How Could a Nation Who Fought in World War II Consider Ron Paul for Election?
Isolationism Didn't Work Before, Why Would it Now?
This is without considering the impossible: he's not popular because he's not good for America.
Ron Paul's ideas really are nothing new. They're isolationist, delusional, and irresponsible, dating back to World Wars I and II when the world was burning aroudn the United States, but so long as they were happily sitting on their rear ends, nothing really mattered. Who cares that Poland had just been barreled over? Who cares that France had fallen? Who cares that Britain was getting bombed to kingdom come? Who cares that Hitler was institutionalized a strict series of anti-Semitic reforms?
None of this mattered, because we loved our isolation from the world. Of course the world didn't care so much about our isolation from them, and we were dragged into one of the most important conflicts in human history anyway (though we are criticized by linguist Noam Chomsky for not seeking a diplomatic solution).
There is no "gray" or "in-between" when it comes to World War II. Nazi Germany was a truly evil force in the world that needed to be stopped. The regime had to be changed, as it were. It wasn't going to be pretty, but it had to be done nonetheless, and no amount of sticking one's head in the sand was going to make the need to do this go away.
Up until the 21st century, it seemed impossible for the United States to want to return to these roots of cowardice. We all gawked in wonder at how Franklin Roosevelt could possibly have run on a platform of strict isolationism and how America had yearned to let Nazi Germany just steam roll Europe. Interestingly, there was a portion of America (perhaps as large as the modern Truth Movement or as numerous as the Uncle Choms) that outright favored Nazi Germany and found their practices not only tolerable, but preferable.
We learned the absurdity of our ways hard and fast in 1941 - and throughout 1942 as we liberated one city, one nation, after another and discovered what exactly it was we had decided wasn't worth challenging. The first concentration camp's gates we knocked open should have told us that there's no room in this world for Swiss style neutrality and isolationism, least of all with a super power like the United States in the years following World War II.
The United States learned its lesson, didn't it?
I thought it did, until a serious movement to get Ron Paul elected started surfacing across the internet. Like most internet fads, I suspect this will die out in time, and we can return to only considering politicians with a firm grasp on reality, or more appropriately, are running for the nomination of the appropriate party. After all, if we survived that Badger Badger Badger Badger Mushroom Mushroom flash craze, we can survive Ron Paul's fifteen minutes on the internet spotlight.
But the thing that is most troubling is just how far Americans are willing to bend logic in order to support him. He rings on all the right tones to some of them though: strict isolationism regardless of the United States' commanding presence on the global theater and neutrality regardless of the incident, strict diplomacy with those who want to kill us, the removal of American forces from any foreign nation regardless of how helpful they are and how much they're wanted by the local populace, and a re-opening of investigations into 9/11.
He fundamentally wants to tell al-Qaeda he doesn't think it was their fault the Towers went down and turn America into the international ostrich.
So that ushers an important question: can Ron Paul have any realistic chance of winning an election in a nation that sacrificed its sons and daughters in World War II? I simply don't believe we've fallen that far yet.
Published by Chadd De Las Casas
I was born in Valencia, California in 1987. It's ironic that I turned out to be a writer, since my first exposure to it was an essay about why I hate writing. I am also the owner of the Content Producers Wiki. View profile
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36 Comments
Post a CommentFighting with muslims in 5 wars makes the artillery salesmen happy and the poor poorer in the USA..
Does the author REALLY know his world wars? World War 2 came about as a direct result of the extremely heavy reparations the French and English (with U.S. support) put unto Germany. They experienced hyper-inflation (something never experienced before or after) The situation was prime for any "hitler" to say enough! "our people are starving to death!" In Esence, Hitler rose to power because we did not handle the vicorty properly from WW1! Perhaps we should have stayed out of the first one because it perpetuated the 2nd one!
I see that I am a little late on the discussion. Almost 3 years in fact. But this is still very relevant. You wrote that you think this internet phenomenon will die down. You were wrong. Just a few weeks ago, Ron Paul helped draw 10,000 people at CPAC. In the words of Paul, "I see the revolution is still alive and well."
But this is not why I am commenting. I don't even know if you'll read this but like C.S. Lewis pointed out, "Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered." Rather in this case, it is misinformation (as I assume it is not lies i.e. knowing the truth and meaningfully telling the contradiction). You see, from the very beginning your article is flawed. If you crack open a book in logic you'll see that in order to make a good argument, you must make sure that certain words must be defined clearly. You have not done that. Thus it distorts your predicate i.e. your conclusion. Looking at the root word of isolationism, we se
Hm, I didn't even know Gabriel commented here, but he loses points when he paints Woodrow Wilson as one who was on the side of the Treaty of Versailles. For those that don't get their history from Ron Paul's "right books", (i.e., ones that say that the American Civil War was a Jewish conspiracy) Woodrow Wilson was actually vehemently opposed to the Treaty of Versailles, and was adamantly in favor of "peace without victory".
Chadd, you are simply ignorant. It is historical fact that Wilson's early, interventionist foreign policy, his theory of "making the world safe for democracy", and a vindictive Treaty of Versailles were the true causes of WWII.
And no, Ron Paul is not an isolationist. Look up the terms in any dictionary: Isolationism is nonintervention combined with economic nationalism (protectionism). George Washington and Thomas Jefferson advocated nonintervention combined with free trade and free cultural exchange.
Chadd, there is nothing wrong with having only a high school education. But at least try to do some basic research before making idiotic claims.
He is an isolationist. Period. His supporters can say otherwise, but his own words make his views eminently clear.
Yeah, I don't actually acknowledge absurd "New World Order" mythologies with little more than belittlement. But in response to the person who just mysteriously thinks Ron Paul isn't an isolationist, I guess you're right, he's just a keep the troops home, non-interventionist, don't get involved anywhere but Americanist!
Guess what?
all the fathers and mothers of the young men and women who are there now want one thing:
For the TROOPS to come HOME!
The military has given Ron Paul the MOST donations. Now other candidate has gotten. What does that tell you? That means Ron Paul gets military support from the troops, because he supports them.
Also if you thought Hitler was evil.
Then go ahead and Vote for Rudy or anyone else. They are all CFR members and are going to go along with one world government.
What do you think Hitler used to call his evil rule The World Order. And you support people who are in the CFR who think the independence of US is important.
If you thought what Hitler did was bad Wait till they set up a one world government .. and do what Hitler did on a Global scale. But It's clear you support tyranny and world government.
You don't stand for Freedom, Liberty, OR the Constitution.
You are like Bush and you think the Constitution is a "God Damm piece of paper".
"Isolationism Didn't Work Before, Why Would it Now?"
Your article is based on a faulty assumption. Ron Paul is not an isolationist, and he is not promoting isolationism. Try again...
Older:I suppose you think that little title of yours automatically makes everything you say completely valid. Anyway, I just turned 16 and if there is a draft, I won't be happy about it but there is no way in Hell that I'm going to protest it or do anything else to pretend that you can find a peacable way to deal with murderers. If I am drafted, then I will be proud of my country and my place in it, regardless of whether or not I chose it.