Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) is the leading advocate for freedom in our nation's capital. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dr. Paul tirelessly works for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies. He is known among his congressional colleagues and his constituents for his consistent voting record. Dr. Paul never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution. In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Dr. Paul is the "one exception to the Gang of 535" on Capitol Hill.
Dr. Paul presently serves on the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He continues to advocate a dramatic reduction in the size of the federal government and a return to constitutional principles.
Congressman Paul's consistent voting record prompted one of his congressional colleagues to say, “Ron Paul personifies the Founding Fathers' ideal of the citizen-statesman. He makes it clear that his principles will never be compromised, and they never are." Another colleague observed, "There are few people in public life who, through thick and thin, rain or shine, stick to their principles. Ron Paul is one of those few."
After more than 20 years in Congress, Dr. Paul has:
never voted to raise taxes
never voted for an unbalanced budget
never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership
never voted to raise congressional pay
never taken a government-paid junket
never voted to increase the power of the executive branch
Furthermore, Dr Paul:
voted against the Patriot Act
voted against regulating the Internet
voted against the Iraq war
does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program
returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year
Congressman Paul introduces numerous pieces of substantive legislation each year, probably more than any single member of Congress.
Educating Rudy:
Pat Buchanan: "Who was Right - Rudy or Ron?"
It was the decisive moment of the South Carolina debate.
Hearing Rep. Ron Paul recite the reasons for Arab and Islamic resentment of the United States, including 10 years of bombing and sanctions that brought death to thousands of Iraqis after the Gulf War, Rudy Giuliani broke format and exploded:
“That's really an extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the attack of 9-11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don't think I have ever heard that before, and I have heard some pretty absurd explanations for Sept. 11.”
The applause for Rudy's rebuke was thunderous – the sound bite of the night and best moment of Rudy's campaign... Almost all agree that, horrible as 9-11 was, it was not anarchic terror. It was political terror, done with a political motive and a political objective. What does Rudy Giuliani think the political motive was for 9-11? Was it because we are good and they are evil? Is it because they hate our freedom? Is it that simple?
Of the 10 candidates on stage in South Carolina, Dr. Paul alone opposed the war. He alone voted against the war. Have not the last five years vindicated him, when two-thirds of the nation now agrees with him that the war was a mistake, and journalists and politicians left and right are babbling in confession, “If I had only known then what I know now …”
Ron Paul is no TV debater. But up on that stage in Columbia, he was speaking intolerable truths. Understandably, Republicans do not want him back, telling the country how the party blundered into this misbegotten war. So by all means, throw out of the debate the only man who was right from the beginning on Iraq. (Full Article)
Ron Paul Wins Debate Despite Being Defamed by Pundits:
Ron Paul rocks Republican bigwigs
One assumes that Ron Paul knows he is not going to be the next president of the United States - or even the next Republican nominee. Yet the Texas congressman is campaigning hard, aiming particular ire and fire at Rudy Giuliani.
Paul is commonly regarded - by those who have heard of him - as more of a Libertarian than a Republican. That is, he believes in minimal regulation at home and minimal intervention abroad... So it's little wonder, then, that Paul is viewed dimly by top Republicans - the party loyalists, social-issue-regulators and neoconservative militarists who have come to dominate the GOP.
And while his campaign staff finds imaginative ways to measure his momentum - one recent release reported that Paul had become "the third most-mentioned person in the blogosphere, beating out Paris Hilton" - more conventional measures show him way back in the pack. He stands at 1 percent, or less, in polls of Republican presidential preference.
But there's something liberating, for Paul, about being at asterisk-levels of support. There's also something inspiring in Paul's long-shot candidacy - to Republicans who think their party has lost its way during the White House tenure of George W. Bush. At a recent press breakfast organized by The American Spectator, Paul got right to the point: He wants to take the party back from those who would "spend more money, run bigger deficits and police the world."(Full Article)
Ron Paul in Columbia, SC:
Ron Paul Violated the Rules
Ron Paul violated one of the most consistently observed rules of American political life in the GOP debate in South Carolina the other night: government officials are never, ever to level with the American population. The people are to be endlessly flattered, spoken to in bumper-sticker slogans, and in general treated like seven-year-olds.
A man of principle and in possession of an IQ above 80, Paul naturally refused to play along. He explained that foreign policy has consequences, and that political and military interference around the world has a tendency to stir up whole peoples against us. If we ignore this simple and obvious fact, we do so at our peril. His implicit conclusion was that the shenanigans of our government have made our people more hated and more vulnerable than ever. In sum, if you want to play empire, you cannot pretend that doing so will be costless. (Full Article)
