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Ron Paul on Principles & Values

Republican Representative (TX-14); previously Libertarian for President


OpEd: Genuine convictions, no matter the audience

You can see the growing influence of the faux-cons in the 2008 election cycle from the so-called Ron Paul Revolution to the economics-only conservatism reflected by some of the supporters of Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani (even if not entirely by the candidates themselves).

Don't get me wrong--libertarianism is a perfectly legitimate political persuasion and worldview as long as it is honest about what it is. Either out of ignorance or indifference, many of those who are true libertarians call themselves Republicans or conservatives. But, in fact, there are distinct differences. Before I get singed by hot and angry mail from Ron Paul disciples, I want to be emphatic in stating my sincere respect for Congressman Paul. I was convinced that at least had some genuine convictions and was willing to stand by them and on them no matter the audience.

Source: Do The Right Thing, by Mike Huckabee, p.109-110 Nov 18, 2008

OpEd: Faux-con libertarians like Paul worship Ayn Rand

I call the new breed of political animal, which carries an attitude of supreme superiority for its "purity," the "faux-cons." Their passion for their viewpoint goes beyond "loud and proud" and just substitutes volume for veracity. Faux-cons use dismissive language to accuse those who disagree as being anything from RINOs (Republicans In Name Only), socialists, big-government Republicans, or religious nuts. (They tarred me with nearly all of those labels).

The irony of the faux-cons is that while they are marked by their disdain and sometimes outright contempt of religious people, they are, however, devotees of a religion, albeit one that is pagan in nature. In the case of libertarians (the faux-cons), the god of choice is personal power and wealth. If there is a Muhammad-like prophet for them, it might be Ayn Rand, but this philosophy has many disciples, and most of them don't even realize they are devotees of a worldview that's as much a religion as an economic system.

Source: Do The Right Thing, by Mike Huckabee, p.110 Nov 18, 2008

Contract with America was a toothless cop out

The Republican leadership urged these freshmen congressmen to focus on a toothless, soporific agenda called the Contract with America that was boldly touted as a major overhaul of the federal government. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The Brookings Institution in effect said that if this is what conservatives consider revolutionary, they have conceded defeat.
Source: The Revolution: A Manifesto, by Ron Paul, p. 3 Apr 1, 2008

11/5/07: Set fundraising record of $4 million in single day

I was a reluctant candidate, not at all convinced that a sizable enough national constituency existed for a campaign based on liberty and the Constitution rather than on special interest pandering and the distribution of loot. Was I ever wrong.

On November 5, 2007, we set a record when we raised over $4 million online in a single day. Not only is the freedom message popular, it is more intensely popular than any other political message.

Source: The Revolution: A Manifesto, by Ron Paul, p. 4 Apr 1, 2008

We lost because we’re neither compassionate nor conservative

The old Reagan days when we used to say to get rid of the Department of Education! That’s what we ought to be doing. So when we got our chance, what did we do? We doubled the size of the Department of Education. We put No Child Left Behind. We’ve lost credibility, and now we’re losing House seats. We’ve lost control of the House and Senate, and right now it looks like we’re going to lose even more. It’s not because we are not compassionate; it’s because we’re not CONSERVATIVE that we’re losing.
Source: Speeches to 2008 Conservative Political Action Conference Feb 7, 2008

Liberty promotes peace, and peace promotes prosperity

If you follow the Constitution, you will defend freedom. Freedom brings people together. It allows people to run their lives as they choose, it allows them to practice religion as they choose, it is not confrontational & not antagonistic. The welfare state, the warfare state, & the socialist state, is exactly the opposite. It divides us, because they take away our wealth, they control it in Washington. What is happening today? Millions of dollars of campaign funds & PAC money, and lobbying efforts to control the money that gravitates to Washington, DC. The pie is shrinking, and the people are getting angry, and we have forgotten what a free country is all about. We’ve lost our confidence, because we have to have safety nets here and safety nets here and do all of these things. It’s coming to an end and there’s a wonderful, beautiful answer. It comes in our traditions and it comes in the principles of liberty. If you promote liberty, liberty promotes peace. And peace promotes prosperity.
Source: Speeches to 2008 Conservative Political Action Conference Feb 7, 2008

Tyranny and inflation are ancient, Bill of Rights isn’t

Somewhere along the way in the campaign they coined the term “Ron Paul Revolution.” It has nothing to do with Ron Paul Revolution. It has to do with the continuation of the grand revolution that we have been blessed with and that we have benefited by. But there’s no reason why we should give up on it. Some say, “You want to go back to old times, hundreds of years ago.” Well, age has nothing to do with that. The principle of habeas corpus is a lot older than that and we shouldn’t be giving up on that. But going back & picking up on the principles in the Bill of Rights is not going back to ancient times. What is ancient, is the inflationary system. It has been known for thousands of years how that debased currency. But also, tyranny is what is ancient. And now we’re getting total control of our lives and loss of our privacy and loss of our freedoms and loss of our economic benefits. That is old-fashioned. What is new today is something that is just restoration of what we had.
Source: Speeches to 2008 Conservative Political Action Conference Feb 7, 2008

Would not have appointed Justice O’Connor

Q: Was Sandra Day O’Connor the right choice?

A: I wouldn’t have appointed her, because I would have looked for somebody that I would have seen as a much stricter constitutionalist.

Source: 2008 Republican debate at Reagan Library in Simi Valley Jan 30, 2008

The Republicans don’t act like Republicans anymore

My biggest concern is they won’t stick to the party principles that Republicans stood for so long: balanced budgets and limited government and individual freedom. The Republican Party has a problem because we don’t act like Republicans. We’re spending money that we don’t have, we’ve run up these deficits. In the old days we used to be against the Department of Education; now we’ve doubled the size of it. No child Left behind. Even the Democrats are running against some of the things that we do. They used to love that kind of stuff. It used to be that we stop the wars. We stopped the Korean War. We were supposed to stop the Vietnam War the Democrats started. Here we’re starting these wars. That’s why we’ve lost our way. So I don’t think it’s a matter of me leaving the Republican Party. Yet they say: Oh, you’re too strict on the Constitution. Why should us who believe strictly in the Constitution, the rule of law, be excluded? That’s what the Republican Party used to stand for.
Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida Jan 24, 2008

Reagan ran on limited government, but increased its size

Q: On your Web site, you make this claim: “Principled Leadership. Ron was also one of only four Republican Congressmen to endorse Ronald Reagan for president against Gerald Ford in 1976.” And yet you divorced yourself from Ronald Reagan. You spoke of him as a traitor leading the country into debt & conflicts around the world, saying, “I want to totally disassociate myself from the Reagan Administration.”

A: I’ll bet you any money I didn’t use the word ‘traitor.’ So I think that’s misleading. But a failure, yes, in many ways. The government didn’t shrink. Ultimately, after he got in office, he said, “All I want to do is reduce the rate of increase in size of government.” That’s not my goal. My goal is to reduce our government to a constitutional size.

Q: But if he’s a total failure, why are you using, using his picture in your brochure?

A: Well, because he ran on a good program, and his idea was a limited government. Get rid of the Department of Education, a strong national defense.

Source: Meet the Press: 2007 “Meet the Candidates” series Dec 23, 2007

Called Bush 41 a “bum”; didn’t vote for Bush 43

Q: George Herbert Walker Bush, according to the Nov. 1996 Ron Paul Political Report: “Bush is a bum.” And asked about the current President Bush, whether you voted for him in 2004: “Paul says no: ‘He misled us in 2000.’” Asked if you voted for Bush in 2000: “No, I didn’t vote for him then, either. I wasn’t convinced he was a conservative.” And actually, in 1987, you submitted a letter of resignation to the Republican Party: If Reagan’s a failure, Bush 41 is a bum, you didn’t vote for Bush 43, and you resigned from the Republican Party, why you running as a Republican candidate for president?

A: Because I represent what Republicanism used to be--that part of the Republican Party that used to be non-interventionists overseas; when the Republicans defended individual liberty and the Constitution and decreased spending. So the reason the Republican Party is shrinking, why the base is so small, is because they don’t stand for these ideals any more. So I stand for the ideals of the Republican Party.

Source: Meet the Press: 2007 “Meet the Candidates” series Dec 23, 2007

99% no intention to run as independent if he loses GOP race

Q: If you do not win the Republican nomination for president, will you run as an independent in 2008?

A: I have no intention to do that.

Q: Absolute promise?

A: I have no intention of doing that.

Q: Well, but “no intention” is a wiggle word.

A: Well, I deserve one wiggle now and then.

Q: So no Shermanesque statement like “I will not run as an independent.”

A: I have no intention, no plans of doing it, and that’s about 99.9%. I don’t like those absolutists terms in politics.

Q: But the door’s open a little bit.

A: Not very much. We have February 5th coming up. We have a campaign to run. How many other candidates have you asked, “Are you going to run as a third party candidate if you don’t win?” Have you asked John McCain that?

Q: Well, if someone has a history of running as a third party candidate, sure. You ran in ‘88 as a Libertarian. It’s a logical question.

A: But there are independents. So ask them, too.

Source: Meet the Press: 2007 “Meet the Candidates” series Dec 23, 2007

Breaks one-day fundraising record: $6M at “Boston Tea Party”

Ron Paul raised an astounding $6 million & change Sunday. The campaign announced they had eclipsed the $5.7 million that John Kerry raised the day after he locked up the 2004 Democratic nomination--arguably the largest single-day fundraising haul in US political history.

Paul, whose campaign has been embraced by a zealous community of online supporters, raised $4.2 million on Nov. 5, [corresponding with Guy Fawkes Day]. The current fundraising effort was timed for the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, a day meant to resonate with the Libertarian sensibilities of his supporters.

The man who engineered it-- Trevor Lyman, a 37-year-old music promoter--has no official ties to the campaign and had no political experience before he engineered the innovative model for Nov. 5. He set up a website that solicited pledges for contributions to be made directly to the Paul campaign on that day--a technique that became known as a “money bomb,” which he used again to such great effect Sunday.

Source: USA Today Dec 17, 2007

All political action’s goal should be to preserve liberty

The goal of all political action should be to preserve liberty. We need more freedom in this country, and look to ourselves in what we are doing. The Constitution was written to restrain our government. Yet we turned around, and the Constitution now is used to restrain the people. If we don’t restrain the government in undermining our personal liberties, controlling our economic well-being, and using it as an excuse to police the world, this country is going to suffer a very serious economic crisis.
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate Dec 12, 2007

The term “revolution” was coined by the supporters

The term “revolution” wasn’t my word, and it didn’t come up on our web page. It was coined by the supporters. In a way, it is revolutionary to go back to the Constitution, and we’d like to continue the old revolution. Freedom is unifying; we bring a lot of people together. People then are free to choose what they would like to do with their lives, free to choose how they would spend their money, and all of a sudden, we would be telling other countries how to live.
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate Dec 12, 2007

Broke fundraising records by spontaneous support on Internet

Q: The latest poll in Iowa has you at 7%, the same number as John McCain, behind Huckabee, Romney, & Giuliani. As far as fund-raising is concerned though--and this is significant--in the last quarter that ended, you had raised $5 million. But there is some suggestion in this final quarter of 2007, you could raise more money than any of the other Republican presidential candidates, given the enormous amount you have raised online. So, in this quarter, what, $8 million, $9 million?

A: Yesterday it went over $10.5 million. Our goal was to raise $12 million by the end of the quarter. And there is going to be another super day sponsored by our supporters, spontaneously, like they did on 11/5, when they raised $4.3 million. And they say this one is going to be bigger, and that’s December 16th. So, something big is going on. The people are really annoyed with conventional politics, and we’re spending this money in Iowa. So I think those polls are going to continue to shift.

Source: CNN Late Edition: 2007 presidential series with Wolf Blitzer Dec 2, 2007

Blogosphere hails Paul/Gravel ticket with cross-party appeal

Mike Gravel declares, in his “National Initiative for Democracy”, in language to set many a progressive heart beating: “The central power of government in a democracy is lawmaking--not voting. Governments throughout history have been tools of oppression; they need not be.” He then, however, adds this caveat: “American citizens can gain control of their government by becoming lawmakers and turning its purpose to public benefit, and stemming government growth--the people are the more conservative than their elected officials regardless of political party.“ It’s this kind of rhetoric that is winning Gravel fans among libertarians, who have helped make him an unlikely favorite on user-generated news sites like Digg.com (where some are hailing a ticket of ”Mike Gravel/Ron Paul“ --or vice versa).

The idea of direct democracy might have broad appeal to an electorate sick of a political system mired in soft money, corporate cronyism, and partisan gridlock.

Source: [Xref Mike Gravel] The Contenders, by Laura Flanders, p.196 Nov 11, 2007

Only support GOP nominee if they end war & reduce spending

Q: Do you promise to support the nominee of the Republican Party next year?

PAUL: Not right now I don’t, not unless they’re willing to end the war and bring our troops home, not unless they’re willing to look at excessive spending.

MCCAIN: You don’t want me then, pal.

PAUL: No, I’m not going to support them if they continue down the path which has taken our party down the tubes. I mean, we’ve lost credibility because of all our spending, because we have violated the civil liberties of all the American people, and we have adopted the Democrats’ foreign policy. Why don’t we run on George Bush’s foreign policy of a humble foreign policy and no nation building and don’t police the world? Then I’ll support them.

Source: 2007 Republican debate in Dearborn, Michigan Oct 9, 2007

Washington shouldn’t dictate to us our personal behavior

We have resorted to going to Washington for everything. We cannot go to Washington to dictate to us how we improve our personal behavior. You don’t dictate, you don’t legislate virtue. In a free society, you do that from people, from your family, your friends, and your neighbors, but not in the federal government.
Source: 2007 GOP Values Voter Presidential Debate Sep 17, 2007

GOP will continue losing elections with current Iraq policy

PAUL: [to Huckabee] A few people advising this administration, a small number of people called the neoconservatives, hijacked our foreign policy. They’re responsible, not the American people.

HUCKABEE: We are one nation. We can’t be divided. We have to be one nation, under God. That means if we make a mistake, we make it as a single country: the United States of America, not the divided states of America.

PAUL: No, when we make a mistake, it is the obligation of the people, through their representatives, to correct the mistake, not to continue the mistake.

HUCKABEE: And that’s what we do on the floor of the Senate.

PAUL: No, we’ve dug a hole for ourselves and we’ve dug a hole for our party. We’re losing elections and we’re going down next year if we don’t change it, and it has all to do with foreign policy and we have to wake up to this fact.

HUCKABEE: Even if we lose elections, we should not lose our honor, and that is more important than [electoral gains for] the Republican Party

Source: 2007 GOP debate at UNH, sponsored by Fox News Sep 5, 2007

The champion of the Constitution

I’m Ron Paul. I’m a congressman from Texas, serving in my 10th term. I am the champion of the Constitution.
Source: 2007 GOP debate at Saint Anselm College Jun 5, 2007

Congress should write fewer laws regarding church & state

Q: You ran for president once before as a Libertarian. What do you say about this whole issue of church and state and these issues that are coming forward right now?

A: I think we should read the First Amendment, where it says, “Congress shall write no law.” And we should write a lot less laws regarding this matter. It shouldn’t be a matter of the president or the Congress. It should be local people, local officials--we just don’t need more laws determining religious things or prayer in school. We should allow people at the local level. That’s what the Constitution tells us. We don’t need somebody in Washington telling us what we can do, because we don’t have perfect knowledge. And that’s the magnificence of our Constitution and our republic. We sort out the difficult problems at local levels and we don’t have one case fit all. That’s why we shouldn’t have it at a central level.

Source: 2007 GOP debate at Saint Anselm College Jun 3, 2007

Given epithet “Dr. No” by colleagues in Congress

In Congress, Paul has earned the nickname “Dr. No” for voting against any bill he believes violates the Constitution. Ron Paul is not your typical Republican. He strongly opposes the war in Iraq. He voted against the Patriot Act, and warns that President Bush is going down a dangerous path toward war with Iran. Paul ran as the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee in 1988. But now he wants to change the Republican Party from within by running for President.
Source: Jill Morrison on KUHF, Houston Public Radio Jan 17, 2007

Neocons believe in secrecy, deceit, & imperialism

Here is a brief summary of what neocons believe:
  1. They agree with Trotsky on permanent revolution
  2. They are for redrawing the map of the Middle East
  3. They believe in preemptive war to achieve their desired ends
  4. They accept the notion that the ends justify the means
  5. They express no opposition to the welfare state
  6. The endorse an American empire
  7. They believe lying is necessary for the state to survive
  8. They believe a powerful federal government is a benefit
  9. They believe pertinent facts should be held by the elite and withheld from those who do not have the courage to deal with it
  10. They believe neutrality in foreign affairs is ill advised
  11. They believe imperialism is appropriate
  12. Using American might to force American ideals on others is acceptable
  13. 9/11 resulted from the lack of foreign entanglements, not from too many
  14. They dislike libertarians and all constitutionalists
  15. They endorse attacks on civil liberties, such as the Patriot Act
Source: House speech, in Foreign Policy of Freedom, p.261-262 Jul 10, 2003

Appears that American republic is in its waning days

Two hundred years ago the United States Constitution was written as a guide for America’s unique experiment in freedom. Today the free society that the Founders envisaged is barely identifiable.

The feeling of frustration prevalent in the country today is certainly understandable. Government is so big and the bureaucracy so cumbersome that the average person has little to say about his economic destiny.

Not surprisingly, half of the people don’t register to vote and less than half of those who do rarely vote.

Something certainly has gone wrong. The role of government and the people’s attitude toward government have changed dramatically since 1787, with most of the changes occurring in the 20th century. It appears that we are in the waning days of the Republic.

Source: Freedom Under Siege, by Ron Paul, p. 1 Dec 31, 1987

Religious affiliation: Protestant.

Paul : religious affiliation:

The Adherents.com website is an independent project and is not supported by or affiliated with any organization (academic, religious, or otherwise).

What’s an adherent?

The most common definition used in broad compilations of statistical data is somebody who claims to belong to or worship in a religion. This is the self-identification method of determining who is an adherent of what religion, and it is the method used in most national surveys and polls.

Such factors as religious service attendance, belief, practice, familiarity with doctrine, belief in certain creeds, etc., may be important to sociologists, religious leaders, and others. But these are measures of religiosity and are usually not used academically to define a person’s membership in a particular religion. It is important to recognize there are various levels of adherence, or membership within religious traditions or religious bodies. There’s no single definition, and sources of adherent statistics do not always make it clear what definition they are using.

Source: Adherents.com web site 00-ADH10 on Nov 7, 2000

Member of the Republican Liberty Caucus.

Paul is the chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus:

What is the RLC?

The Republican Liberty Caucus is a grassroots, nationwide organization affiliated with the Republican Party (GOP). The goal of the RLC is to elect pro-liberty individuals to office. The RLC was founded in 1990, and now has members in every state.

What does the RLC do?

We are expanding our nationwide base of pro-liberty Republicans. We publish a national newsletter and some state chapters publish newsletters as well.

What is the RLC’s platform?

The RLC doesn’t have an official platform like the major parties, because it is a political club and only affiliated with a major party. There is, however, an official list of RLC positions that emphasizes limited government across the board. The document was adopted at the 1996 RLC convention. Individual RLC members do not necessarily concur with every position, and it is not a requirement of membership to endorse it. It does seem to reflect the general views of the members.

Why don’t you just join the Libertarian Party?

Many in our group have been LP members, some still are. Our past chairman, Rep. Ron Paul, was the LP presidential candidate in 1988. Our Past Treasurer, Mike Holmes, was a founding member of the LP.

Everyone in the RLC joined for their own reasons, but it can be presumed that they all would agree that in many races the GOP is the best way to go in order to actually get a libertarian elected. It can also be said that the LP runs educational campaigns, where the goal is not actually electing someone, but educating the public about the libertarian philosophy. We are interested in getting someone who holds the libertarian philosophy elected.

Will the RLC support an LP candidate?

The RLC does not support LP candidates in a race where there is a GOP candidate. This does not mean that individual RLC members are party line voters. A person’s individual choice with regards to voting is not a litmus test for participation in the RLC.
Source: Republican Liberty Caucus web site 00-RLC0 on Dec 8, 2000

Rated 17% by the AU, indicating opposition to church-state separation.

Paul scores 17% by the AU on church-state separation

OnTheIssues.org interprets the 2006 AU scores as follows:

About the AU (from their website, www.au.org):

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom. AU is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans.

Americans United is a national organization with members in all 50 states. We are headquartered in Washington, D.C., and led by the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director. AU has more than 75,000 members from all over the country. They include people from all walks of life and from various faith communities, as well as those who profess no particular faith. We are funded by donations from our members and others who support church-state separation. We do not seek, nor would we accept, government funding.

Source: AU website 06n-AU on Dec 31, 2006

Other candidates on Principles & Values: Ron Paul on other issues:
Nominees:
GOP: Sen.John McCain
GOP V.P.: Gov.Sarah Palin
Democrat: Sen.Barack Obama
Dem.V.P.: Sen.Joe Biden

Third Parties:
Constitution: Chuck Baldwin
Libertarian: Rep.Bob Barr
Constitution: Amb.Alan Keyes
Liberation: Gloria La Riva
Green: Rep.Cynthia McKinney
Socialist: Brian Moore
Independent: Ralph Nader
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Page last updated: Feb 08, 2010