Sen Rand Paul's speech at the Heritage Foundation is striking in many regards. He insists he is not an isolationist but then outlines an essentially isolationist policy. He speaks a lot about George Kennan, but renders a tendentious reading of Kennan's life. But, what really jumped out at me was this:
We did not declare war or authorize force to begin war with Libya. This is a dangerous precedent. In our foreign policy, Congress has become not even a rubber stamp but an irrelevancy. With Libya, the president sought permission from the UN… from NATO… from the Arab League - everyone but the US Congress! And how did Congress react? Congress let him get away with it.
Physician, heal thyself! As dysfunctional as the UN is, as conformist as NATO is, as fractured as the Arab League is, submitting foreign policy issues to this Congress strikes me as a really, really bad idea.
