[PieterCasparzen]

I understand his foreign policy seems a bit odd. But even George Washington cautioned against getting involved with foreign wars.

This appeal to GW in supporting isolationist foreign policy is flawed, but it's all over the internet; many folks don't see the flaw. The world today is extremely different from GW's world in terms of military power. In GW's time, America was a tiny backwater nation. It was not a superpower. Nowadays, America is the preeminent superpower, but other nations certainly have much more military ability than nations did in GW's day. Weapons today can reach across oceans in a matter of hours, starting with the initial attack planning to impact. IN GW's day, military planners had the leisure of seeing enemies approach across oceans for months. Military technology today requires engineering and manufacturing capabilities that must be exercised to be maintained, and if the exercise is abandoned for a year or two, a nations' military can become fundamentally behind their competitor nations and have an enormously difficult time catching up for decades, during which time they will be completely vulnerable to forces with superior technology. Technology in GW's day simply did not progress so rapidly, and the cost of falling behind was nowhere near as great. Wars are no longer solely fought by hand.

The old "GW said we should be isolationist so we should be sticking to that 200 years later" is simplistically comparing apples and oranges, and GW would without a doubt be the first one to remind folks that we live in a different world than 1789 America. We should have the same principles, of course, where timeless principles are concerned. But realizing that there are new requirements on the military in it's duty to defend America when there are ICBM's pointed at her should not be too much a stretch of the imagination for anyone with a modicum of common sense.

The primary geopolitical difference, IMHO, is that America is the leader of the free world. Great Britain was the leading military superpower of GW's day.

Consequently, if America decides to stand down from her force projection around the world (Paul seeks to close U.S. bases around the world), such measures would degrade our capabilities so much that the proposal is somewhere between ludicrous and treasonous. One cannot simply snap one's fingers and deploy a carrier task force halfway around the world without logistical support; having the worldwide presence that we do has become essential to our national security. Only those who seek to degrade our military to put it on a par with our most significan competitors, or fools, would suggest massive force reductions. History teaches us that force reductions and weakness always cause wars instead of preventing them.

This is why Ron Paul's view is seen as a fringe view when it comes to foreign policy. Of course, some military support him, but this would be expected given the political correctness of our society during the current and recent wars. I know that it would be very troubling to me if I was soldiering under the current thinking, where we're being warm and friendly to the same enemies we're fighting, and we refuse to even admit that our enemies hate us and we can't even correctly identify who "the enemy" actually is.

Waiting in the wings is the world-wide new left/communist intelligentsia, which envisions their domination of the world, and has Western and even American universities and media as their base of operations. The dark night that is totalitarian repression is still at the helm of communist nations; they never "lost" or went anywhere. Statists would love to have America simply withdraw it's military ambitions and simply become a satellite nation for vacations for their own elites, complete with it's own communist/statist "vichy" government which would bow to statist control. Many wealthy elites of America espouse the ideas of socialism and statism, undoubtedly reasoning that through statist government corruption they would retain their wealth.

[MSSC6644]

Only those who seek to degrade our military to put it on a par with our most significant competitors, or fools, would suggest massive force reductions.

To quote from his web site:

As an Air Force veteran, Ron Paul believes national defense is the single most important responsibility the Constitution entrusts to the federal government.

In Congress, Ron Paul voted to authorize military force to hunt down Osama bin Laden and authored legislation to specifically target terrorist leaders and bring them to justice.

Today, however, hundreds of thousands of our fighting men and women have been stretched thin all across the globe in over 135 countries – often without a clear mission, any sense of what defines victory, or the knowledge of when they’ll be permanently reunited with their families.

Acting as the world’s policeman and nation-building weakens our country, puts our troops in harm’s way, and sends precious resources to other nations in the midst of an historic economic crisis.

Taxpayers are forced to spend billions of dollars each year to protect the borders of other countries, while Washington refuses to deal with our own border security needs.

Congress has been rendered virtually irrelevant in foreign policy decisions and regularly cedes authority to an executive branch that refuses to be held accountable for its actions.

Far from defeating the enemy, our current policies provide incentive for more to take up arms against us.

That’s why, as Commander-in-Chief, Dr. Paul will lead the fight to:

* Make securing our borders the top national security priority.

* Avoid long and expensive land wars that bankrupt our country by using constitutional means to capture or kill terrorist leaders who helped attack the U.S. and continue to plot further attacks.

* Guarantee our intelligence community’s efforts are directed toward legitimate threats and not spying on innocent Americans through unconstitutional power grabs like the Patriot Act.

* End the nation-building that is draining troop morale, increasing our debt, and sacrificing lives with no end in sight.

* Follow the Constitution by asking Congress to declare war before one is waged.

* Only send our military into conflict with a clear mission and all the tools they need to complete the job – and then bring them home.

* Ensure our veterans receive the care, benefits, and honors they have earned when they return.

* Revitalize the military for the 21st century by eliminating waste in a trillion-dollar military budget.

* Prevent the TSA from forcing Americans to either be groped or ogled just to travel on an airplane and ultimately abolish the unconstitutional agency.

* Stop taking money from the middle class and the poor to give to rich dictators through foreign aid.

As President, Ron Paul’s national defense policy will ensure that the greatest nation in human history is strong, secure, and respected.