Just a couple of words about foreign policy.

Thomas Jefferson: “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations … entangling alliances with none.”

James Madison’s writings agree: “War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.”


Madison: “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”


George Washington’s statements also reflect this foreign policy in his farewell address: “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world. The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop.”


Washington: “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.”

A policy of non-interventionism, non-interference, non-appeasement, non-aggression, but positive engagement, friendship and trade with all nations is the best foreign policy of all.


A policy of pre-emptive war – starting military actions with nations that have not attacked us – is not good foreign policy.


Using NATO as an instrument of aggressive military action against a nation that has not attacked a NATO signatory nation, is a violation of the NATO Charter, and is not good foreign policy.

Affecting regime change of popularly elected foreign governments creates enemies, and is not good foreign policy.


CIA’s Bin Laden Chief Michael Scheuer also comments that we were attacked because of our government’s foreign policy actions.

Going to war without the approval of Congress is definitely not good foreign policy, in fact it is unconstitutional. Continuing this practice – the failure of Congress to assert their assigned authority – does not make it any more constitutionally correct.

Military action that protects our borders, or wars conducted to stop an aggressor from further injuring our people, are a different matter entirely, and are certainly justified if constitutionally prosecuted.

The list of poor foreign policies – both overt and covert – that have now become standard operation procedure, is long and has been escalating for years.


Quite often, the only ones that benefit from “aggressive” policies, are the “military industrial complex” that Eisenhower warned about in his farewell address – the “multi-lettered government agencies” that finance many of the covert operations, financiers of military suppliers and the politicians that use fear as a tool to gain political advantage or personal power.

The citizen does not benefit, they pay the cost in treasure, and in their loss of personal freedoms, as the fear of the unknown threat causes them to seek safety for themselves or their families.
  
The soldier does not benefit, they pay the ultimate price, their lives, under the guise of patriotism and protecting the country.

When I took my oath upon entering the service, it was to support and defend the Constitution from enemies, foreign and domestic. The Country is the Constitution. If we do not adhere to the Constitution at all times, we are not defending our Country, and we are dishonoring not only our own oath, but that of all that have gone before us. If we do not pass down the freedoms that were so hard won, unmolested by political opportunists, then we have not fulfilled our duty.

Yes, I am a veteran, as was my father before me, and my uncles, and my cousins, and my brother, and now my grandson. I took my oath literally then, and I still do today. I sincerely wish that all of Congress did as well, and respected the limited powers conferred upon them by that founding instrument, and the responsibilities placed upon them by our Bill of Rights, to allow the citizens of this great nation to set their own course, to guide their own destinies, and to raise their families without the “guidance” of an ever-larger, ever-more-intrusive, ever-more-expensive federal government, that feels they have to dictate every last facet of their citizens daily lives.


Protection of personal freedoms and fidelity to the Constitution – that should be both the motto and the model for every government official, not just some words that are spoken at their swearing-in ceremony.