Back in 2010, Ron Paul gave a rousing speech against the TSA and introduced legislation (the American Traveler Dignity Act) to protect Americans from physical and emotional abuse by federal employees conducting screenings at the nation’s airports:
To ensure that certain Federal employees cannot hide behind immunity.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. NO IMMUNITY FOR CERTAIN AIRPORT SCREENING METHODS.
No law of the United States shall be construed to confer any immunity for a Federal employee or agency or any individual or entity that receives Federal funds, who subjects an individual to any physical contact (including contact with any clothing the individual is wearing), x-rays, or millimeter waves, or aids in the creation of or views a representation of any part of an individual’s body covered by clothing as a condition for such individual to be in an airport or to fly in an aircraft. The preceding sentence shall apply even if the individual or the individual’s parent, guardian, or any other individual gives consent.
Ron Paul introduced the “American Traveler Dignity Act” with the following words. (This is a transcript of his actual speech.)
Tonight, President Obama once again showed that he does not represent the fundamental change this country needs. Instead of offering solutions to the problems our country faces, the President was intent on delivering a campaign speech, further dealing in the typical Washington political gamesmanship that has gotten us exactly nowhere close to improving the lives of the American people.
In a speech where much of the rhetoric was devoted to job creation, it was strange that President Obama would brag about his job-destroying national health care plan, Obamacare, and the Dodd-Frank bill, which, contrary to the President’s claims, guarantees future taxpayer bailouts of large institutions. Unfortunately, President Obama’s ‘job creation’ policies amount to little more than continuing to allow government bureaucrats to pick winners and losers, which is a recipe for continued economic stagnation.
President Obama claims to want an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. Yet he remains committed to the same old system of debt, deficits, bailouts, and cronyism that created our economic problems. The President speaks of giving us energy independence from unstable nations, yet he refuses to allow the type of development needed to achieve this goal, while at the same time his administration hands out favors to the politically connected – those given to the likes of Solyndra, who fail to produce jobs or energy but succeed in ripping off the taxpayers.
Of course, President Obama refuses to even mention the role the Federal Reserve plays in creating an economic system where some are denied a fair shot or even to support my efforts at bringing transparency to the Federal Reserve. Also not mentioned by President Obama is the very crucial need for reining in spending and balancing the federal budget. What is called by some ‘the greatest threat to our national security’ seems not to be of great importance to this President, although I, like many Americans, believe it to be cause for immediate measures, like the $1 trillion in spending cuts that would take place in my first year as President under my Plan to Restore America.
In the area of foreign policy and civil liberties, President Obama’s rhetoric may be different, but the substance of his polices – as shown by his administration’s defense of the TSA’s treatment of my son, Senator Rand Paul, is hardly ‘change we can believe in.’ No wonder more and more Americans, especially young people, are rejecting the phony alternatives of Obama and establishment Republicans and embracing my campaign to Restore America Now.
Between Jan. 17 and 24 we asked visitors of RonPaul.com who they would vote for in the general election if a varying choice of tickets were available. Respondents are assumed to be Ron Paul supporters or people researching Ron Paul.
Results
As expected, pretty much any GOP ticket that includes Ron Paul as President and a non-establishment VP does extremely well among RonPaul.com visitors:
Although Congress was back in session for scarcely more than a day last week, private citizens across the country managed to cause an uproar felt across Capitol Hill. The uproar took the form of hundreds of thousands of phone calls to both Senators and Representatives, urging them to oppose two draconian new bills that threaten the free and unbridled flow of information on the internet.
On Wednesday last week, dozens of prominent websites like Wikipedia, Reddit, and Craigslist, were blacked out in protest of two bills known in DC jargon as SOPA and PIPA. SOPA is the House bill; PIPA is its Senate companion. These bills ostensibly will combat internet piracy, and of course we also are told they will help us wage the never ending “war on terror.”
What these bills actually do is force website owners to police the internet; create entry barriers to the only relatively free and open medium of communication; and threaten to break the technological structure of the internet itself. They also violate our 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech and our 4th Amendment freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.
SOPA and PIPA have been drafted not only without respect for the Constitution, but also without an understanding of the how the internet works. These bills attack the very system upon which the entire orderly organization of the web depends. Search engines, internet service providers, advertising sites, and sites with user-generated content such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter–all magnificent creations of the market– are directly threatened by these bills. They will be held responsible if even a single of their millions of users posts even one link to a website that a copyright holder claims is violating a copyright.
Note that under the bills as written, the Department of Justice or a copyright holder do not have to prove that their copyright was violated– they simply have to claim copyright infringement and an entire site is shut down. The burden of these regulations on the internet will be enormous, shifting resources away from productivity and innovation and into monitoring and censoring. It turns internet companies into involuntary tools for Big Brother government, further eroding our Constitutional rights.
As is typical of so many bills in Congress, SOPA and PIPA were not crafted to make life better for the American people, but rather were written at the behest of big business trying to enlist the federal government as its strong-arm. For example, the Motion Picture Association of America spent more than $1.2 million so far lobbying for their passage.
But the internet community is fighting back effectively, not just with websites that went black but with millions of users who expressed their solidarity. Congressional sponsors of both bills have been jumping ship in response to the outrage. The House Judiciary Committee canceled the SOPA hearing they were planning to hold last Wednesday; the House leadership announced they have no intention of considering this bill; and at the end of the week Senator Reid announced he was postponing the vote until a “compromise” could be reached. The American people are speaking, and with their continued grassroots efforts the marketplace for free ideas and communication will prevail over government controls and censorship.
working towards a sensible, pro-American foreign policy and
reminding the federal government of its defining purpose: to protect our liberties.
Ron Paul’s Surge: Faster than Ever Before
Thanks to the hard work of his campaign staff, grassroots supporters, donors and SuperPACs, Ron Paul managed to more than triple (+259%) his percentage share of votes cast in South Carolina, from 3.62% in 2008 to 13% in 2012:
The number of votes cast for Ron Paul ballooned as well, more than quadrupling (+383%) from 16,155 votes in 2008 to 78,093 votes in 2012:
These results make South Carolina the state where Ron Paul has achieved the biggest rate of growth for his campaign so far.
In Iowa, Ron Paul had increased his percentage from 9.93% to 21.45% (+116%) and his number of votes from 11,841 to 26,219 (+121%).
In New Hampshire he had increased his percentage from 7.8% to 22.91% (+194%) and his number of votes from 18,308 votes to 56,872 (+211%):
Ready for more growth? The rate of growth itself keeps growing too.
Compared to the 2008 campaign, the percentage of votes cast for Ron Paul grew by 116% in Iowa, by 195% in New Hampshire and by 259% in South Carolina.
Ron Paul’s number of votes grew by 121% in Iowa, by 211% in New Hampshire and by 383% in South Carolina:
Victory Is Within Reach
Ron Paul’s message of freedom, his ardent base of supporters and his continuing surge even in states like South Carolina put him firmly on the track to winning the nomination.
The next stop is Florida on Jan. 31, where Ron Paul received 3.23% or 62,887 votes in 2008. Could there be a surprise brewing in the Sunshine State?
The weeks after Florida bring Ron Paul to three caucus states where he is expected to do very well: Nevada (13.73% in 2008), Colorado (8.42% in 2008) and Washington state (21.64% in 2008).
“It is, of course, not possible to fight the greatest military empire in the history of the world with its own tactics. Religion forbids it, and so does even a moment’s rational thought. Only peaceful resistance – staunch, educated, principled, and unyielding – can succeed. It can appeal to good people in the ranks of the state, which is essential. Look to Ron Paul and Murray Rothbard. A peaceful revolution, firmly grounded in the ideals of liberty, that is our banner. Our only banner.”— Lew Rockwell, LewRockwell.com
Ron Paul is America's leading voice for limited, constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, sound money, and a pro-American foreign policy. Read more...
Ronald Reagan and Ron Paul
Ronald Reagan: "Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country."
Ron Paul in the Air Force
Ron Paul is a proud Air Force veteran. He served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force from 1963 to 1965 and then in the U.S. Air National Guard from 1965 to 1968. During his military service Ron Paul spent time on the ground in Iran, Pakistan, South Korea, Turkey, Ethiopia and other countries.
Ron Paul has been married to his wife Carol Wells since 1957. They have five children: Ronald, Lori, Rand, Robert, and Joy. Paul's son Rand is the junior senator from the state of Kentucky.
RonPaul.com is maintained by independent grassroots supporters of Ron Paul. Neither this website nor the articles, posts, videos or photos appearing on it are paid for, approved, endorsed or reviewed by Ron Paul. For Ron Paul's official campaign website go to RonPaul2012.com
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