tsai3904
12-09-2011, 05:38 PM
http://paulcurtman.weebly.com/2/post/2011/12/i-like-the-founding-fathers-except-for-their-foreign-policy.html
“I Like The Founding Fathers -Except for their foreign policy.”
Understanding Ron Paul’s Foreign Policy
Like many conservatives, I have been watching the presidential debates between the GOP candidates. I talk with others about the debates and I have noticed a trend among the conservatives. Many of them like different candidates but when it comes to Ron Paul, I almost always hear people say something like, “I like Ron Paul- except for his foreign policy.” The more I listened to Congressman Paul explain his position on foreign policy, the closer I came to understanding his point of view and although I do not agree 100% with any candidate on the issues, I believe that Ron Paul’s foreign policy is closer aligned to keeping with the principles of liberty and the Constitution than any current GOP candidate.
People are under the impression that Ron Paul is an isolationist because he wants to bring our troops home from the 130 countries were we have them and he wants to stop going into countries like Somalia, Kosovo, Libya, Georgia, Iraq, Uganda, the Philippines… to “spread democracy”. A policy of non-interventionism is not by any means isolationism. Japan was an isolationist nation until Commodore Matthew Perry sailed a fleet of U.S. ships into the Bay of Tokyo with four war ships and demanded that Japan trade with the West. Ron Paul does not want to seclude America from the rest of the world, he wants America to operate our foreign policy according to the Constitution and follow the advice of the founding fathers.
I personally believe that America should strive to follow principles in all we do and not be so inclined to cave to the temptations of political smooth talk or our emotional responses to current happenings. Give this some thought: We borrow and spend our way into trillions of dollars worth of debt, sacrificing the lives of America’s youth so we can intervene in Libya, Kosovo, Somalia and even Iraq to “protect” and “liberate” civilians but then we turn a blind eye to similar dynamics in Rwanda, Darfur and even Yemen because we consider that nation an ally in the war on terror. How can anybody look at that foreign policy and still come to the conclusion that we are using principles to guide our actions? At what point will we realize that we should institute guiding principles instead of relying on emotional or otherwise unprincipled responses to pull us around the global maze. If you were to ask me, I would say let’s follow the Constitution and seek the wisdom of our Founding Fathers.
All of our Founding Fathers had an opinion on foreign policy but in my humble opinion, the best words on the issue came from our second President, John Adams. In looking ahead at what future generations of wise men would say about American, Adams wrote,
"If wise and learned philosophers of the elder world…. Should find their hearts disposed to enquire what has America done for the benefit of mankind? Let our answer be this: …She has uniformly spoken among them …the language of equal liberty, of equal justice, and of equal rights; …she has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when the conflict has been for principles through which she clings as to the last vital drop that visits the heart."
Full essay at link above.
“I Like The Founding Fathers -Except for their foreign policy.”
Understanding Ron Paul’s Foreign Policy
Like many conservatives, I have been watching the presidential debates between the GOP candidates. I talk with others about the debates and I have noticed a trend among the conservatives. Many of them like different candidates but when it comes to Ron Paul, I almost always hear people say something like, “I like Ron Paul- except for his foreign policy.” The more I listened to Congressman Paul explain his position on foreign policy, the closer I came to understanding his point of view and although I do not agree 100% with any candidate on the issues, I believe that Ron Paul’s foreign policy is closer aligned to keeping with the principles of liberty and the Constitution than any current GOP candidate.
People are under the impression that Ron Paul is an isolationist because he wants to bring our troops home from the 130 countries were we have them and he wants to stop going into countries like Somalia, Kosovo, Libya, Georgia, Iraq, Uganda, the Philippines… to “spread democracy”. A policy of non-interventionism is not by any means isolationism. Japan was an isolationist nation until Commodore Matthew Perry sailed a fleet of U.S. ships into the Bay of Tokyo with four war ships and demanded that Japan trade with the West. Ron Paul does not want to seclude America from the rest of the world, he wants America to operate our foreign policy according to the Constitution and follow the advice of the founding fathers.
I personally believe that America should strive to follow principles in all we do and not be so inclined to cave to the temptations of political smooth talk or our emotional responses to current happenings. Give this some thought: We borrow and spend our way into trillions of dollars worth of debt, sacrificing the lives of America’s youth so we can intervene in Libya, Kosovo, Somalia and even Iraq to “protect” and “liberate” civilians but then we turn a blind eye to similar dynamics in Rwanda, Darfur and even Yemen because we consider that nation an ally in the war on terror. How can anybody look at that foreign policy and still come to the conclusion that we are using principles to guide our actions? At what point will we realize that we should institute guiding principles instead of relying on emotional or otherwise unprincipled responses to pull us around the global maze. If you were to ask me, I would say let’s follow the Constitution and seek the wisdom of our Founding Fathers.
All of our Founding Fathers had an opinion on foreign policy but in my humble opinion, the best words on the issue came from our second President, John Adams. In looking ahead at what future generations of wise men would say about American, Adams wrote,
"If wise and learned philosophers of the elder world…. Should find their hearts disposed to enquire what has America done for the benefit of mankind? Let our answer be this: …She has uniformly spoken among them …the language of equal liberty, of equal justice, and of equal rights; …she has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when the conflict has been for principles through which she clings as to the last vital drop that visits the heart."
Full essay at link above.