With his focus on limited government, reducing foreign military operations, and cutting federal spending, Ron Paul likes his chances in 2012.

All empires throughout history have met their demise because of military overreach into other countries, according to U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). If it does not dramatically alter its foreign policy, the United States will soon face a similar fate, the 2012 presidential candidate warned during a recent visit to Portsmouth.

“Great nations eventually end because they spread themselves too thinly around the world, and they diminish their income, which we have, and finally they collapse,” Paul said at Maine-ly New Hampshire on Deer Street. 

He said the United States is expending too much money and manpower trying to turn Middle Eastern citizens into “good American democrats,” intervening militarily in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia and elsewhere.  

“The empire is going to come to an end, and we ought to do it calmly and deliberately and not wait until the whole thing falls down on us, and that’s what we’re close to doing,” he said.

Paul made several stops in downtown Portsmouth on June 10, visiting Popovers on the Square, Maine-ly New Hampshire, and Geno’s Chowder & Sandwich Shop. His Seacoast tour came a few days before a June 13 Republican primary debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester. Other candidates at the debate included Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, businessman Herman Cain, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty. 

A former Libertarian, Paul has long been considered a politician outside the mainstream. He believes in minimal federal government, with decisions coming instead from states and municipalities. He has also drawn notice for his belief that drugs should be legalized, reducing the government’s ability to dictate what people can put in their bodies. 

If elected, Paul has said he would immediately pull all troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. He would also end the U.S. military intervention in Libya.

“No more bombs in Libya,” he said. “We went in there because we were supposed to protect innocent civilians. We’ve killed more innocent civilians since we’ve been bombing over there than Gaddafi has killed.” 

Also a Republican presidential candidate in 2008, Paul drew only 8 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary, and a Granite State Poll released in May placed him fifth among potential contenders with just 6 percent of those polled saying they planned to vote for him. But Paul believes his message is gaining resonance as voters become increasingly fed up with economic conditions and “senseless, undeclared wars.” 

“My message is becoming more mainstream,” he said. “The mainstream is now the message of limited government, so I think I’m in the right place at the right time for that message.”

In an ideal society, Paul said, the American government would be 80 percent smaller than it is. Although he admits that’s an unrealistic target to achieve in the near future, he said he would cut spending in numerous areas. In addition to dramatically reducing the nation’s military complex, he said he would eliminate the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Homeland Security. He would also defund the Patriot Act.

“All they do is undermine our liberties. They’re able to issue searches and go into our homes and our records without a search warrant,” he said. 

Paul said he would vote against raising the debt ceiling, as keeping it at current levels would force the government to cut spending. 

Paul chatted with Maine-ly New Hampshire owner Ken Smith, a Portsmouth city councilor who spoke of the struggles small business owners face due to strict government regulations and mandates. Paul said he would reduce federal regulations and cut spending abroad to focus on domestic businesses.

 Turning to a local topic, Smith mentioned that New Hampshire and Maine have struggled to secure federal funds to replace the ailing Memorial Bridge from Portsmouth to Kittery, Maine. Paul pointed out the irony that the government pays to rebuild bridges it bombed in Iraq and Afghanistan, but will not fund bridge repairs at home.

“That’s what’s so insane about what we do,” he said.

What’s more, Paul added, military action abroad does not make the nation safer, because the government is not taking care of its own borders at home and is making more foreign enemies with each new military intervention.   

Paul wasn’t the only presidential hopeful on the Seacoast on June 10. Tim Pawlenty and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman made stops in the area, and the flood of candidates will continue for the remainder of the year. Only when the primary rolls around next winter will we know just how mainstream Paul’s message has become.