Many Americans believed in isolationism during the 1920s and '30s, seeing it as a remedy for America's ills and entanglements abroad and as an antidote to U.S. involvement in WWI. Paul is a throwback to those times. Opposing global entanglements and what he sees as an American Empire, Paul offers a foreign policy which amounts to complete retreat from America's moral responsibilities to the world. He is non-interventionist to the nth degree. When asked by reporter Jeffrey Scott Shapiro about America's entrance into WWII and the need to save Jews from the Holocaust, Paul said:
No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't risk American lives to do that. If someone wants to do that on their own because they want to do that, well, that's fine, but I wouldn't do that.
Think about that statement for a moment, for the implication is that America has absolutely no ethical responsibility for any people anywhere at any time -- except its own citizens. Self-interest, even if six million were to perish, is to reign supreme.
I really wish the Ron Paul candidacy didn't represent such horrible ideas and associations. I want to like him because he has a few good ideas. But alas, we live in reality and not the world of wishes.