Congress Must Reject the Welfare/Warfare State
by Ron Paul
During the past few weeks, Congress has been locked in a battle to pass a continuing resolution to fund government operations through September. Both supporters and opponents of the bill, HR 1, claim it is a serious attempt to reduce federal spending. However, an examination of the details of the bill call that claim into question. For one thing, the oft-cited assertion that HR 1 reduces spending by $99 billion is misleading. The $99 billion figure merely represents the amount that HR 1 reduces spending from the President’s proposed Fiscal Year 2011 budget – not reductions in actual spending. Trying to claim credit for a reduction in spending based on cuts in proposed spending is like claiming someone is following a diet because he had only five slices of pizza when he intended to have 10 slices!
In fact, HR 1 only reduces real federal spending by $66 billion compared to last year’s budget. This may seem like a lot to the average American but in the context of an overwhelming trillion-dollar budget and a national debt that could exceed 100 percent of GNP in September, it is barely a drop in the bucket.
One reason that HR 1 does not cut spending enough is that too many fiscal conservatives continue to embrace the fallacy that we can balance the budget without reducing spending on militarism. Until Congress realizes the folly of spending trillions pretending to impose democracy on the world we will never be able to seriously reduce spending.
Congress must not only reject the warfare state, it must also reject the welfare state. HR 1 is more aggressive in ending domestic spending than foreign spending, and does zero out some objectionable federal programs such as AmeriCorps. However, HR 1 leaves most of the current functions of the federal government undisturbed. This bill thus continues the delusion that we can have a fiscally responsible and efficient welfare state.
The failure to even attempt to address the serious threat the welfare-warfare state poses to American liberty and prosperity is the main reason why supporters of limited government and individual liberty ultimately should find HR 1 unsatisfactory. Only a rejection of the view that Congress can run the economy, run our lives, and run the world will allow us to make the spending reductions necessary to avert a serious financial crisis. This does not mean we should not prioritize and discuss how to gradually transition away from the welfare state in a manner that does not harm those currently relying on these programs. However, we must go beyond balancing the budget to transitioning back to a free society, and that means eventually placing responsibility for social welfare back in the hands of individuals and private institutions.
Despite the overheated rhetoric heard during the debate, HR 1 is a diversion from the difficult task of restoring constitutional government and a free economy and society. It is time for Congress to get serious about cutting spending, not merely tinkering around the edges of the proposed budget and kicking the can down the road for future generations. If we fail to act decisively now, there will soon come a time when both our money and our capacity to borrow will run out. When that happens, our ability to negotiate and play political games with spending priorities will be over. To avoid real chaos, the time to start dealing with our bloated government budget is right now.
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Bernanke, STOP disliking Ron’s vids!
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Shut the gov. down!!! Make these assholes find a real job!!! Oh YEAH, There is none
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HAHAHA some of you people are idiots, I’m sorry to say. If you are honestly considering throwing your support behind Huckabee or Romney for president, you are just oblivious to the fact they are corporate controlled puppets who would continue the same policies Bush and Obama have done. Ron Paul is the only presidencial canidate that is not bought out. And it is said to see that some of you would vote for a neo-con puppet like Romney or Huckabee.
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If you libertarians want to live in your advocated utopia move to Somalia. Otherwise I agree on everything ron paul says.
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If Paul don’t get it in 12, then I’ll throw my support behind Huckabee.
I hope Romney Don’t get the GOP nomination. He’s a GOP RHINO more Bush policies. America is at a time where we need leaders bold & is capable of thinking outside the box! Romney will tell you what you want to hear, then turn his back on us once he’s in…
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He will win in 2012… if not, there will be a revolution. He probably has twice as many fans as he had in 2008. REVOLUTION!!!!!
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well,..its either “make your face pretty cause your about to get fucked”,..or lets do something about this. 2012! vote Ron Paul, if he doesn’t win,then america is no more!!
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warfare and welfare have the common property of destroying the people and places that get it.
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The House should shut down the government. Send them a message, shock them out of their zombie-like spending binge.
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Cutting the government is all well and good but what we are really talking about is laying off hundreds of thousands of people.
Who will feed them?
Who will be left to buy anything?
Have none of you studied history or economics?
Must be nice to believe you can have it all for nothing.
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Pinky, The thousands of government workers will then be employed in more productive, wealth creating pursuits instead of studying the mating habitsof bull frogs. These new jobs will come from a freer, less/taxed, less/regulated private sector. Wealth must be created not wealth-destroying jobs for jobs sake. If the government hires a person to move a pile of dirt from Point A to Point B and then hires another person to move that pile of dirt from Point B to Point A, no wealth is created. The government NEVER can create wealth…and its actions actually interfere with real wealth potential in the private sector.
Using your logic, the government should ignore the budget and simply hire all of the unemployed and underemployed to jobs that pay $50k to pick up trash. I mean if it is wrong to fire government workers because it will hurt the economy, the opposite must be true…hiring public workers must help the economy.
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if i don’t hear that than romney gets the vote
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ok than i want to hear plans to get rid of social security, kill medicare and medicaid and welfare. o of course kill obamacare.
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All entitlements must be paid, but phased out. Social security should be paid in full plus COLA for those currently retired. Those retiring in less than five years, also get PIF but no COLA. Then all workers ranging from 5 years to 50 years from retirement will get a gradually declining balance. Those not yet in the workforce, get nothing. All taxes paid by workers into the social security fund should be eliminated immediately. Those paid by businesses would be eliminated in 30 years. Other entitlements would also be gradually eliminated.
The budget should then be balanced by cutting both domestic and military spending. Departments like Education and Energy should be entirely eliminated immediately. Then government assets should be sold…land buildings, vehicles, paper clips…THe entitlements should be paid by monetizing these obligations…the debt should be paid with proceeds from asset sales….if these proceeds fall short, the USA should default …making it unlikely to be able to borrow ever again….a good thing.
Yes, I know monetizing entitlements is controversial and inflationary; but, asking politicians to raise taxes and/or raise the retirement age is unfair…it is political suicide and simply will not happen. This way, EVERYONE in the USA will pay evenly for the mistakes of social security and the other entanglements while avoiding direct blame on anyone….
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“Only a rejection of the view that Congress can run the economy, run our lives, and run the world, will allow us to make the spending reductions necessary to avert a serious financial crisis.”
-Ron Paul
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now here is some change you can believe in
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One can reject the welfare/warfare state by buying Silver. The financiers of this welfare/warfare state is the Federal Reserve as “Federal” as Federal Express. Normally welfare would be charity from individual people (not the government) given to those who are less fortunate, and wars would be paid for by a tax on the people. Both of these traditional methods of funding are eliminated when the Federal Reserve just needs to turn on the printing presses. End the Fed.
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Shut down the gov. Send them home and lets move on. Bring our troops home and close the southern border. Produce goods here at home…..seems simple…..
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OBAMA TICKLE APP NOW ON ITUNES !!
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Ron Paul 2024
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Ron Paul is the only common sense in America and a minority are listening. What does this say about America… It says Americans are pretty much stupid, ignorant fools that rise more stupid, ignorant fools. Can you see where this leads. The END OF AMERICA. I know many are unable to wake up due to ignorance but what about the rest of you with a brain. Ron Paul is the only person that can turn this thing around.
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it is extremely important that people become informed about Ron Paul and hear his message, for he will give us the CHANGE WE WANT
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Ron Paul for POTUS!!!!
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Go to your address bar, after the word YOU and before the word TUBE, type in “win” then press enter
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ron will be killed if he is ever presiden just like jfk
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I guess we’ll just have to hook him up with a set of tough chicks like Qaddafi has:)
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Yeah, fuck starving people!
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I was going to report my neighbors for smoking pot but I decided to report your dumb comment instead.
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One of the only few sane voices in politics!!!!!
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bro, i wouldn’t put welfare with warfare on the same verse
we have to take care the weakest among us b/c we are one
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It’s all relevant. If we stop policing the world and fighting unnecessary wars, the government wouldn’t need to steal so much money from us. If the government doesn’t steal as much money from us, tons more people have a surplus of money. When you have a country full of people with a surplus in money instead of the diminishing of the middle class like you see today, then more people are able to donate to organizations created simply for those in need of help.
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Ron Paul quite simply is the best asset the US has right now. Unfortunately, the current political system is so corrupted the odds are heavily stacked against his becoming the next US President, and so the current fiasco will more than likely continue unabated until total collapse occurs.
In which case, we then need to track and ensure that these criminal banksters swing from lamp posts. Maybe, in Bernake’s case, from the lantern under the entrance canopy of the White House would be suitable?
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I’m going to cut my spending at exactly the same ratio as the President – 1/35,000 of my total budget. After doing the math, it looks like instead of spending $4,000 a month; I’m going to have to cut that number downward by eleven cents!
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Here is were I would start cutting; The bloated Dept. of Defense, ending the multi-trillion dollar wars, the Fed would be abolished, Homeland Security–abolished, Dept. of Education–slashed, EPA–slashed, Dept of Agriculture–slashed, and many many others…What’s the problem?? There is plenty of fat to be cut!!!
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No matter how against socialism I am, I also believe that this is NOT the time to fight the “liberals” on social spending. The fact is, if we could get rid of the cost of the central banks and their thieving member banks, we could cut taxes by 50% and double our social programs. We MUST stay focused on the biggest REAL enemy FIRST, then we’ll have the strength to sort out the rest of it.
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Run Ron Run!
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Yea!Ron Paul 2012
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Ron Paul 2012!!
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RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT!
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RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT!
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