Threatened 'because we occupy so many countries'

Ron Paul runs for president for a basic reason. To provide an uncensored clear voice for his observations and beliefs. I personally believe he is a highly intelligent man with a lot of common sense mixed with lofty intent. Perhaps his proposals don’t always appear to have immediate practical applications, but his observations are spot on. He certainly deserves an audience.

His observations concerning 9/11 :

REP. RON PAUL: We're under great threat because we occupy so many countries. We're in 130 countries. We have 900 bases around the world. We're going broke. The purpose of al-Qaeda was to attack us, invite us over there, where they can target us. And they have been doing it. They have more attacks against us and the American interests per month than occurred in all the years before 9/11. But we're there, occupying their land. And if we think that we can do that and not have retaliation, we're kidding ourselves. We have to be honest with ourselves. What would we do if another country, say China, did to us what we do to all those countries over there?

So, this whole idea that the whole Muslim world is responsible for this and they're attacking us because we're free and prosperous, that is just not true. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda have been explicit. They have been explicit, and they wrote and said that we attacked - we attacked America because you had bases on our holy land in Saudi Arabia, you do not give Palestinians a fair treatment, and you have been bombing - I didn't say that, I'm trying to get you to understand what the motive was behind the bombing. At the same time, we had been bombing and killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis for 10 years. Would you be annoyed? If you're not annoyed, then there's some problem.

I believe this is telling it like it really is. We have been led for far too long by an oligarchy, bent on American Supremacy at all costs. This flawed doctrine has been around a long time and is the cause of many, if not most of America’s darkest times. Many, way too many of our national leaders have dragged the country into “world leadership” ploys which actually reflect their own personal egotism and hubris.

The United States of America is a great country in spite of being misused and misled. At our best, our resources have been supported by a sense of morality and justice. We can be summoned to a great cause when we are certain that these principles are threatened. There are, and have been, however, leaders who distorted these values and claimed them as a basis for destroying a personally perceived enemy, or an undertaking of “national interest.” Let’s face it . We are easily manipulated.

We are an emotional and somewhat naïve nation, seemingly anxious to rally around any fight, or, if no plausible fight exists, to invent one to showcase our “greatness.” Psychologists have a term for this.

The “Domino Theory,” created by hardline-post-Korea-victory-starved militarists led us blindly into the quagmire of Vietnam where even LBJ’s trumped up Gulf of Tonkin Resolution only resulted in costing countless American lives for a folly. George W. had his WMD., which continues to this day, leaving mostly destruction as its legacy. Long before these, however, other men lifted battle cries and the populace, innocently, came running. Of course, not all rallying cries have been tainted, George Washington, Abe Lincoln and FDR come to mind, but a strong case can be made that our best leaders saw war as a temporary necessity and devoted far more time and dedication toward building a peaceful world. Our definition of a peaceful world today is strongly dependent upon maintaining a dominant military force everywhere there is a perceived threat. The parallel with Rome is stunning.

The Digital Age is rapidly creating a new paradigm shift in world wide enterprise. The last vestiges of the Industrial Revolution have just about turned out their lights. The United States can no longer claim world dominance in any area except military power. We should be happy and proud to take a place at the big table and share the coming new age with new players. We can and should be a major player. We either find a way to do that, or we are doomed to depend upon an increasingly challenged military to “protect” us. Like the little Dutch boy at the dike, though, the leaks are a bit much to control. We can’t be everywhere at all times.

We should pay attention to people like Ron Paul. Much of what he has to say is what we need to hear. Unfortunately his voice is drowned out by the loud hyperbole of a contentious public growing more and more frustrated with being stretched in too many directions.

If you truly understand a problem, you have a decent chance to fix it. When you only rely on misleading information, you pretty much eliminate that possibility.