A wait-and-see foreign policy?

Rand Paul is popular in Colorado. More popular than Texas Governor Rick Perry, who takes on Senator Paul in a recent Op-Ed column in the Washington Post:

As a veteran, and as a governor who has supported Texas National Guard deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, I can understand the emotions behind isolationism. Many people are tired of war, and the urge to pull back is a natural, human reaction. Unfortunately, we live in a world where isolationist policies would only endanger our national security even further.

What did Ronald Reagan do?

Reagan identified Soviet communism as an existential threat to our national security and Western values, and he confronted this threat in every theater. Today, we count his many actions as critical to the ultimate defeat of the Soviet Union and the freeing of hundreds of millions from tyranny.

At the time, though, there were those who said that Reagan’s policies would push the Soviets to war. These voices instead promoted accommodation and timidity in the face of Soviet advancement as the surest path to peace. This, sadly, is the same policy of inaction that Paul advocates today.

Paul is an articulate advocate for his views, which are shared by many on the left and some on the right. But in today’s world, with today’s threats, we still cannot “take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost.” That was President Reagan’s warning. Sen. Paul would be wise to heed it.

Rod Radosh is glad Governor Perry has challenged Senator Paul:

If you as an American believe our nation is really not at war, and that Iran has only peaceful intentions and does not want a nuclear weapon, or that ISIS and al-Qaeda are not a threat to our security, you are living in an illusory world.

Rand Paul may indeed gain popularity with his comfortable isolationist position. (Sorry, Senator: I know you consider it a pejorative, but it’s accurate.) If the Republicans nominate him as their presidential candidate, it will be a disaster in the making. They will be giving up a traditionally strong argument for their party — that Republicans will protect our national security. They will be aligning themselves with the left-wing of the already leftist Democrats, where peace at any price has been, for a long time, the popular policy to espouse.

So thank you Governor Perry, for daring to make the case for a strong foreign policy early in the day before the Republican primaries, giving Republican voters time to think over these important issues before they cast a vote for Rand Paul.

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