Greetings from Exeter, New Hampshire where I’m embedded in a three-day precision scoped rifle course at Sig Sauer Academy. I’ll have much more for you on this incredible education in future posts, but the reason I bring it up relates to last night’s second GOP Presidential debate.
One of my fellow students in the course is a police officer in Spain. He’s spending a month in the U.S. and will be training for three weeks at Sig Academy. It was my job to introduce him to the group and what he told me about his work and the mess his country is in is way beyond what I was expecting. He showed me pictures from the riots and explained away the seconds to me in the following video. He said it makes Ferguson look like nothing.
I bring this up because the candidates in last night’s foreign policy debate don’t have real time, boots on the ground experience of what it’s like living in countries boiling with tension and unrest like Spain and Greece, or Iran for that matter. And if we want to be the policemen of the world, fighting civil wars we don’t understand, who’s going to pay for it? Why not look at foreign policies that work?
Switzerland stays out of other people’s wars. And well-armed families will meet foreign boots on the ground barrel first. It’s that self-defense mindset that’s needed for our foreign policy.
I love the way Dr. Ben Carson talks about foreign policy. His answers are thoughtful and well thought out. He’s not gunning from the hip. And when he speaks, especially last night, you can hear a pin drop because he’s not yelling and people care about what he has to say. I think his character is his strongest asset.
I also like how John Kasich did last night. He looked and sounded like someone that has experience and the temperament to reason from a position of strength especially with countries we disagree with. I liked his answer on Iran, being tough, but engaging, and verifying.
Don’t hate me for bringing up Rand Paul, but I thought his answers were right on the money. He’s the most versed on the Constitution of any of the candidates and his comments on the 14th Amendment where excellent. We all know he’s at 1% or so in the polls. I didn’t like how you know who (starts with a “T”) singled out Rand Paul at the outset saying Rand shouldn’t even be on the stage. Guys like Rand keep the conversation going, which is what we need. There’s still a lot of time left on the clock.
Every candidate on stage last night had his or her foreign policy talking points and what they’ll do. But sometimes when it comes to foreign policy, and self-defense, it’s what you don’t do that helps you survive. And that’s exactly the type of mindset we need in our next president. Because we aren’t that far from the problems my friend from Spain is dealing with at home.
