Thursday, November 01, 2007

Candidate Review - Foreign Policy - Ron Paul

Listening to the Herbalizer right now - Take London. Probably good music to discuss Ron Paul too.

Ron Paul is the one Republican opposed to the Iraq War (which we will surely discuss two weeks hence when we do Iraq), but the rest of his foreign policy is pretty well summed up by one word - Isolationism.
Both Jefferson and Washington warned us about entangling ourselves in the affairs of other nations. Today, we have troops in 130 countries. We are spread so thin that we have too few troops defending America. And now, there are new calls for a draft of our young men and women.

. . . Under no circumstances should the U.S. again go to war as the result of a resolution that comes from an unelected, foreign body, such as the United Nations.

Too often we give foreign aid and intervene on behalf of governments that are despised. Then, we become despised. Too often we have supported those who turn on us, like the Kosovars who aid Islamic terrorists, or the Afghan jihadists themselves, and their friend Osama bin Laden. We armed and trained them, and now we’re paying the price.

At the same time, we must not isolate ourselves. The generosity of the American people has been felt around the globe. Many have thanked God for it, in many languages. Let us have a strong America, conducting open trade, travel, communication, and diplomacy with other nations.
I guess he means we should be isolationist when it comes to the Government, but open and outgoing when it comes to people and the economy. While I think we need to remain engaged (and yes, through the United Nations), this does sound a bit better than the Bush policy of continuous preemptive war.

No comments: