Here is my take on it, I use to be a supporter of George W. Bush and I like many people believed in this war on terror. Even after campaigning for the primaries started I was still on that belief and was not for Ron Paul. Like most people truly interested in politics, I started looking into all the candidates. Mostly the republicans since I am registered as a republican, and I believe a bad republican is still better then a good democrat. A friend of mine who I frequently talk and/or debate politics with was a Ron Paul support from the beginning. So I decided to look into Ron Paul more. In the beginning there was a lot I liked about Ron Paul, the big issue I had with him was his views or foreign policy. I was not for “cut and run” as it has been called and I still am not for that idea (I will cover that on another blog). To make something else known, I am not a conspiracy theory person, I don’t believe 9/11 was an inside government job or that Pearl Harbor was ignored just to get us into World War II. So according to O’Reilly I am not a “pinhead” or a “left wing loon”. In fact just the opposite and I would challenge that I am more of a Patriot then Bill O’Reilly. I watched his show today and his interview with a Ron Paul supporter made me mad. Mad because O’Reilly is smarter then that, he could easily understand Ron Paul’s foreign policy if he would pay a little more attention to what Ron Paul is saying. One thing that really got me upset is when O’Reilly thought Ron Paul was crazy for saying that we should not be in Pakistan following Bhutto’s assassination. I ask O’Reilly, why would you call that crazy, why is it the business of the United States to be over in Pakistan with a military presence, ever more so after an assassination? Why Bill, why? He says because the Pakistan is unstable and the Jihadist might get control of the country and the nuclear bombs that Pakistan has, so naturally it is for our safety. So O’Reilly wants to spend our money, expose our military personnel, and push will upon these people based on an assumption that the jihadist might, might get their hands on Pakistan’s nukes. Is Ron Paul the crazy one? Bill O’Reilly calls Ron Paul crazy for not fearing Iran. Bill thinks we have to be in the Middle East and we have to be the ones to control Iran, that only America can bring stability to the Middle East. Who sounds crazy? As you recall I said at one time I disagreed with Ron Paul on his foreign policy, what changed? Well I listened to Dr. Paul and what he had to say, and then I listened to what people like Bill O’Reilly had to say. What changed it who I thought made more sense, which was Dr. Paul. So I thought I would take a moment and explain it to Mr. O’Reilly exactly what Dr. Paul is saying. It is believed that Ron Paul and his supporters are an extreme group. This is not the case and Bill O’Reilly and the MSM owes it to us to let us make our case and defend the accusations. We do not want a weak national defense, we do not want to America and its citizens to be attacked or killed in any way. In fact we believe the job of the government is to protect our life, liberty, and property. We just think it can be done a different way, our foreign policy hasn’t change in over 50 plus years. We believe it should change, we are willing to try it a different way. I also want to point out that Ron Paul has received more money in donations for military members then any other candidate and has a big support among many Veterans group. All this and the MSM still ignore him and make fun of his views.
Ron Paul and Foreign Policy
Ron Paul does not believe that we should be the world police and that we should only go to war with a declaration from congress. So why would O’Reilly think he is crazy for saying we shouldn’t be in Pakistan after the assassination of Bhutto. We had presidents and political figures assassinated here, how would we feel if Pakistan, Russia, or even England sent troops over here after JFK was assassinated? And we had an attempted assassination on Ronald Reagan. We would not be happy at all if other countries got involved and may I point out we have over 15,000 more nukes then Pakistan. Shouldn’t we let the people of Pakistan sort this out, and if the threat is what O’Reilly makes it out to be what is the United Nations doing, why is it just the United States and our troops, and our tax money? The answer is the United Nations is corrupt and useless. Oh and by the way Dr. Paul wants us to get out of the United Nations. Those who make fun of Dr. Paul’s when he talks about blow back are not paying attention. How would we feel if other countries got involved in our political process, assassination or not? If you have read the book “Black Hawk Down” by Mark Bowden, he discusses how many of the Somalis first supported the UN effort to help the country out, they would later despise it and America for the way we handled it. That many of them were capitalist but at the time of the famous black hawk down story all they could recall is helicopters tearing up their houses and soldiers killing their people, they soon joined in to kill Americans. And look almost a decade later and Somalia is still unstable. The United States foreign policy is hypocritical when it comes to countries we trade with and deal with. China, Russia, India, England, France, Israel, and Pakistan all have nukes, and we still trade with them, we don’t get involved with China like we do the Middle East and Pakistan. What about all the nukes floating around after the fall of the Soviet Union? Most people were more scared of the post Soviet era with all the rogue states and the amount of nuclear weapons that were unaccounted for then we were afraid of the Soviet Union its self. Saudi Arabia is not much better with civil rights, and their extreme leaders however we still are peaceful with them, trade with them and even sell them our military equipment.
O’Reilly thought Dr. Paul crazy for not being scared of Iran. That once Iran dominates the Middle East all hell will break lose. Dr. Paul believes we shouldn’t be preemptive and make our point that we might attack you. He feels that a country that doesn’t even have a nuke that doesn’t even have the ability to reach America with any kind of military force isn’t a threat. That sounds logical to me. Once again China, India and Russia have nukes why isn’t O’Reilly calling for America to attack them. It is said we do it to protect Israel, when did that become our job? Israel has over 300 nukes and a very capable military and Dr. Paul feels they can protect themselves. Why would Saudi Arabia and Israel let Iran dominate the Middle East? Why do O’Reilly and all the neo-cons think this is America’s job? Dr. Paul does not think this is the job of America and it a legitimate view point. We have plenty of oil in our own country, we have plenty of reliable importers of oil like Canada and Russia, why go to war over our oil interest? All we are asking for is let us try Dr. Paul’s way let us change our foreign policy. We want to have free trade with countries, no country that has ever been involved in free trade with the United States has ever gone to war with the United States. In a true capitalist society there is no room for war. The position is best stated by Ayn Rand in Capitalism The Unknown Ideal, “Capitalism is the only social system based on the recognition of individual rights, and therefore, the only system that bans force from social relationships. By the nature of its basic principles and interest, it is the only system fundamentally opposed to war”. Dr Paul’s position is simple America must led by example, if we are the wealthiest strongest country on the planet it is because of our freedom and that the freedom message will prevail. Until we pull our forces out of other countries and change our foreign policies we will never know if Ron Paul’s idea is the right idea, however we do know that the current status quo is not working. The attacks on September 11, 2001 were not the first attacks on America and yet our foreign policy has not changed in period between the other attacks and 9/11 and even after. There is no reason America should not maintain the best, most professional, strongest military on the planet, which is the best deterrent against anyone who would try to take away our freedoms. It should not be used to attack other countries and force our beliefs and will upon other nations and their people. Any country out there knows it is crazy and almost impossible to attack the United States, so why do we have our military based all over the world?
So why are Ron Paul and his supporter crazy for asking for a new policy? The real question is why are those in agreement with the status quo not crazy? A guest on O’Reilly’s show said Ron Paul does not have a plan in his foreign policy. Once again you have a person who is not paying attention. If O’Reilly wants to hear more of his plan then don’t just ask about Iran ask about his entire foreign policy, Dr. Paul will be glad to explain it. Dr. Paul does not smear anyone he does not have a negative campaign, don’t treat him with negativity give him the opportunity to tell you his plan. Just because your plan is simple and logical doesn’t mean it isn’t a plan.
Rand, Ayn, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, Signet by New American Library, 1967
Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
1 comment:
The secret to Ron Paul's policies is to put yourself in the other countrymen's shoes. Once that is possible, lots of light bulbs go off.
Good analysis.
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