Bi-polar Ron Paul
While I agree with Ron Paul on most things fiscal, these stunts are why I can never cast my vote for him. And so it goes every single time...
(BTW, his reference to the founding fathers is a bit disingenuous, knowing that they, while being reluctant to get involved in overseas kerfuffles, would do so if necessary. We have to give our support to the Iranian people who want to free themselves from the Islamo-fascists who rule them.)
In defense of Ron Paul, I think that the founding fathers erred on the side of live-and-let-live more than many conservatives would like to admit, especially since they lived in a time of European empires and colonialism, where a strategy of not meddling in entangling alliances and wars was the best way to focus on building up our own country. I don't agree with Ron Paul, nor some of the founding fathers, at this point in history, when the US is THE power... what served us prior to the 20th century failed miserably in that century and beyond. For example, Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito marched across half the world killing millions before we helped put an end to it, we could have acted sooner and should have. While Ron Paul's fidelity to the original philosophy that founded this country is admirable, to take an isolationist stance in a globalized world is as naive as thinking that talking nicely to dictators will make them see the error of their ways. Will Ron Paul also defend the founders' insistence that African-Americans' votes be counted as less than European-Americans' (whites came from Europe) votes? I think not.
I have no time for Ron Paul or any libertarian now.
If the citizens of Cuba found the wherewithal to rise up against the Castros and their thugs, he would be the one to vote not to help them.
aglibre, I agree that in the dangerous world that we live in now we must at least be vocal in support of liberty when we can.
Tell all those libertarian wiesenheimers; "QUE NO JODAN!!"
Either that, or read a bona-fide history book. To wit: More French troops FOUGHT and DIED at Yorktown, than colonial troops.
In all his writings, Cornwallis regarded Washington's troops as a nuisance. To his last days he credited The French (especially the French fleet) for his defeat.
This is a great little tid-bit, by the way, to throw in the faces of the snide weisenheimers who ask: "why Cubans can't fight for their own freedom like Americans did!!" (I use it often on radio shows with such weisenheimer call-ins)
Point is: had those European Empires followed Paul's and (George Washington's) policy of "no entangling alliances"--there would have been no U.S. "Founding Fathers" to begin with!!
Unreal.
The libertarian/paleo-conservative/classical liberal ideology is only useful in times of peace. Unfortunately, we are never at peace. Also, has anyone seen this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuOr5wI5gJs
Like the Joker says in the movie The Dark Knight. "It's all part of the plan."
While I don't want it to be true, I can't help to not stop thinking about OPERATION NORTHWOODS.
The House voted 405-1 today for a resolution in support of the Iranian dissidents and condemning the ruling government. And the one man who opposed it was...Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX).
Paul said in his floor speech that he was in "reluctant opposition" to the resolution -- that he of course condemns violence by governments against their citizens. On the other hand, he also doesn't think the American government should act as a judge of every country overseas, and pointed out that we don't condemn countries like Saudi Arabia or Egypt that don't even have real elections.
"It seems our criticism is selective and applied when there are political points to be made," Paul said. "I have admired President Obama's cautious approach to the situation in Iran and I would have preferred that we in the House had acted similarly."
Humberto, Cornwallis spent most of his years locked away after his defeat. The success of the American Revolution was not because of the french (we already had turned to the tide after the battle of Saratoga. Even before the french had fully supplied troops and a blockade in the Chesapeake Area. The battle of Saratoga is what lead to full french support. Cornwallis ultimate surrender was more abrupt because of french military power. By all means the American revolutionaries would have eventually would have removed the english. Ron Paul is not bi-polar one bit. He is true to the nations constitution.