Great Speeches by US Presidents, Edited by Ron Paul

I recently found a copy, in a rare book store*, of Great Speeches by American Presidents, edited by Ron Paul. It's a slim volume, not well used, but allow me a couple of excerpts:

Thomas Jefferson, United States minister to France, opposed the payment of tribute, as he later testified in words that have a particular resonance today. In his autobiography Jefferson wrote that in 1785 and 1786 he unsuccessfully "endeavored to form an association of the powers subject to habitual depredation from them. I accordingly prepared, and proposed to their ministers at Paris, for consultation with their governments, articles of a special confederation." Jefferson argued that "The object of the convention shall be to compel the piratical States to perpetual peace."

…should they ever cross our border. -RP

"We shall pay any price, bear any burden, suffer any hardship . . . to secure the survival and success of liberty."

-John Fitzgerald Kennedy

…within the confines of the continental US. -RP

"Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!'"

-Ronald Wilson Reagan

…or would that be interfering in the internal "squabbles" of East Germany and the Soviet Union? Because I'd never want to do that! -RP

It is a sad thing to report, but after hearing the remarks of Congressman Paul and a number of his followers in the past few days, I have come to the realization that Ron Paul's foreign policy is much more closely aligned to that of Barack Obama than Ronald Reagan. Paul's echoing of bring the troops home smacks more of isolationism than "bear any burden, suffer any hardship". His castigation of Israel for the Gaza blockade could just as easily be applied to Kennedy's Cuban crisis. And how could a neo-isolationist ever have stood at the Brandenburg Gate and called for the Berlin Wall to come down? None of our business, don'tcha know?

I have heard Paul compared to Jefferson and I have heard him compared to Reagan.
But, please tell me how the "bring the troops home and spend our money here" memes of Paul and Obama differ? In fact, if you can believe either of them, Ron Paul would be far more reckless in abandoning our allies abroad than would Barack Obama, who has shown himself to be no great friend to either Israel or Great Britain.

Sorry. I'm not drinking the Ron Paul Kool-Aid®.

*If you believe this, I have a bridge for you!