October 22, 2007 - True Patriot and Congressman
Ron
Paul
A few months back, I wrote back-to-back weekly messages regarding
globalism and isolationism. In writing those columns, I focused
on the fact that our nation’s interventionist foreign
policy was precisely what was isolating us from other countries.
Turkey’s recall of their U.S. ambassador in the wake
of last week’s resolution, passed in the House Foreign
Affairs Committee in condemnation of Turkey, is a perfect example
of what I wrote in those columns, as well as what I have been
saying for years.
The House has passed similar resolutions for years, praising
some foreign countries or political groups while chastising
others. It is my policy to vote against resolutions of this
sort whenever they have the impact of placing our country in
the middle of an internal political problem of some other nation,
or involving us in some regional conflict. In fact, this is
almost always the specific intent of resolutions of this sort.
Often, I am the only Member of Congress to vote against these
resolutions.
Some have questioned these votes, arguing that they are meaningless
statements of opinion. However, I have always been more skeptical,
and careful, about voting for these measures. Last week’s
reaction by Turkey , a long term ally and NATO member, shows
that Congress should be a lot more restrained in sticking our
government’s nose into the affairs of other nations.
Even though I am no fan of the war in Iraq , keeping positive
relations with Turkey is important to protecting our troops
who have been sent to fight this war. We are likely to need
cordial relations with Turkey so that we can get our troops
out of Iraq as quickly and safely as possible, when the time
comes.
As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, my office has
been contacted both by the White House and the Turkish Embassy.
They know I oppose these types of interventionist resolutions
and they know I will not support the current resolution. They
also know full well that this particular resolution will only
serve to strain an important international relationship our
country should be seeking to strengthen.
In this instance, the problem is that many of my colleagues
in Congress are more interested in seeking to score political
points and proclaim their moral superiority, instead of worrying
about our nation’s best interests. Also, in most of these
situations, those who oppose the resolution regarding Turkey
all-too-often fail to realize that similar resolutions dealing
with other nations have the exact same effect. Namely, they
isolate our country from the rest of the world.
Even if other countries do not take the rather extreme step
of recalling their ambassador, this kind of meddling by Congressional
resolution almost always serves to offend governments and political
leaders in other counties.
Last week’s events make clear that Congress, and our
foreign policy establishment, must reconsider the entire policy
of interventionism if we are to avoid further isolation of
our nation.
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