Freedom from Alaska!

Ron Paul: Instead of Bombs and Bribes, Let’s Try Empathy and Trade

“Sadly, one thing that has entirely escaped modern American foreign policy is empathy.

Without much humility or regard for human life, our foreign policy has been reduced to alternately bribing and bombing other nations, all with the stated goal of “promoting democracy.” But if a country democratically elects a leader who is not sufficiently pro-American, our government will refuse to recognize them, will impose sanctions on them, and will possibly even support covert efforts to remove them. Democracy is obviously not what we are interested in. It is more likely that our government is interested in imposing its will on other governments. This policy of endless intervention in the affairs of others is very damaging to American liberty and security.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCKtJVYr4ds]

Transcript from: antiwar.com

What if tomorrow morning you woke up to headlines that yet another Chinese drone bombing on U.S. soil killed several dozen ranchers in a rural community while they were sleeping? That a drone aircraft had come across the Canadian border in the middle of the night and carried out the latest of many attacks? What if it was claimed that many of the victims harbored anti-Chinese sentiments, but most of the dead were innocent women and children? And what if the Chinese administration, in an effort to improve its public image in the U.S., had approved an aid package to send funds to help with American roads and schools and promote Chinese values here?

Most Americans would not stand for it. Yet the above hypothetical events are similar to what our government is doing in Pakistan. Last week, Congress did approve an aid package for Pakistan for the stated purposes of improving our image and promoting democracy. I again made the point on the floor of the House that still no one seems to hear: What if this happened on U.S. soil? What if innocent Americans were being killed in repeated drone attacks carried out by some foreign force who was trying to fix our problems for us? Would sending money help their image? If another nation committed this type of violence and destruction on our homeland, would we be at all interested in adopting their values?

Sadly, one thing that has entirely escaped modern American foreign policy is empathy. Without much humility or regard for human life, our foreign policy has been reduced to alternately bribing and bombing other nations, all with the stated goal of “promoting democracy.” But if a country democratically elects a leader who is not sufficiently pro-American, our government will refuse to recognize them, will impose sanctions on them, and will possibly even support covert efforts to remove them. Democracy is obviously not what we are interested in. It is more likely that our government is interested in imposing its will on other governments. This policy of endless intervention in the affairs of others is very damaging to American liberty and security.

If we were really interested in democracy, peace, prosperity, and safety, we would pursue more free trade with other countries. Free and abundant trade is much more conducive to peace because it is generally bad business to kill your customers. When one’s livelihood is on the line, and the business agreements are mutually beneficial, it is in everyone’s best interests to maintain cooperative and friendly relations and not kill each other. But instead, to force other countries to bend to our will, we impose trade barriers and sanctions. If our government really wanted to promote freedom, Americans would be free to travel and trade with whoever they wished. And if we would simply look at our own policies around the world through the eyes of others, we would understand how these actions make us more targeted and therefore less safe from terrorism. The only answer is get back to free trade with all and entangling alliances with none. It is our bombs and sanctions and condescending aid packages that isolate us.

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3 Comments

  1. Disregard for human life and values may be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is effective.
    It’ll all work out, but it will take, oh, 200 to 300 years. Just you wait and see.
    Our great-great-great-grandkids will be amazed how this generation truly was
    the best and the brightest.

  2. Error: should be a “not” in the first sentence of the comment…reading “may NOT be”.

    Maybe it makes sense either way.
    After all, 200 to 300 years…

  3. Jeff Fenske

    Montag,

    We may know sooner than that, and ethically speaking we already know, if the means are more important than the ends.

    The ends don’t justify the means, but the ends don’t look so good either.

    In case you find yourself in a bread-line (or worse) maybe even a only few years from now, just remember, we all could have voted for Ron Paul. We had the chance. Now it’s too late.

    Maybe we should have apologized to Iraq and Afghanistan and all of the other countries we have no right to meddle with, killing millions of innocent people around the world.

    Why aren’t church leaders calling for repentance, for change in our hearts, to really love our neighbors as ourselves?

    We are self-destructing by design, if we’re ‘bright’ enough to research what is really going on.

    We’ve been jacked. They’re doing it to us. There is no physical way out of this coming social disaster. We had it all….

    jeff

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