Dr. (Ron) Paul's Texas Straight Talk (Foreign Policy)

Imagine for a moment that somewhere in the middle of Texas there was a large foreign military base, say Chinese or Russian. Imagine that thousands of armed foreign troops were constantly patrolling American streets in military vehicles. Imagine they were here under the auspices of “keeping us safe” or “promoting democracy” or “protecting their strategic interests.”

Imagine that they operated outside of US law, and that the Constitution did not apply to them. Imagine that every now and then they made mistakes or acted on bad information and accidentally killed or terrorized innocent Americans, including women and children, most of the time with little to no repercussions or consequences. Imagine that they set up check points on our soil and routinely searched and ransacked entire neighborhoods of homes. Imagine if Americans were fearful of these foreign troops, and overwhelmingly thought America would be better off without their presence.

Imagine if some Americans were so angry about them being in Texas that they actually joined together to fight them off, in defense of our soil and sovereignty, because leadership in government refused or were unable to do so. Imagine that those Americans were labeled terrorists or insurgents for their defensive actions, and routinely killed, or captured and tortured by the foreign troops on our land. Imagine that the occupiers’ attitude was that if they just killed enough Americans, the resistance would stop, but instead, for every American killed, ten more would take up arms against them, resulting in perpetual bloodshed. Imagine if most of the citizens of the foreign land also wanted these troops to return home. Imagine if they elected a leader who promised to bring them home and put an end to this horror.

Imagine if that leader changed his mind once he took office.

The reality is that our military presence on foreign soil is as offensive to the people that live there as armed Chinese troops would be if they were stationed in Texas. We would not stand for it here, but we have had a globe straddling empire and a very intrusive foreign policy for decades that incites a lot of hatred and resentment towards us.

According to our own CIA, our meddling in the Middle East was the prime motivation for the horrific attacks on 9/11. But instead of re-evaluating our foreign policy, we have simply escalated it. We had a right to go after those responsible for 9/11, to be sure, but why do so many Americans feel as if we have a right to a military presence in some 160 countries when we wouldn’t stand for even one foreign base on our soil, for any reason? These are not embassies, mind you, these are military installations. The new administration is not materially changing anything about this. Shuffling troops around and playing with semantics does not accomplish the goals of the American people, who simply want our men and women to come home. 50,000 troops left behind in Iraq is not conducive to peace any more than 50,000 Russian soldiers would be in the United States.

Shutting down military bases and ceasing to deal with other nations with threats and violence is not isolationism. It is the opposite. Opening ourselves up to friendship, honest trade and diplomacy is the foreign policy of peace and prosperity. It is the only foreign policy that will not bankrupt us in short order, as our current actions most definitely will. I share the disappointment of the American people in the foreign policy rhetoric coming from the administration. The sad thing is, our foreign policy WILL change eventually, as Rome’s did, when all budgetary and monetary tricks to fund it are exhausted.

www.house.gov...,tx14_paul,blog,999,All,Item%20not%20found,ID=090309_2735,TEMPLATE=postingdetail.shtml

He's right. I really like his stance on foreign policy...we need to bring everyone back home. We don't have the right to occupy every country in the world with our military, just as no other country has the right to do that here.

We need to get out....before we spend ourselves out.

[edit on 10-3-2009 by David9176]

I agree with Paul on that one.... we have what some 70 bases around the world as I understand... we have no business there. Although I agree with the afghanistan war (my teeth is firmly on 911 and the war on Osama) we had no business in Iraq, we have no business with our bases in the UK and the rest of Europe... its been what some 60/70 odd years since WW2 so we dont need to be there anymore, what the heck do we need to be in Saudi Arabia for? We should leave there aswell.. lets just back up our bags... we have spent trillions as an equivalent over the decades we have allowed our bases there.

We cannot be the police of the world...

This is one of the few things I agree with RP on - though I'm not nearly as much of an isolationist as he. I remember when Nixon closed bases and cut back military spending in Europe in '72 and '73 how angry people in Germany were, whereas many of the same people had been badmouthing the USA for policing the entire world before that. Military bases = money $$$$$ for local economies big time.

reply to post by Southern Guardian


We need to protect the border.

When US Civilians are getting killed by illegals..something has to be done.

The problem seems to be getting worse each day.

This should be one of our top priorities. That's the purpose of our military..to protect it's citizens...and i know that they would like nothing more than to do so.

As for the rest...i think we need out everywhere. I just don't think it will ever end. It's been close to 8 years now...lots of stupid decisions have been made.

When do we cut our losses and let the world fend for itself?

This is the reason the GOP has attempted to marginalize & dismiss Rep. Paul at every turn.

He represents true conservative principles, which include opposition to overseas interventionism.

Unfortunately, the GOP of today is filled with militarists, and largely funded by massive defense contractors.

The last thing they want to hear is a guy like Ron Paul, who wants to pull our military out of foreign countries, and cut our bloated "defense" budget to what is actually necessary to defend the United States.