Ron Paul, Zionist

[oberliner]

In the New York Sun, Seth Lipsky makes the case that Ron Paul should be included in tomorrow's Republican Jewish Coalition beauty contest:

I've also covered Congressman Paul for years and have come to have a great deal of respect for him, even when we disagree. Which we do in respect of granting foreign aid to Israel. At least we disagree in part. I support giving to our allies, particularly Israel, military aid, which is what we are mainly now giving to Israel. It strikes me as important, especially in a time of war, and I would back Israel to the hilt. Foreign economic aid, however, has long struck me as a dangerous course for recipient countries.

There are good reason to include Ron Paul. He is, in one sense, a true Zionist, a believer in two core values of the Jewish liberation movement: Jewish independence and Jewish self-reliance. Independence is self-explanatory; self-reliance, in the context of national defense, holds that the Jewish state shouldn't seek the help of foreign soldiers to defend it.

I was struck in the foreign policy debate by something Rick Perry said, when asked about a looming confrontation between Iran and Israel: "(I)f we're going to be serious about saving Israel, we better get serious about Syria and Iran, and we better get serious right now."

"Saving Israel" should ideally be Israel's job. This is what Israelis tend to think. And it is also what Ron Paul tends to think. Here is some of what he said in the foreign policy debate on this subject: "Israel has 200, 300 nuclear missiles. And they can take care of themselves. Why should we commit -- we don't even have a treaty with Israel. Why do we have this automatic commitment that we're going to send our kids and send our money endlessly to Israel? So I think they're quite capable of taking care of themselves." (emphasis mine.)

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/12/ron-paul-zionist/249532/

[fujiyama]

1. Ron Paul is often nutty

but he's the ONLY candidate from either major party to simply say that we should stop treating Israel as this pathetic beggar nation, and tell them to fend for themselves...

It's time to cut this cord. Israel is a sovereign nation. We should not be fighting that country's wars for them. At the same time, that entails us staying out of their business when it comes to deciding its foreign policy. Let them decide how to solve their own demographic and occupational crisis. In time, maybe they will learn that the continuous expansion of settlements is not doing them any good. But ultimately, these little carrot and stick initiatives and games have to simply STOP.

And this whole notion of military aid should stop altogether - that means absolutely no aid for Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or whatever other nation. I'm sick of my taxes supporting thuggish authoritarian regimes around the world...

[ProSense]

2. Ron Paul

supports cutting all foreign aid, not just to Israel.

He also supports eliminating five federal departments, including the department of Education, and repealing health care and Wall Street reform and pretty much every significant regulation enacted this century.

[Merlot]

3. And he's anti-choice.

Seems that libertarian-keep-the gov't-small theory stops at the doorway to womens' reproductive health.

How does any libertarian justify imposing their religious beliefs on anyone else?