by Ron Paul
As I prepare to retire from Congress, I’d like to suggest a few New Year’s resolutions for my colleagues to consider. For the sake of liberty, peace, and prosperity I certainly hope more members of Congress consider the strict libertarian constitutional approach to government in 2013.
In just a few days, Congress will solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against ALL enemies, foreign and domestic. They should reread Article 1 Section 8 and the Bill of Rights before taking such a serious oath. Most legislation violates key provisions of the Constitution in very basic ways, and if members can’t bring themselves to say no in the face of pressure from special interests, they have broken trust with their constituents and violated their oaths. Congress does not exist to serve special interests, it exists to protect the rule of law.
I also urge my colleagues to end unconstitutional wars overseas. Stop the drone strikes; stop the covert activities and meddling in the internal affairs of other nations. Strive to observe “good faith and justice towards all Nations” as George Washington admonished. We are only making more enemies, wasting lives, and bankrupting ourselves with the neoconservative, interventionist mindset that endorses pre-emptive war that now dominates both parties.
All foreign aid should end because it is blatantly unconstitutional. While it may be a relatively small part of our federal budget, for many countries it is a large part of theirs–and it creates perverse incentives for both our friends and enemies. There is no way members of Congress can know or understand the political, economic, legal, and social realities in the many nations to which they send taxpayer dollars.
Congress needs to stop accumulating more debt. US debt, monetized by the Federal Reserve, is the true threat to our national security. Revisiting the parameters of Article 1 Section 8 would be a good start.
Congress should resolve to respect personal liberty and free markets. Learn more about the free market and how it regulates commerce and produces greater prosperity better than any legislation or regulation. Understand that economic freedom IS freedom. Resolve not to get in the way of voluntary contracts between consenting adults. Stop bailing out failed yet politically connected companies and industries. Stop forcing people to engage in commerce when they don’t want to, and stop prohibiting them from buying and selling when they do want to. Stop trying to legislate your ideas of fairness. Protect property rights. Protect the individual. That is enough.
There are many more resolutions I would like to see my colleagues in Congress adopt, but respect for the Constitution and the oath of office should be at the core of everything members of Congress do in 2013.
SSS says:
Oh, my. What an inspirational message for his colleagues. It will be ignored.
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2nd January 2013 at 8:32 pm
JIMSKI says:
Not ignored. It will actually be ridiculed in the back offices where they meet lobbyist. Such a quaint old man with his old ideas.
Psycopaths the lot of them.
Thanks again Dr Paul for at least trying.
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2nd January 2013 at 9:43 pm
AWD says:
Maybe Ron Paul can lead the trials for treason of all the criminals in Washington who serve special interests and Wall Street. As he clearly states, they are violating the Constitution, and have lied/broken their oaths. Let the trials begin.
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2nd January 2013 at 9:59 pm
flash says:
What Constitution?
On New York Times Op Ed: “Let’s Give Up on the Constitution”
Via Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
This New York Times Op Ed by Louis Michael Seidman, a constitutional law professor at Georgetown University, is one of the most absurd and dangerous articles I have read in a very long time. This guy’s incredible conclusion is that it is the Constitution of the United States itself that is causing all that ails the nation at this time. Not once did I read about the Federal Reserve, or the “war on terror,” or the banker bailouts, or the complete destruction of the rule of law in recent years. Nope, none of that. Instead, this scholar’s conclusion is that the founding document, which created the fertile breeding ground for freedom and free markets and led to tens of millions of people to flee to from all corners of the globe, is the problem.
I suppose someone failed to remind Mr. Seidman that the oath of office for the military and those that hold political office continues to be:
I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
As I have said for years, a key part of the macro agenda of the corrupt elite has been and continues to be the destruction of the U.S. Constitution. While the Bill of Rights is already being dismantled behind the scenes, Mr. Seidman is part of the effort to “sell this”to the sheeple as I noted in my article: Here We Go…Slate Magazine Bashes the First Amendment. I expect more of this type of propaganda going forward.
From the New York Times:
As the nation teeters at the edge of fiscal chaos, observers are reaching the conclusion that the American system of government is broken. But almost no one blames the culprit: our insistence on obedience to the Constitution, with all its archaic, idiosyncratic and downright evil provisions.
This is not to say that we should disobey all constitutional commands. Freedom of speech and religion, equal protection of the laws and protections against governmental deprivation of life, liberty or property are important, whether or not they are in the Constitution. We should continue to follow those requirements out of respect, not obligation.
The above paragraph is important for two reasons. First, he picks and chooses what part of the Constitution he agrees with and then says those things are good and should remain. More disturbingly, he then says we should defend freedom based on “respect not obligation.” This is insane. The reason the Bill of Rights exists is to enshrine the protection of civil rights under the law so that an authoritarian government cannot trample them. Do you really expect government to protect civil rights out of “respect” if they are not obligated to by law? Not a chance. Then he concludes with:
But before abandoning our heritage of self-government, we ought to try extricating ourselves from constitutional bondage so that we can give real freedom a chance.
Full Op Ed here.
Please pass this on to every freedom loving American you know.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-02/guest-post-new-york-times-op-ed-let%E2%80%99s-give-constitution
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2nd January 2013 at 6:35 am
Muck About says:
Mr. Paul’s comments are so true. So sad.
MA
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2nd January 2013 at 2:08 pm
Eddie says:
When you have a statesman like Dr. Paul and only 1% of the electorate will support him in a campaign, that tells me we’re in big trouble. If Americans weren’t largely stupid and self-absorbed, they would be heeding this message and demanding real change.
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2nd January 2013 at 2:32 pm
Buckhed says:
Eddie more folks would support Ron however the MSM keeps him under wraps which lessens the chances of his message getting out to a broader base. On better note his stops at colleges are packed….perhaps there is hope in the young ones.
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2nd January 2013 at 6:06 pm
SSS says:
“On (a) better note his stops at colleges are packed….perhaps there is hope in the young ones.”
—-Buckhed
Bingo. Dr. Paul HAS to know that his receptions on even public university campuses are immense crowd pleasers. He has seen the big audiences time and time again. And he has stated that he intends to continue to speak out even in retirement. I hope his primary target during the next phase of his life is …….. the young ones.
Now, here’s a possibly irony. TPTB on college campuses are far-left radical liberals and likely would just as soon not see Ron Paul set foot on their turf and “poison the minds” of the students they are trying to indoctrinate. Yet his draw in the student bodies is strong. What to do? What to do? Heh.
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2nd January 2013 at 9:28 pm
Thunderbird says:
The problem in our country as with the rest of the western world is people no longer regulate their lives by their conscience. In fact conscience is dead in many people; and certainly in our leaders.
As 2013 unfolds I am looking to see a psychological change in the thinking of people that restores the ethical and moral values that our earlier generations lived by. Sure we were not a perfect people but we did live by conscience. Until we do this, insanity will govern our thought processes and the laws we create to live under. Negativity is what we live under and negative thoughts only lead to violence.
Our political leaders, legislators, lawyers, bankers, city council members, corporate boards, administrators, CEOs of major corporations, judges, law enforcement, and much of our population have criminal minds. Decent people don’t run for political office.
What makes up a criminal mind? The major traits of a criminal mind is vanity(self love) envy, pride, greed, and lust for power. None of these traits involve conscience.
Conscience has been replaced with administrative law which is nothing more than forced rule of law. The majority of laws that we presently live under have no moral or ethical foundation at all. Values that we pretend to live by are nothing more than arbitrary judgments based on money. We break the laws and our punishment is a monetary fine or settlement.
We are a country of idiots. Democracy has never worked for society and yet we continue to partake in the political process of a democracy, continue to elect lying politicians that continue to drain the treasury of our nation, and continue to smile at us while they corn hole us. The two political parties that control the political process in this country divide us on purpose so there can be no unity. Unity is not wanted by the criminal minds that control us.
Human history is a history of criminality. State government contains the history of this criminality. When certain past societies lived by small government it was because they lived by conscience. Because people no longer live by conscience, laws are set up to replace conscience. This is what happened to America and Europe. As long as we continue to make thousands of useless laws every year our situation will only grow worse.
Want to change our destiny? Begin to live by conscience. If you don’t have conscience then develop it in yourself. This is the only way we are going to save this country from a very bad fall.
Look for leaders like Ron Paul that was censored by the media and his own political party because he has a conscience and tried to open the minds of so many young people.
Without a conscience we are no different than the animals. Without a conscience we will suffer the fate of the animals we use for food. That is, we will be used as beasts of burden under the whip of the criminals that run our government and institutions for their welfare; not ours.
Welcome to the new year. It is a glass half full. Make your choice. Either begin living by conscience or continue to live without one and seal your fate to a very miserable remorse of conscience when the truth finally reaches you and you realize you were part of the problem that brought down your country.
The psychological revolution has started. Don’t get left behind.
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2nd January 2013 at 9:46 pm