Gene Healy on Why the Rand Paul-Rick Perry Feud Over Iraq Is Good for U.S. Policy

Thou
shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican—that’s the “11th
Commandment” coined by California’s GOP chairman in 1965
and popularized by President Ronald Reagan. It’s been
suspended for the duration, judging by Kentucky Sen. Rand
Paul and Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s ongoing dust-up over the
future of the GOP’s foreign policy—even while the two combined for
an impressive 19 invocations of Saint Ronnie in three dueling
op-eds. The 11th Commandment was a silly idea to begin with: A
little red-on-red internecine strife can be good fun, argues Gene
Healy, and the issues here are important. In Perry’s case, though,
it’s a shame he couldn’t come up with better arguments.

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