Who is Ron Paul?
That's the typical response I get after asking people if they've heard anything about the only honest guy in Washington DC. A brief history lesson of Congressman Ron Paul would tell you that he is a medical doctor, former Air Force officer and flight surgeon, author, advocate of the Austrian School of economics, and truly a Great American. Dr. Paul has never supported any tax increase, unbalanced budget, or wasteful government spending which has earned him the title of "The Taxpayer's Best Friend."
Dr. Paul entered the political arena in the mid 1970's after the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system of monetary management. August 15th, 1971 is the day that the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the US Dollar into gold. When the Bretton Woods system ended…the US Dollar became a fully fiat currency, backed only by the promise of the federal government. This infuriated Dr. Paul because as he continually points out, as per the United States Constitution, only gold and silver are to be used as legal tender - not paper money that is backed by nothing.
Dr. Paul served in Congress from April 3rd, 1976 until January 3rd, 1985 after not seeking re-election in the house and losing a primary bid for US Senate. He returned full time to his medical practice until 1996 when he was re-elected and sworn in on January 3rd, 1997. He has been representing Texas' 14th district since. Dr. Paul currently serves on the Committee on Financial Services, and is Chairman of the subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology.
Top 5 Reasons Why YOU Should Know The Name RON PAUL:
#5, The War On Drugs
Dr. Paul is in favor of ending the Federal Government's "War on Drugs." It has cost taxpayers over $1,000,000,000,000 and thousands of lives while doing nothing to combat the problem. That seems to be the status quo in Washington: spend money we don't have to expand the Federal Government, creating more bureaucracy, all while eroding liberty and freedom of the average American.
Dr. Paul is quoted on this subject as saying, "I think we should look at the federal drug war and I would say the federal drug war has failed, so we should reject it. When I talk about changing the law, I want to go back to the constitutional approach to a problem like this, and that is through the states. Up until 1937 there wasn’t even a law against marijuana and at that time they just passed a law to tax it. So we’ve had an experience in this country where we didn’t have all these laws, but it was regulated by the states. Alcohol is legalized by the federal government but it is regulated by state laws. So I’m thinking more of an approach like that."
#4, Your Healthcare
Dr. Paul has been a medical doctor since 1961, after graduating from Duke University School of Medicine. He worked as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force and later as a obstetrician/gynecologist delivering over 4,000 babies. Having a career in medicine coupled with a great economic mind allows Dr. Paul to make an educated case against Government-run healthcare instead of allowing emotions and non-experience dictate policy, as is the case now in Washington.
Here are some of Dr. Paul's thoughts on our "new" healthcare law that the federal government was so kind to give us: "As reliance on third-party health insurance grew, patients became detached from the true costs of their doctor visits. In the 1970s the Nixon administration, along with the late Senator Edward Kennedy, championed the cause of health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Congress accepted the faulty premise that HMOs would reduce costs through centralized management of patients, when in fact the opposite was true: more bureaucracy would only lead to higher costs, less accountability, and worse patient care. In recent years Congress has only intensified the problem with more laws and more regulations, especially with the disastrous Medicare prescription drug benefit. The drug benefit was another example of naked patronage to a politically-connected industry, and it exponentially worsened the federal government’s balance sheet. Obamacare will be the last nail in the coffin of our bankrupt entitlement system. We need a system in America where patients pay cash for basic services, and carry insurance only for serious illnesses and accidents. “Health maintenance” is the responsibility of each of us individually. We cannot continue to collectivize the costs of healthcare and expect things to get better. Authoritarianism is bad for your health. Congress should end the Obamacare mandate and allow market-based medicine to flourish."
#3, Your Right to Carry/2nd Amendment
I hope you've all read and understand our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The founders of this country were very wise and had good reason to place gun-rights as the 2nd amendment to our Constitution. The true reason for our having the 2nd amendment is to be able to protect ourselves from an oppressive government. Look at the current situation in Libya or Iran, protestors are being gunned downed just for voicing their opinion. The 2nd amendment also allows for Americans to protect their life and their property from criminals. Dr. Paul has an 'A' rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA). Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America (GOA), is quoted as saying "Ron Paul has introduced bills to wipe out most federal gun-control laws. It is pretty hard to get more pro-gun than Ron Paul."
Dr. Paul has been quoted on the 2nd amendment saying, "As a United States Congressman, I take my oath to uphold all of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights very seriously. Unfortunately, too many in Washington DC believe they can pick-and-choose which provisions of the constitution they can uphold. For example, many politicians, judges, and bureaucrats believe they have the power to disregard our right to own guns, even though the second amendment explicitly guarantees the people's right to "keep and bear arms." Like the Founding Fathers, I believe that the right to keep and bear arms is fundamental to a free society. Where law-abiding citizens are most freely allowed to defend themselves, communities are safer, while crime rises when law-abiding people's access to firearms is restricted. Gun laws only disarm those who respect the law. Those with criminal tendencies do not turn in their weapons and reform their ways because government bureaucrats enact statutes that tell them to. Gun control laws turn peaceful citizens into sitting ducks for criminals to prey upon. Ironically, one of the most draconian gun laws in the nation is in the nation's capital. Banning guns did not make DC safer. In fact crime in DC rose after the gun ban went into place! "
#2, The USA PATRIOT Act
Everyones favorite piece of legislation that wipes its butt with our Bill of Rights is the Patriot Act. You probably remember President Obama on the campaign trail talking about abolishing the Patriot Act but last month he signed it's extension into law!? We need a President who will actually DO what he says, not just say something to get people to vote for him. Ron Paul has a long standing opposition to the Patriot Act because of its clear Constitutional violations. The Patriot Act can be summed up best by a quote from Ben Franklin, "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Dr. Paul on the USA PATRIOT Act, "I was opposed to the PATRIOT Act in 2001, and do not believe now that it’s a good idea to extend it. The 4th Amendment is rather clear, it says that we should be secure in our papers, our persons, our homes, and our effects. And that if warrants are to be issued, we have to do it with probable cause and describe in particular the places, the people and the things that we’re going to look at. And I think what has happened over the years has been that we have diluted the 4th Amendment. It was greatly diluted in 2001, but it started a lot earlier than that when the FISA law was originally written in 1978. That really introduced the notion that the 4th Amendment was relative and not absolute. And later on, it was further weakened in 1998 and then of course in 2001. I think our reaction to the horrors of 9/11 – we can understand the concern and the fear that was developed – but I think the reaction took us in the wrong direction because the assumption was made, of course, that we weren’t spending enough money on surveillance. And even though then our intelligences agencies received $40 billion, they didn’t give us the right information. So now we’re spending $80 billion. But it also looks like the conclusion was that the American people had too much privacy, and if we undermine the American people’s privacy, somehow or the another, we’re going to be safer. I think another thing that has come up lately has been that the purpose of government is to make us perfectly safe. Now it is good to be safe, but governments can’t make us safe. I question whether or not we have been made safer by the PATRIOT Act."
#1, The National Debt
If you read my previous blog, The Fourteen Trillion Dollar Elephant In The Room, you would know that our current national debt now stands at approximately $14,194,100,000,000. It would take you around 450,000 years to count to that number going at a rate of 1 per second. The current debt levels can be attributed to the Federal Reserve system which has allowed crony-capitalism, welfare entitlements, unlimited warfare spending, and corporatism to takeover America. The Federal Reserve has also allowed the Federal Government to print money out of thin air. This should be everyones top concern because ultimately it is us, the taxpayers, that has to pick up the tab.
Dr. Paul has strong opinions regarding the Federal Reserve and our debt levels, saying: "The Constitution says: no emitting bills of credit, no paper money, only gold and silver can be legal tender. And today we allow big government to grow. Whether it’s on the conservative side or the liberal side, if they want something, they usually have compromise--spend it on both. Then they resort to printing money, and that is where our trouble is coming from, and that’s the crisis we’re facing. All great nations and great empires end for fiscal, financial reasons. That’s how the Soviet system was defeated. We didn’t have to invade them; we didn’t have to fight them. Their system collapsed. And that is what’s happening today, the middle class is getting wiped out, the middle class is getting poor, endlessly, because they can’t keep up with the cost of living. And the solution isn’t printing more money, and spending more money, and allowing the Federal Reserve to pretend they can solve the problem. The answer is found in fiscal conservatism: live within our means, is what we have to do. I will always vote what I have promised, and always vote the Constitution, as well as I will not vote for one single penny that isn't paid for, because debt is the monster, debt is what's going to eat us up and that is why our economy is on the brink."
Ron Paul will need all the support he can get if he is to run for President in 2012. It is up to all of us to stay well informed, do our own research and draw our own conclusions. I think that you will like what you find when researching Congressman Ron Paul.
-M
