Ron Paul, In His Own Words

The reason behind Ron Paul is much easier to understand if you read what he has written. This is a portion of an essay written in 2004 describing his economic and political philosophy and his mentor Ludwig von Mises.

“My main motivation in entering politics was to contribute something toward establishing a free society. This desire, combined with the Austrian arguments for the efficient functioning of the market economy, has served me well. The particular interest that has occupied my time and interest has been the issue of money and inflation.

"It is impossible to concentrate on money and inflation and ignore foreign affairs, however. The two are intertwined. The fact that economic interventionism leads to a lowering of our standard of living is bad enough, but its breeding of excessive nationalism, protectionism, economic isolationism, militarism, and war should prompt us all to fear for the fate of freedom and even civilization itself, [Ludwig von] Mises’s prediction that the U.S. type of interventionism will lead to a German type of national socialism appears to be accurate. In Human Action Mises states:

“An essential point in the social philosophy of interventionism is the existence of an inexhaustible fund which can be squeezed forever. The whole doctrine of interventionism collapses when this fountain is drained off. The Santa Claus principle liquidates itself.” (Pg 854)

“Evidence of his prediction is all around us today. We can only hope that we can turn things around before his prediction that it leads to a German-type fascism comes true.

"The non-liberals who admit to the failure of their brand of interventionism now plot schemes for “reindustrialization”—a euphemism for fascism (government “partnership” with business). Banking Regulation Number One and the Defense Production Act, already on the books, allow under emergency conditions for an economic despot to take charge almost immediately. In a panic, it will not take much totopple us over. Since Americans dislike outright government ownership we will have the deception of private ownership in combination with government’s authoritarian control over the economy. And some businessmen, under this system, will always hope to secure greater profits at the expense of innocent (and unknown) victims.In Human Action, Mises points out:

“Aggressive nationalism is the necessary derivative of the policies of interventionism and national planning. While laissez faire eliminates the causes of international conflict, government interference with business and socialism create conflicts for which no peaceful solution can be found. While under free trade and freedom of migration no individual is concerned about the territorial size of his country, under the protective measures of economic nationalism nearly every citizen has a substantial interest in these territorial issues. The enlargement of the territory subject to the sovereignty of his own government means material improvement for him or at least relief from restrictions which a foreign government has imposed upon his well-being. What has transformed the limited war between royal armies into total war, the clash between peoples, is not technicalities of military art, but the substitution of the welfare state for the laissez-faire state”. (pg 819)

"And again, he reiterates:

“Interventionism generates economic nationalism, and economic nationalism generates bellicosity. If men and commodities are prevented from crossing the borderlines, why should not the armies try to pave the way for them? . . . The root of the evil is not the construction of new, or dreadful weapons. It is the spirit of conquest.”(page 828)

“As Mises shows, the “spirit of conquest” is the problem, not the weapons themselves. For this reason, he places no confidence whatever in treaties and conferences, which to him were all bureaucratic nonsense.

"International tensions are building as never before, with the war on terrorism fueling more terrorism, which provides more rationale for the war. The magnitude of these tensions is even greater than in the 1930s. International debt is deeper; the degree of worldwide inflation is more ominous.

"Gold has been “discredited” by all governments. The engines of inflation throughout the world are running at full throttle, struggling to keep the debt pyramid from collapsing. True capital formation diminishes yearly. Military build-ups continue at unprecedented rates. Western governments continue to finance ruthless regimes, loaning more than $100 billion. As foreign military capability is enhanced by our financing, we hear urgent requests from both Democrats and Republicans to increase our military expenditures massively. We never question our subsidies to our “allies and friends” through massive military and economic aid. We tear down Texas’ Gulf Coast airbases, and send AWACs aircraft to Europe and the Mideast, leaving our coastlines vulnerable. All of Japan’s defense needs are paid for by the American taxpayer and the savings are passed on to their car companies and other exporters. American car and steel industries then ask for more protectionism through quotas and tariffs.

"All this insanity, of course, is financed through massive taxation and inflation borne by our taxpayers. Without fiat money, these wild schemes would be impossible. And, more inflation, and more planning only makes things worse. And we are now in the midst of compensating for the problems we have created with trade barriers, devaluations, floating exchange rates, bank bailouts, and Third World and foreign government bailouts. The only answer given to the deteriorating conditions is to either spend more on bombs or sign worthless treaties with untrustworthy governments. And yet there is clearly another option.No one wants to consider seriously sound money and free trade as an alternative. Central banking and fiat money bring us the business cycle and unemployment. They also give us international crises and war. To achieve peace and prosperity, we must accept the ideas of the free market and honest money”
This is a portion of the essay “Mises and Austrian Economic; A Personal View” (PG 16-18) by Congressman and Presidential Candidate Ron Paul. The entire paper can be found at www.mises.org http://www.mises.org/books/paulmises.pdf "> PDF

http://www.theconservativevoice.com/forum/read.html?id=12113...