"Ron Paul’s philosophy is that of the Founding Fathers. For Paul, the Constitution is the law of the land, not a mere rhetorical tool. For Paul, maintaining limited government means “eternal vigilance,” to borrow Thomas Jefferson’s phrase, against political leaders’ tendency to empower themselves at the expense of the people. One of the ways government has historically empowered itself is through constant war.
Like the Founding Fathers, Ron Paul believes in a strong national defense. Also like the Founders, Paul fears adopting an irrational offense. Our first President George Washington expressed this fear on September 17, 1796 when he delivered his farewell address. Washington said America should:
Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all… In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave…
The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives…{sidebar id=47}
The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been the victim…
The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop…
Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel…
It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world… to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism…
How much of what Washington had to tell the American people sounds like Ron Paul today? Was Washington a pacifist? Hardly. An “isolationist?” Not at all.
A lot has changed since the 18th and 19th centuries and not everything the Founders’ envisioned for America is possible in the modern world. But their insight into the nature of man, the wickedness of political leaders and the centralizing tendency of government still holds true today. That we live in the modern world does not discount the genius of the U.S. Constitution. Neither does it discount the timeless wisdom of the men who wrote it.
There is no question that a nation like Iran is run by wicked men. The problem is, there also aren’t any questions about whether or not our typical response to such nations do us more harm than good. In the lead up to the Iraq War, not enough people asked such questions. Many American now regret this. Lessons not learned, many of our political leaders continue to stoke fear concerning any failure to act abroad. But we should be just as fearful that we might overreact. In fact, observing history, overreacting should be our greatest fear.
This was certainly a primary fear of the Founders, and Washington was right about the inherent dangers to liberty posed by permanent entanglements or alliances.
Agreeing with George Washington, Ron Paul is right to worry about those dangers too."{sidebar id=51}
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