Pat Buchanan's new book "A Republic, Not an Empire" is a companion book to his "The Great Betrayal." Both books have caught considerable in-coming fire due to the direct challenge to the conventional wisdom of our current power structure. And because of the hysteria surrounding a Buchanan third party presidential bid, the debate of ideas has been bypassed for argument by smear and innuendo.

The essence of the Buchanan position is summed up in this ending quote from "A Republic, Not an Empire":

"America 'is strategically immune in being insulated, invulnerable, impermeably and impervious, and thus has few security reasons to become engaged politically and militarily,' wrote historian Eric Nordlinger. In a world of hawks and doves, he suggested a different model: …[T]he metaphorical aviary of security studies…should be expanded to include eagles. They are powerful, keen-sighted, high-flying, remotely perched, and thus eminently well-protected birds. Symbolizing strength and freedom, the bald-headed eagle also happens to be America's national bird."

Do you not feel that there is something un-American about a foreign policy that seeks to involve this nation in all manners of entanglements and wars to force an ill-defined globalism on other nations? Perhaps to the cold war generation, having fought a communist threat that promised - "we will bury you," U.S. imperialism is the right of the victors. However, Patrick J. Buchanan's book rightly dispels that recipe for disaster by reminding us of the principles of the republic for which we stand.

Christian principles, which the American Reformation Project embraces as part of that republic, only support one possible foreign policy. That foreign policy is one of engagement, but non-intervention, and to assert this nation militarily only in defense or when our nation's direct interest are threatened. In other more scriptural words, a true U.S. foreign policy would be in the world, but not of the world.

"A Republic, Not an Empire" argues effectively that the advice and efforts of our nation's Fathers and their heirs reflected that simple belief. And further that as we have strayed from these truths we have created many deep problems for our country and her citizens.

With that said it is important to address the hysteric criticism of Pat Buchanan's work as it concerns the policies of this country in the Twentieth Century. Simply put, if the U.S. had remembered the faith and counsel of their fathers and stayed out of the First World War, a war in which we had no real national interest, then the century would have been different.

In the First World War the Europeans had ground to a halt. Yet instead of suing for peace, the U.S. entry ensured a longer war, an Allied victory, and set in motion a vindictive and punishing peace. From Germany's national disgrace and bitterness was created a climate right for demagoguery, and Hitler fit that bill. In Russia the Revolution had placed Lenin in control and yet another monster was born. While these interpretations of history may be arguable, there are enough historians of similar view to make this a valid presentation.

Yet the sound of jaws dropping all over punditry could be heard from coast to coast. Not only did the political elite's have a problem getting the point of the argument; they then did a curious thing. They took the rest of Pat Buchanan's legitimate questioning of the strategic moves of Britain, France and the U.S. in the lead up to America's entry into the Second World War and made the most outlandish claims. The legitimate arguments, that Britain and France were forced into a war over Poland because of "tripwire" war guarantee's that were strategically indefensible and had nothing to do with saving Poland as a nation, were largely ignored.

The over-arching premise of Buchanan's book is it's advocacy of an "in the world, but not of the world" American foreign policy. Avoiding the entanglements of the little geopolitical power games is the base argument of "A Republic, Not and Empire." And it is a powerful argument that Pat Buchanan offers, for it also contains a warning for those that will hear. For we have already lost many of our best, bravest and brightest fighting the wars whose origins are only dimly understood. Given this nation's leaders current "tripwire" commitments over the entire planet, it is this writer's hope that it is not said of this nation:

"So in the Libyan Fable it is told that once an eagle, stricken with a dart, said when he saw the fashion of the shaft, with our own feathers, not by others' hands are we now smitten."