televised, which deals with the US-backed attempted coup in 2002. This means that the Bush, Obama, Trump I and the Biden Administrations have all been viewing Venezuela as a pariah state, but this is an ideological position and is not rooted in what is happening on the ground in Venezuela.  See the Liberal and Democratic Party responses to the Trump Administration’s kidnapping of Venezuela’s President.

Israel – The US has consistently supported the Israel since the Israeli state was created in 1948. For the past 50 years the number one recipient of US military aid has been Israel, regardless of who sits in the White House and who controls Congress. The Biden and Trump Administrations have been equally complicit with the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians.

Cuba – The US has intervened or attempted to intervene in Cuba since 1898, which you can see here in this history of US interventions timeline. Since the Cuba Revolution in 1959, the US has attempted to militarily invade Cuba, has imposed brutal sanctions on Cuba, engaged in assassination attempts and have broadcast State Department propaganda into Cuba for decades regardless of who sits in the White House or who contraols Congress. For further exploration I would recommend the following books: Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana; Dateline Havana; Bacardi: The Hidden War; Masters of War: Latin America and U.S. Aggression From the Cuban Revolution Through the Clinton Years.

Every major US war since Korea has had bi-partisan support from Congress. Every year since WWII when Congress votes for the US military budget it always passes with bi-partisan support, Every year that the US allocates foreign US military aid, whether that is Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, El Salvador or the Congo, there has always been bi-partisan support.

With the most recent bi-partisan effort to vote against Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s resolution we have to come to terms with the fact that the Democratic Party is equally committed to US Imperialism, US militarism and forever wars.