by Eric Dondero

With his son Rand in a hotly contested race for the Republican nomination for US Senate, Ron Paul may be treading a bit more lightly on the non-interventionist/isolationist rhetoric of the past. In fact, he may even be inching closer to a more mainstream Republican view.

The younger Paul of course, is running on a strong defense platform. In fact, he's made some statements like supporting intervention against Iran over nuclear missiles, and fiercely opposing closing down Gitmo, that have likely made some Ron Paulist's hairs stand on end.

Cong. Paul sent out a press release endorsing Senate primary candidate and his former House colleague John Hostettler in Indiana. In the 4th paragraph down he made the following slightly nuanced remark:

John also understands that we need to fight for a stronger national defense, where we support our troops and defend our country without policing the world or subsidizing the security of other wealthy nations.

A "stronger national defense"? Defending "our country?" Those are welcomed sentiments by those of us who are in the Pro-Defense wing of the libertarian movement. Contrary to popular view, we Pro-Defensers are not automatic Pro-Policing the World, and we are most certainly not in favor of subsidizing the defenses of wealthy nations, Japan, Germany, Turkey, even Israel.

Perhaps some areas of agreement may be emerging, between previously hostile Pro-Defense wing of the libertarian movement, and the Ron Paulists.

Ironic, that it appears to be Rand Paul, Ron Paul's own son, who may be helping us all to come together.

We Pro-Defensers applaud Ron Paul's move to a more centrist position on National Security. We just hope it's not a short term election ploy.

Disclosure: I served as Travel Aide to Libertarian Presidential candidate Ron Paul in 1987/88, Ron Paul for Congress Campaign Coordinator in 1995/96 and Senior Aide to the Congressman from 1997-2003. I resigned over his opposition to the War in Iraq.