I'm retired from racing. Really.

To say that U.S. intervention in Korea/Vietnam/Grenada didn't make us any freer is virtually impossible. They were all three part of the larger Cold War policy of containing communism. Of course the theory behind containing communism was that its spread would eventually threaten the United States and its freedom. Since the United States did commit itself to aggressively confronting communism, it's kind of hard to say what would have happened if we hadn't. One thing I can say for sure is that the people of South Korea are freer today because of us.

I would hardly consider our humanitarian mission to Somalia in 1992-93 that led to the Black Hawk Down incident an "invasion". At the time I was stationed at Fort Benning - the same post where the Rangers who died were from. One of the most moving experiences of my life was attending the memorial service for those men . At the time I was as enraged as everyone else was and my attitude was "screw em - let them all starve". These men were in Somalia safeguarding international relief shipments so that they would get to the starving Somalis, not be hijacked by ruthless warlords. There was no imperialist motive - just the desire of a good and decent people (Americans) to feed starving people.

Ron Paul is right from time to time. The general principle that the United States should find alternatives to the use of military force is a good one I think. But he is also an ideologue and, like all ideologues (whether liberal, conservative, or libertarian), he tries to make the whole world conform to his ideology. In my opinion the world isn't that simple. I'm glad he's in the race and his voice needs to be heard. I believe that the Republican Party's aggressive interventionism needs to be tempered. But I also believe that there are times when we need to be prepared to use force for our own benefit and for others.

:)

Rob, my wife is onto us. She said, "Isn't Rob the one you have really, really long conversations with?"

By the way, Rob, here's a great message from MLK about policing the world...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzGZ3v-74Ro&feature=related