Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Rand Paul: US Stay Out of Syria

It's good to see Rand Paul objecting to US meddling in Syria. He does so in a new column piece, Helping Syrian Rebels a Dangerous Risk. Rand may feel safe taking this position here as the Evangelical support he craves will back a non-interventinist position in Syria. That is Rand plays up the Christian population in Syria and  Bashar al-Assad's role in protecting the Christians. In the column, Rand writes:
There is also the quandary of nearly 2 million Christians who are uncertain of what to do. The Christian community in Syria has traditionally sided with, and been protected by, Bashar al-Assad's regime. It is troubling to think that American arms may be given to Islamic fighters who may in turn be firing them at Christians.
It's always good to see a member of Congress object to any foreign intervention, but it would be better if the objections were made in the more principled manner advanced by George Washington, when he said:
The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. -- George Washington, farewell address, 1796.
 I have always given it as my decided opinion that no nation has a right to intermeddle in the internal concerns of another; that every one has a right to form and adopt whatever government they liked best to live under themselves; and that if this country could, consistently with its engagements, maintain a strict neutrality and thereby preserve peace, it was bound to do so by motives of policy, interest, and every other consideration. - George Washington, from Letter to James Monroe, August 25,1796.
Is Rand courageous enough to follow in the footsteps of George Washington and advance this type non-intervention, even when it calls for staying out of the affairs of the 51st state and the squabbles they have with their neighbors?

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