Senator Rand Paul foreign policy speech at the Citadel: Great speech, footnotes and all
Senator Rand Paul already has a history of giving speeches in places where he may not be politically in line with his audience, remember Howard University?
Rand Paul at The Citadel
Image/Video Screen Shot
Now the junior Senator from Kentucky took his non-interventionist look at foreign policy and war to The Citadel, and it was a powerful speech.
Paul states, “Those of us in Washington who must make the decision to go to war owe you something, something that has been lacking in recent years. We owe you a full and proper consideration of the pros and cons of war.
“We owe it to you to follow our Constitution and for Congress to debate and authorize all wars.
“We owe it to you to clearly show our national interest before we go to war. We owe it to you to have a sound strategy, an achievable goal, and most of all, an exit plan so we aren’t stuck in quagmires for decades on end.
“And above all, we should demand a formal declaration of war before we risk the blood of our soldiers!”
The speech, with 33 footnotes, closed by Paul saying, “We must be more prudent in our foreign policy. Eisenhower was right to observe that little wars can often lead to big wars. Reagan was right that America’s purpose is to promote peace through strength.
Ronald Reagan once said, “Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have.”
Great stuff as the need to moderate America’s foreign policy becomes ever more apparent.
