Tag: Ron Paul

(1935-) American physician, US Congressman (R-TX), US Presidential candidate

Socialism must be voluntary

A libertarian society actually gives full permission for voluntary socialism. The problem is that it’s so inefficient that the socialists know their system is going to fail, so they have to use the force of a government gun to take money from the people who aren’t socialists in order to subsidize their programs.

State welfare: Cui bono?

It’s a mistake to think that poor people get the benefit from the welfare system. It’s a total fraud. Most welfare go to the rich of this country: the military-industrial complex, the bankers, the foreign dictators, it’s totally out of control. […] This idea that the government has services or goods that they can pass on is a complete farce. Governments have nothing. They can’t create anything, they never have. All they can do is steal from one group and give it to another at the destruction of the principles of freedom, and we ought to challenge that concept.

Do not condemn what you have never seen

Capitalism should not be condemned, since we haven’t had capitalism. A system of capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat money manipulated by a central bank. Capitalism cherishes voluntary contracts and interest rates that are determined by savings, not credit creation by a central bank. It’s not capitalism when the system is plagued with incomprehensible rules regarding mergers, acquisitions, and stock sales, along with wage controls, price controls, protectionism, corporate subsidies, international management of trade, complex and punishing corporate taxes, privileged government contracts to the military-industrial complex, and a foreign policy controlled by corporate interests and overseas investments. Add to this centralized federal mismanagement of farming, education, medicine, insurance, banking, and welfare. This is not capitalism!

Federal forces

Under the constitution, there was never meant to be a federal police force. Even an FBI limited only to investigations was not accepted until this century. Yet today, fueled by the federal government’s misdirected war on drugs, radical environmentalism, and the aggressive behavior of the nanny state, we have witnessed the massive buildup of a virtual army of armed regulators prowling the States where they have no legal authority. The sacrifice of individual responsibility and the concept of local government by the majority of American citizens has permitted the army of bureaucrats to thrive.

Greatest threat to America today

The greatest threat facing America today is the disastrous fiscal policies of our own government, marked by shameless deficit spending and Federal Reserve currency devaluation. It is this one-two punch — Congress spending more than it can tax or borrow, and the Fed printing money to make up the difference — that threatens to impoverish us by further destroying the value of our dollars.