Ron Paul: Foreign policy should follow Founding Fathers' ideals

Raw Story | Oct. 8, 2007

By Nick Juliano

Just because Ron Paul doesn't want US troops traipsing across the globe doesn't mean he is an isolationist, the fiery libertarian argues in a column Monday.

The Texas congressman is the only Republican presidential candidate who is calling for a full and immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, and he has called for US military bases overseas to be closed, leading some to charge that he wants to shut off America to the rest of the world.

"It is not we non-interventionists who are isolationists," Paul writes in the New Hampshire Union Leader Monday. "The real isolationists are those who impose sanctions and embargoes on countries and peoples across the globe because they disagree with the internal and foreign policies of their leaders. The real isolationists are those who choose to use force overseas to promote democracy, rather than seek change through diplomacy, engagement, and by setting a positive example."

Paul was writing in response to a Union Leader editorial that argued Paul was naive for believing his policies would not risk a US invasion. That is "just what the isolationist Republicans of the 1930s believed -- right up until Pearl Harbor," the paper said.

The call to reduce America's foreign presence is based on the Founding Fathers, whose "political philosophy -- the wisdom of the Constitution, the Declaration, and our Revolution itself -- is not just a primitive cultural relic," Paul writes.

"[B]y what superior wisdom have we now declared Jefferson, Washington, and Madison to be 'unrealistic and dangerous'?" Paul asks. "Why do we insist on throwing away their most considered warnings?"

Paul, whose campaign has garnered more attention since a $5 million fundraising haul last quarter, accuses his Republican opponents -- and the current administration -- on using fear of a terrorist bogeyman to justify wars and foreign intervention.

"It scares the living daylights out of me that they would do that, to talk about perpetual war," Paul told the Concord Monitor, dismissing the contention that the country will be threatened by Islamic terrorism for a generation or longer. "All that is, they have to have an enemy."

Paul has made waves in Republican debates as the only candidate on stage calling for a drawdown of US troops across the globe. He has claimed "blowback" from US occupation of Middle Eastern countries has fueled terrorist threats against America.

"A Paul administration would see Americans engaged overseas like never before, in business and cultural activities," he wrote in Monday's column. "But a Paul administration would never attempt to export democracy or other values at the barrel of a gun, as we have seen over and over again that this is a counterproductive approach that actually leads the United States to be resented and more isolated in the world."