War and Peace, Conservatism and Ron Paul

Tom Woods on why conservatives should support Ron Paul’s foreign policy of peace.

The Foreign Policy Dictatorship: Fox Interview Ron Paul & Lew Rockwell

Ron Paul Challenges GOP’s Foreign Policy Agenda

By Doug Bandow

It has been nearly a decade since President George W. Bush chose arrogance over humility as the basis of American foreign policy. The intervening years have not been good for the United States or the Republican Party. As the GOP seeks to take back the White House it needs to conduct a serious foreign policy debate. Republicans should start by listening to Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

At the recent Southern Republican Leadership Conference big spending Mitt Romney bested Rep. Paul by just one vote in the popularity contest. Yet Paul eschewed reliance on easy applause lines and challenged the newfound Republican fondness for big militaries and constant wars.

For instance, Paul observed that conservatives, like liberals, enjoyed spending money, only “on different things. They like embassies, and they like occupation. They like the empire. They like to be in 135 countries and 700 bases.”

Similarly, Paul said, conservatives talked about following the Constitution, “except for war. Let the president go to war anytime they want.”

Paul garnered applause from more youthful members of the audience. But boos were heard as well. Many establishment GOP activists appear to have become wedded to a big-government foreign policy.

When Politico polled activists and analysts about why the GOP mainstream was hostile to Paul, James Carafano of the Heritage Foundation complained that “The deliberate self-weakening of America is an invitation to disaster.” Carafano argued that Paul failed to fulfill the constitutional obligation to “provide for the common defense” and that the latter’s vision would not keep America “safe, free, and prosperous.”

Yet Washington’s policy of promiscuous intervention is not providing for America’s “common defense.” Rather, the U.S. is protecting virtually every other nation. That’s one reason why the Pentagon was incapable of defending Americans when the U.S. was attacked on 9/11,

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The George Bush You Never Knew.

Wow.  It didn’t take him long to change his tune.

The Missing Hope Inside Obama’s Foreign Policy

The false hope in Obama is already giving way to the reality of his policies and actions.  Already Obama has ordered the bombings in Pakistan, killing many civilians.  Is this the change many hoped for?  Or perhaps the change most people are waiting for is the reduction (not complete withdrawal) of troops in Iraq.  Or the coming addition of 20,000 – 30,000 new troops into Afghanistan.  Or perhaps you are excited about the coming change in Obamas plan for our military:  more defense spending and expanding our military by nearly 100,000 Army & Marines. Perhaps, Obama’s hawkish cabinet and appointment of Bush’s secretary of Defense is your hope for change.

To me hope for change in light of these policies, seems asinine, or at least to be rather cleverly deceived.  It looks to me as though Obama will continue the foreign policy of Bush, but perhaps few will realize it.  We can only hope that our violent and unjust foreign policy will come to an end, be it by the education of our people and the electoral process or through the financial destruction brought upon ourselves by continuous empire building and war.

As for me,  I’ll leave my hope out of the Obama presidency.  I hope he and his new administration surprises me, but I refuse to be so blindly following a president that it takes 7-8 years to realize that he is not working for the people.

“Let there not be blind faith in government, or let tyranny and injustice rule.”