Ron Paul [almost] knocks it outta the park.

Missed it by *that* much, methinks. I'd argue most Tea Party folks put military/foreign spending in the same "that doesn't really count 'cause America's the best & the brightest and the most awesome so of course we should lead the world with our mighty military" category that most conservatives do. IMHO, I've found most folks that argue about government spending, and rightly so, never connect up the dots to figure that military expenditures are our highest costs. And even with all the spending, we always spend to fight the last war, to support unneeded and unwanted platforms, and fail to provide our troops with the simple, necessary tools to fight effectively.

If most Tea Party or conservatives owned up to those facts, then he'd be spot on. But they don't, so his common-sensical approach to foreign policy and spending remains the territory of a limited # of independents and libertarian minded folks.

A Tea Party Foreign Policy - By Ron Paul | Foreign Policy:

"..As many frustrated Americans who have joined the Tea Party realize, we cannot stand against big government at home while supporting it abroad. We cannot talk about fiscal responsibility while spending trillions on occupying and bullying the rest of the world. We cannot talk about the budget deficit and spiraling domestic spending without looking at the costs of maintaining an American empire of more than 700 military bases in more than 120 foreign countries. We cannot pat ourselves on the back for cutting a few thousand dollars from a nature preserve or an inner-city swimming pool at home while turning a blind eye to a Pentagon budget that nearly equals those of the rest of the world combined.

Our foreign policy is based on an illusion: that we are actually paying for it. What we are doing is borrowing and printing money to maintain our presence overseas. Americans are seeing the cost of this irresponsible approach as their own communities crumble and our economic decline continues..."