Sen. Rand Paul To Address Annual CPAC Meeting

hide captionSen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks to reporters in front of federal court in Washington on Feb. 12.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks to reporters in front of federal court in Washington on Feb. 12.

It is one of those primary tenets of the Republican party: a strong, robust, well-funded military and the willingness to deploy it are a critical part of national security.

But Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who speaks to activists at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Thursday, has long felt it's time to re-examine that approach.

In less than four years in the Senate, Paul has emerged as a prominent new face of the GOP and a contender for the 2016 presidential nomination. But his libertarian philosophy sets him apart from the rest of the field.

It's still unclear how GOP voters will respond to Paul's views on foreign policy and his belief that the US has been far too quick to exert its military influence through force.

"People sometimes ask me what is my worldview? My response is that, you know, even if you've crisscrossed the globe, even if you've been everywhere, I'm just not sure that the world doesn't change by the time you return to the same spot twice. I am a believer that foreign policy must be viewed by events as they present themselves, not as we wish them to be," Paul said, in a speech earlier this year at the Center for the National Interest.

"I believe the answers to most problems that confront us around the world can and should be approached by engaging, both friend and foe. You know, I'm not naive enough to say that dialogue is always gonna work," he said.

To hear a member of the Paul family challenge conventional GOP thinking on foreign policy is hardly new. His father, former Congressman Ron Paul, sought the Republican nomination in 2008 and again in 2012.

In an interview with New Hampshire TV station WMUR during the last campaign, Ron Paul was asked about bringing U.S. troops home.

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Sen. Rand Paul To Address Annual CPAC Meeting