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I almost always enjoy listening to Rand Paul. I don’t always agree with him, but his positions are principled and he deserves respect.

I think there is a lot more to the Iraq war than what might be our “consensus” view today. Under President Bush, there were several ups and downs. We conducted the war extremely well. The State Department mismanaged the post war environment. The Department of defense took the lead and, with the surge, brought things under control. Then came Barack Obama ...

However, I have to admit that betting against President Trump usually proves to be a losing proposition. He may well be right for reasons I can not fully appreciate.

As to Venezuela, I think we have far too much on our plate to even consider action in that country. We first need to save our own country.

Abrams at least provides a seemingly reasonable talking point that some of our European allies have had governments that are called socialist. Rand Paul never responded.

I think Abrams is wrong. Yes, England and France have voted in “socialists.” Obama, though never proclaiming himself to be a socialist, was to the left of most of those leaders. Keep going close to the edge of the cliff, and one day you fall will over. Germans and Italians voted in Hitler and Mussolini, both socialists.

Latin American countries generally do not have the long history of Democracy and free markets as does the US and our European allies. Their socialism can easily be more complete. They have little collective memory of an valid alternative so they are less likely to recover.

After Carter, Reagan said he remembered a better day. Americans understood, many of us remembered better times also. Donald Trump said he wanted to make America great again. Many Americans understood and appreciated his words.

Rand Paul is right, trading one socialist for another in Venezuela does no good. We would spend our lives and treasure only to make their problem into our problem. Who needs another Vietnam?