Then I must sadly point out that you don't understand the difference between republic and empire......of course, you're not in that particular leaky little boat alone. OUR military is supposed to be for OUR protection, not the protection of other nations and peoples whether we may consider them 'friendly' or not. The middle-east has been unstable for hundreds of years and the only thing we're accomplishing there is to get our young men and women killed and maimed while increasing Muslim hatred of the U.S. Just how the heck is THAT making us 'safer'? Also, it's pretty easy to side-line quarterback but I tend to trust the opinions of those who are and have served in the military and they are overwhelmingly supporting Ron Paul with their hard-earned dollars. That fact alone should make one think about the differences in the candidate's positions on the middle-east.
Of course I do - you're the one who is unclear.
Empires don't garrison their allies - they garrison their overseas possessions.
When the US posts troops in foreign countries at the request of those countries' governments we are doing so as an act of friendship and a preservation of our interests - not to expand the frontiers of our sovereign territory.
First of all, a lot of people have worn the uniform, that doesn't make them right.. John Murtha was a dedicated Marine.. of course, that may not be the best analogy since Paul and Murtha sound alike on the war..
Also, you should really check the 'military overwhelmingly donating to Paul' fact(sic).. that has been debunked.. The tiny total he has received from those who list their employer as the Air Force, Army, or Marines, pales in comparison to the totals the others have received if you also add in people who list the Department of Defense and other variations of military/defense organizations as their employer... For example, John McCain has received $96 thousand dollars from people who list themselves in the defense industry compared to a paltry $5 thousand dollars for Paul. The analysis you are referring to that is parroted by Paulites was flawed in that it only looked for about 4 terms and didn't all the variations of military service terms that could be used. http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/sector.asp?id=N00005906&cycle=2008 http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/sector.asp?id=N00006424&cycle=2008
As to “overwhelming support” and “of the military with their dollars” or whatever, that is absolute Bullshit and has been disproved about as many times as there have been Paul threads.