Quotes From Ron Paul

From the book:  Liberty Defined; 50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom by Ron Paul We cannot know exactly what tomorrow will bring, nor at what time the consequences of bad policy will involve, so we must strive for truth and the preservation of those values that we are convinced have benefited mankind.

Concentration on our material well–being and neglect of the moral principles that underpin material abundance will result in the loss of prosperity, peace, and liberty.

Envy seeks to take away what others have out of spite and hatred, and is driven by the desire to destroy. It is an extremely instructive emotion, one that cannot bring for small happiness and is sure to bring social harm.

As Thomas Jefferson said: it does me no injury for my neighbor's to say there are 20 gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

The dictatorial government that is ever approaching will not provide the security of the American people are seeking, and the sacrifice of our liberties will have been for naught.

The Federal Reserve is allowed to make secret arrangements with foreign governments, foreign central banks, and the international financial institutions. Since an audit of these agreements has never been allowed, there is no way to know with certainty whether the Fed participates in foreign policy strategies.

Complacency comes to from guilt that government officials instill in the people and that allows the transfer of wealth in this matter. It's easier to achieve the electorate's support when a country is reasonably prosperous. Foreign aid can best be described as taking money from the poor in a rich country and giving it to the rich and powerful in a poor country. Unchecked, it ensures that both the donor and recipient countries become poorer in the end. Pursuing a policy of freedom from want is nothing more than a license to steal. Such a program guarantees poverty for the masses and power to the government elite. It is fear, pumped up by those in authority that frightens the people into begging for the government to protect them from the perceived ravages of the free market economy and the infidels about to attack us. Any effort to mandate or enforced the goal of making everyone free from want and fear through government action will guarantee the destruction of the concept of personal liberty. Powers that the government holds should arrive through the consent of the governed. One should never be permitted to assume this arbitrary power over others, nor can a majority of the people consent to giving away the liberty of others.

Government never produces anything, its only option is to steal from one group and pass what it has stolen on to the next. One would expect that such a system would breed a corrupt political system of big money and lobbyists. Any attempt to achieve the goal of freedom from want can only be done by the use of government force and at the sacrifice of personal liberty. True freedom is based on the moral principle that each of us has a right to our life and liberty and the fruits of our labor. Those who claim that a little compromise is cruel to silence the demands of the authoritarians, the free loaders, and the power for few who end up controlling the government are always willing to give up some fraction of their liberties and property in the hope that the demand for more benefits or privilege will be satiated. All political energy for greater than 100 years has been directed toward increasing government power to determine who will receive the benefits. The result has been crumbs to the poor and attack on the middle class, while Wall Street and the banks continue to benefit from the bailouts. Fear is required to get the People's support for fighting unnecessary wars and supporting the military industrial complex. The fear is concocted. The war is very clearly not necessary. The results are devastating to our society and our prosperity. Fear, war, lies, all melted into a policy that expands the state while destroying our economy and liberties.
The American people seem overly willing to accept more, economic sacrifice, and loss of liberty as long as the president, whether FDR, Bush, or Obama, claims his actions are well intended and are done to protect our freedoms. Any disagreement means that one does not share a love of freedom. The failure of Keynesianism is the belief that central economic planning is workable, that spending is a panacea, that borrowing is unlimited, that deficits don't matter, and that governments can solve all our problems. Think of the clichés that conservatives used to push their own form of big government. They say that want to protect our whole, remake the Middle East, make the world safer for democracy, get rid of the bad guys, fight cold wars and hot wars, fight the global war on terrorism, stop radical Islam, Jerez the supposed danger of North Korea, all while condemning big government. Incidentally, these programs are all about providing jobs for one's congressional district. I constantly heard the jobs argument to get support for military spending. Major weapons systems are built in many different states, and congressional districts garnered the votes required to build even those weapons that serve no benefit to our security. Instead, military buildup contributes to our economic insecurity. Military Keynesianism supported by conservatives and liberals has led to an insane amount of taxpayer dollars being spent, now surpassing the military spending of all other nations combined. And the politicians feel good about it. They can tout their conservatism even while spending as never before. We face zero threat from any country invading the United States, yet we never stop the massive spending on weapons. The military culture has made us the largest arms merchants of the world, and of all history. Having so many weapons, especially those offensive in nature, only encourages the deeply flawed and moral policies of preventing war, which is really just another phrase for aggression. Since World War II, in many of the conflicts around the world, US weapons have been used on both sides, and not infrequently, against us. Military Keynesianism is every bit as harmful as domestic Keynesianism. Yes, some jobs are created to build bombs and missiles, but only at the expense of other jobs that would make more productive use of capital. Manufacturing and blowing up muzzles and bombs cannot raise the standard of living of American citizens, bits and economic negative: more debt and no benefits to American citizens. The distraction of our weapons causes always requires that American taxpayers pay for rebuilding the infrastructure we destroyed in the land we occupied. We cannot become wealthier with this system, only for, which we are now discovering.
Running up the deficits with welfare spending at home certainly does not make our economy stronger, nor do the poor benefit in the long run, but at least it's not based on promoting violence for various and sundry reasons and risking escalation of the small wars for which the authorities are always planning. The only thing that Washington does well is redistributing wealth and accumulating power unto itself. The supposed right to medical care can only be guaranteed at the expense of others. The transfer can only be arranged by force. This creates oppressive bureaucracies, encourages over utilization of resources, and leads to technological stagnation and inevitably to rationing and deprivation. It's the nature of government to produce low-quality products and services at extremely high prices. They also tried to interfere with the laws of economics, but those laws cannot be repealed, and cents that is not understood we all suffer the consequences. The escalating cost of medical care cannot be completely solved unless the source of inflation and excessive government mandates are addressed. The solution can't possibly be found by talking only to the people whose policies caused the disaster and who never anticipated the crisis. Without a leaf that truth exists apart from what government says it is, peace, prosperity, and progress are impossible. Patriotism never demands obedience to the state but rather obedience to the principles of liberty. A system of government without limit, if unchecked, will destroy production and impoverish the nation. The only answer is to better understand economics and monetary systems, as well as social and foreign policies, with the hope that they will change once it becomes clear that government policies are a threat to us all.