Yes, I realize there are a few others who have come out on the side of the angels in the mosque Islamic community center debate. But Ron Paul is higher profile. He seems to be the most principled politician on either side of the divide. I know there have been charges of racism and that libertarianism deep down is crazy, but moments like this are likely the reason he inspires the devotion that he does.
Ron ripped into opponents of the Cordoba House project, saying that the rhetoric taking on the plan is clearly "all about hate and Islamaphobia."
And:
"The outcry over the building of the mosque, near ground zero, implies that Islam alone was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. According to those who are condemning the building of the mosque, the nineteen suicide terrorists on 9/11 spoke for all Muslims," Ron wrote in a statement to RonPaul.com "This is like blaming all Christians for the wars of aggression and occupation because some Christians supported the neo-conservative's aggressive wars."
And no, I don’t give a rat’s ass about his unprincipled kid.
Classic Ron Paul:
I like the spirit of what he has to say, but I'd be cautious about blanket non-intervention. Peacekeeping is not nation-building, and genocide is enabled by people who look the other way.
ReplyDeleteSome of Paul's other ideas are indeed highly questionable.
He is one of the few on the right capable of having a civilized conversation. Of course he's wrong most of the time. But he is civil.
ReplyDeleteThere likely are times when we should send troops to do peacekeeping duties and to provide assistance at times such as the tsunami in India. But after we get most of them back home after the two major debacles we're involved in now I think any new engagements are going to be a hard sell. Not that that matters. Operation Iraqi Freedom would have taken place no matter what.
ReplyDeleteNearly no one here has any skin in the game. And the military is all volunteers anyway. No one including myself gives as much thought as we should to Iraq or Afghanistan. And we have media that's ready to cheer on a new war anytime, any place. The propaganda accompanying our military actions is just so much window dressing anyway. The government is going to continue with little imperial actions without being answerable to its citizens. Debt is our only limitation now.
Iraq was a mistake, and I said so in the lead-up to anyone who'd listen. Afghanistan is a bit more difficult... but harder to justify the longer it goes on.
ReplyDeleteJohn Kerry said in the 2004 election that Afghanistan should have been a law enforcement issue and was beaten severely about the head and shoulders over it. But, after 9/11 there wasn't much disagreement here from anyone about going in, including Kerry I believe.
ReplyDeleteHad to go look it up to make sure, but Barbara Lee was the only person in either branch to vote against the invasion of Afghanistan. And she's looking like a prophet these days.