Ron Paul on Militarism

Imagine -
By Congressman Ron Paul
March 9, 2009

Imagine for a moment that somewhere in the middle of Texas there was a large foreign military base, say Chinese or Russian. Imagine that thousands of armed foreign troops were constantly patrolling American streets in military vehicles. Imagine they were here under the auspices of “keeping us safe” or “promoting democracy” or “protecting their strategic interests.”

Imagine that they operated outside of US law, and that the Constitution did not apply to them. Imagine that every now and then they made mistakes or acted on bad information and accidentally killed or terrorized innocent Americans, including women and children, most of the time with little to no repercussions or consequences. Imagine that they set up check points on our soil and routinely searched and ransacked entire neighborhoods of homes. Imagine if Americans were fearful of these foreign troops, and overwhelmingly thought America would be better off without their presence.

Imagine if some Americans were so angry about them being in Texas that they actually joined together to fight them off, in defense of our soil and sovereignty, because leadership in government refused or were unable to do so. Imagine that those Americans were labeled terrorists or insurgents for their defensive actions, and routinely killed, or captured and tortured by the foreign troops on our land. Imagine that the occupiers’ attitude was that if they just killed enough Americans, the resistance would stop, but instead, for every American killed, ten more would take up arms against them, resulting in perpetual bloodshed. Imagine if most of the citizens of the foreign land also wanted these troops to return home. Imagine if they elected a leader who promised to bring them home and put an end to this horror.

Imagine if that leader changed his mind once he took office.

The reality is that our military presence on foreign soil is as offensive to the people that live there as armed Chinese troops would be if they were stationed in Texas. We would not stand for it here, but we have had a globe straddling empire and a very intrusive foreign policy for decades that incites a lot of hatred and resentment towards us.

According to our own CIA, our meddling in the Middle East was the prime motivation for the horrific attacks on 9/11. But instead of re-evaluating our foreign policy, we have simply escalated it. We had a right to go after those responsible for 9/11, to be sure, but why do so many Americans feel as if we have a right to a military presence in some 160 countries when we wouldn’t stand for even one foreign base on our soil, for any reason? These are not embassies, mind you, these are military installations. The new administration is not materially changing anything about this. Shuffling troops around and playing with semantics does not accomplish the goals of the American people, who simply want our men and women to come home. 50,000 troops left behind in Iraq is not conducive to peace any more than 50,000 Russian soldiers would be in the United States.

Shutting down military bases and ceasing to deal with other nations with threats and violence is not isolationism. It is the opposite. Opening ourselves up to friendship, honest trade and diplomacy is the foreign policy of peace and prosperity. It is the only foreign policy that will not bankrupt us in short order, as our current actions most definitely will. I share the disappointment of the American people in the foreign policy rhetoric coming from the administration. The sad thing is, our foreign policy WILL change eventually, as Rome’s did, when all budgetary and monetary tricks to fund it are exhausted.

Bachmann, The GOP State Convention and Other Musings

Notably absent from the speakers at the Minnesota Republican Convention this weekend in Rochester, was Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. I hear she was in attendance at some point but did not address the delegates.

Erik Paulsen also did not address the delegates.

I find that to be pretty interesting. How worried are they of a You Tube moment?

It's been widely reported on right wing blogs that convention attendees were greeted with two large "Ron Carey approved" banners displaying who delegates were to vote for. A "Conservative Team" they called it.

Red Hat McCain staffers were marching across the convention floor dictating who each delegate should vote for by holding up yes and no placards.

Ah...democracy at its best! At least they have evolved to the point where they actually count votes, unlike the Meeker County Republicans failing to count votes because of their fear of the Ron Paul revolution.



AAA over at Residual Forces has a letter from the Chair of the McLeod County Republicans. Apparently, because they are upset with Norm Coleman and had threatened to not support him after he was endorsed, party leadership sought to remove BPOU's that did not support endorsed candidates.

Carey threw a temper tantrum.

When I was done speaking, Ron Carey slammed his chair back, ran to the microphone, and spoke out of order to direct a personal attack against me. In essence, he said that I was a dishonest BPOU chair who took too long getting his delegate lists to the party. (Funny thing, I thought it was Carey who wouldn’t share his lists with the Huckabee or Paul campaigns. Either I was misinformed or there’s a double standard.) He made it clear that the amendment would have been used against my county, and probably against McLeod. Fortunately, it failed by a vote of 66% to 33%.

Wow, and the righty bloggers say Al Franken has a temper! How many delegates did Carey do this in front of? This guy is still the Republican Party leader in Minnesota?

BTW, it's been 26 days since several progressive bloggers have called for the Ron Carey Gag Order to be lifted...nothing yet...

Mr. Carey, can you please remove the gag order on Michele Bachmann while you're at it?

Ron Carey meddles with GOP delegate elections

From a ticked off 6th CD GOP delegate.

So at the 3rd and 7th district conventions Ron Carey, state party chairman stepped in front of the conventions to call Ron Paul supporters a bunch of libertarian infiltrators who are going to destroy the party, neglecting to mention that many are long time party members. He then denounced us for running slates, which he waved around, and proceeded to order the delegates to vote for HIS slate if they didn't want to lose in November.

I wonder if Ron Baert knows Meeker County didn't even count their votes during precinct caucuses because...GASP...Ron Paul won Meeker County!

I questioned what was going on in Meeker County. When I checked the Secretary of State site this morning, the only precinct that reported numbers was Cedar Mills, where Ron Paul beat Mike Huckabee 83-67. Romney finished with 55 votes, McCain 43, and Alan Keyes 7.

It remains the only precinct in Meeker County to have results posted at the SOS site.

Interesting. Ron Paul won Meeker County and the "Republican Leadership" in Meeker County decided to not send in the proper election results? They reported zero's to their party and to the Secretary of State!

It's been said that "the revolution will not be televised". The "Ron Paul Revolution" swept through Meeker County Tuesday night yet the votes weren't even reported properly.

Granted, we know Ron Carey addressed these delegates long before the "Ron Carey Gag Order" was issued, the one where he cannot talk about the sorry state of the Minnesota Republican Party's finances.

It's been 4 days since the "Ron Carey Gag Order" was exposed. When will Carey actually talk to Minnesotans about the waste, fraud, and abuse with GOP finances?

We already know they cannot count votes, at least in Meeker County.

Democracy 101: Meeker County Republican Style

(Warning...naughty language depicted in an image)

So...recall my post about the SD 18 Caucus results?

I questioned what was going on in Meeker County. When I checked the Secretary of State site this morning, the only precinct that reported numbers was Cedar Mills, where Ron Paul beat Mike Huckabee 83-67. Romney finished with 55 votes, McCain 43, and Alan Keyes 7.

It remains the only precinct in Meeker County to have results posted at the SOS site.

Interesting. Ron Paul won Meeker County and the "Republican Leadership" in Meeker County decided to not send in the proper election results? They reported zero's to their party and to the Secretary of State!

It's been said that "the revolution will not be televised". The "Ron Paul Revolution" swept through Meeker County Tuesday night yet the votes weren't even reported properly.

It's been reported through the Litchfield Independent Review and other sources that Ron Paul won Litchfield as well, soundly defeating Huckabee, Romney, Keyes, and McCain. Yet, the SOS has no results up?

Isn't this the same party that's looking to change the way Minnesotan's vote? We know these cats are drinking the same kool-aid Tom Emmer and Dean Urdahl are drinking. Yet, they voted and the votes were not recorded?

I can imagine the horror all throughout Meeker County Tuesday night. I thought I heard the faint sound (while safely tucked away in my Wright County Outpost) of clanking pitchforks seeking out these "evil dooers", the infidels in charge of the Ron Paul Revolution.

So, I wonder how the conversation went, in order to come to such a monumental decision?

Surprised Meeker GOP leader: "Great Oden's Raven! Ron Paul has won Meeker County! This is crazy! What do we do?"

Surprised Meeker GOP leader II: "Let's burn em!"

Leader: "We can't ride across Meeker County burning Ron Paul supporters, Dean Urdahl's gonna need all the help he can get in November."

Leader II: "No, let's burn the ballots! Where's Mary Kiffmeyer when we need her?"

The angry mob must have worked its way across the County seeking out those responsible for the Meeker County "Ron Paul Revolution". The "Revolution" signage is still intact in Wright County...hopefully the winds will keep everything east of here...

In all seriousness now, I have had numerous conversations with Republican Leaders in Meeker County. They objected to my staunch anti war / Iraq position, even though most of them never served a day in our nation's military.

They spoke of American "bringing Democracy to the Middle East". Remember this photo?

You cannot deploy democracy.

I find it sad that the Meeker County Republican's tout the successes of the purple fingered Iraqi voters and yet on the same breath, gave another finger to those that showed up to vote and caucus this past Tuesday. They're all worried about those "illegals" voting but then lack the integrity and moral courage to accurately report their own results.

So, Ron Paul is so threatening to these individuals that they neglected to properly report 29 precincts in Meeker County? Now that's democracy!!!

"Thank you for coming to caucus tonight".