“My
point is, if another country does to us what we do to others, we’re
not going to like it very much. So I would say that maybe we ought
to consider a golden rule – in foreign policy. Don’t do to other
nations what we don’t want to have them do to us”
~ Ron Paul

The war-crazed
conservatives in the crowd at one of the Republican presidential
debates recently held in South Carolina booed and jeered when Ron
Paul called for a golden rule in U.S. foreign policy. “We endlessly
bomb these other countries and then we wonder why they get upset
with us?” added
Dr. Paul.

Naturally,
the bloodthirsty warmongers at Frontpagemag.com
consider Paul’s foreign policy to be absurd, dangerous, and clueless.

But just for
a minute, let’s suppose a few things –

Suppose that
a presidential candidate in another country said that the U.S. president
needs to be taken off this planet. How would Americans feel about
it?

Suppose that
a presidential candidate in another country said that the U.S. president
would go to hell if he died. How would Americans feel about it?

Suppose that
the government of another country said that the U.S. president needed
to step down. How would Americans feel about it?

Suppose that
the government of another country forbade its citizens from traveling
to the United States. How would Americans feel about it?

Suppose that
the government of another country imposed sanctions on the United
States. How would Americans feel about it?

Suppose that
the government of another country had a secret program to develop
nuclear weapons for offensive purposes. How would Americans feel
about it?

Suppose that
the military of another country insisted that it had the right to
build over 1,000 military bases in foreign countries. How would
Americans feel about it?

Suppose that
the military of another country insisted that it had the right to
station hundreds of thousands of troops on foreign soil. How would
Americans feel about it?

Suppose that
the military of another country insisted that it had the right to
build bases and station troops on American soil. How would Americans
feel about it?

Suppose that
the government of another country spent more on defense than all
the governments of the rest of the world combined. How would Americans
feel about it?

Suppose that
the government of another country claimed it had the right to assassinate
anyone in the United States. How would Americans feel about it?

Suppose that
the intelligence agencies of another country insisted on infiltrating
the U.S. government and its intelligence agencies to spy on them.
How would Americans feel about it?

Suppose that
the government of another country spent a trillion dollars on defense,
most of which was really for offense. How would Americans feel about
it?

Suppose that
the government of another country said that the United States must
get rid of its nuclear weapons. How would Americans feel about it?

Suppose that
the military of another country bombed American soil. How would
Americans feel about it?

Suppose that
the military of another country invaded the United States. How would
Americans feel about it?

Suppose that
the military of another country occupied the United States. How
would Americans feel about it?

Suppose that
the president or secretary of state of another country said that
the United States needed a regime change. How would Americans feel
about it?

Suppose that
the intelligence agencies of another country flew drone planes at
will over the United States. How would Americans feel about it?

You know exactly
how Americans would feel about these things. So why is it that foreigners
aren’t expected to feel the same way?

It is U.S.
foreign policy that is absurd, dangerous, and clueless. Ron Paul
is the only sane voice that one will hear in the remaining Republican
presidential debates.

February
6, 2012

Laurence
M. Vance [send him mail]
writes from central Florida. He is the author of Christianity
and War and Other Essays Against the Warfare State, The
Revolution that Wasn’t, and Rethinking
the Good War. His latest book is The
Quatercentenary of the King James Bible. Visit his
website.

Copyright
© 2012 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in
part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.

The
Best of Laurence M. Vance