Should Rand Paul Go on the Offensive?

Over at The American
Conservative, Leon Hadar
argues that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who he thinks “seems to be
playing defense on issues like Ukraine,” should go on the offensive
on foreign policy, given that recent polls show most Americans
agreeing with Paul when it comes to non-interventionism.

Hadar thinks that Paul’s positioning on foreign policy suggests
that he is cautious about annoying the GOP’s interventionists.
Paul, he argues, should hold a series of public events on foreign
policy in places such as Iowa and New Hampshire:

Here is an idea: Paul could convene a series of public forums
around the country to discuss the United States’s role in the
world, in which he could have a dialogue with “regular” Americans
in places like Iowa and New Hampshire on how the U.S. should
respond to the crises in Ukraine or Syria. Such forums could bring
together Republican and Democratic speakers as well as political
scientists and historians from local colleges, and could conclude
with the attendees voting for or against proposed resolutions.

Hadar is right to highlight that most Americans agree with Paul
on foreign policy. Reason‘s Ed Krayewski
blogged here recently about a Wall Street
Journal/NBC News poll that Hadar mentions. The survey
shows that far more Americans today (47 percent) believe the U.S.
should be less active in world affairs than did in 2001 (14
percent). A Pew
poll from last year, also mentioned by Hadar, showed 53
percent of Americans believing that the U.S. “should mind its own
business internationally.”

These polls are good news for Paul, who since entering the
Senate in 2011 has made a name for himself as one of the most
outspoken non-interventionist lawmakers in the GOP. I agree that
Paul should highlight his non-interventionist credentials in Iowa
and New Hampshire ahead of his widely anticipated 2016 presidential
campaign. It would be refreshing to have a major presidential
candidate speak out in favor of a foreign policy much of the
American public, but not many of their representatives,
support.

That said, his arguments might be
heard by an indifferent public. Americans may be fed up with
interventionist foreign policies, but it remains to be seen if
foreign policy will be a priority in the 2016 campaign.