Transcript
John Stossel: Tonight, we explode a few myths about elections and natural disasters. Here’s the first: I’m told that Hurricane Sandy is proof that we need a powerful federal government, namely FEMA, which provides emergency management. This just makes sense to people: we have a big disaster across state lines, who but the feds can help. Just like New York Times declared, week, “A big storm requires big government”. Very few politicians are skeptical about that, so it’s a relief to turn to former presidential candidate, Ron Paul. Dr. Paul, you say it’s a myth that we need FEMA?
Ron Paul: I certainly think so, because it causes more harm than good. We’ve handled floods and disasters for 204 years before we had FEMA, and the states and the volunteers and the local communities did quite well. I’ve taken this position for a long time, it’s not just recently. I’ve taken it since I was first in office, and I kept getting re-elected, because people in my district got tired of FEMA. All they had was headaches, they got locked into their insurance and it’s a bureaucracy and I’ve tried to help them get through the bureaucracy. But they just come in and take over.
John Stossel: But it’s a big problem, it crosses state lines, the Feds have to have some role?
Ron Paul: No, they don’t have to. What we should have is a real insurance. The problem is, the insurance program causes many of the problems, because they say, “Well, you have to have insurance”. The market won’t sell insurance to you, and that’s telling you that it’s too dangerous. So rich people get insurance subsidized by poor people, and they go and build on beaches and they have a good time and their houses get washed away and the poor people pay to rebuild their houses.
John Stossel: It was interesting that this week, before the storm hit, the President held a press conference, not at FEMA’s offices, but at the Red Cross. Here’s a clip:
Barack Obama: The reason we’re here is because the Red Cross knows what it’s doing when it comes to emergency responses.
John Stossel: So what’s he saying there, the Red Cross, not FEMA, knows what it’s doing, and FEMA doesn’t? Sounds like he’s admitting it.
Ron Paul: Yea, that was good politics, but, unfortunately, from my experience here in my district, the Red Cross and others were inhabited by FEMA. They would come in and stop it. Think of the difference between how evacuation occurred in New York after 9/11, all the volunteers shipped boats and things, thousands of people there were evacuated. And the opposite happened in Katrina, because FEMA got in and had control. But this giving up on individuals helping neighbors and local government doing things is a serious problem and it’s one of the reasons why we’re totally bankrupt. Because all this money that’s going to go out here in the next few months because of this storm … there is no money in the bank and there’s really no money in FEMA, the insurance is broke. So they’re going to just borrow it and print it and make our problems worse. They’ll take and centralize the power, the power will be in Washington DC, and it’s bureaucratic and it’s very inefficient.
John Stossel: Well, thank you, Dr. Paul, and thank you for all you’ve done to wake people up.
Ron Paul: Thank you, John.
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Ron Paul is a real American hero!
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I never said or implied that I was going to vote for the liberal or conservative candidate this election. In an ideal situation not voting at all would send a much stronger message than voting for a third party candidate.
Ross Perot got 19% of the popular vote as a third party candidate, 22 years later the two headed dragon that is our “political system” remains.
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fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkk fema
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A free market is run by no one. it runs itself.
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“Just Because we do it wrong, doesn’t mean We shouldn’t do it at all”
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By letting everything take its own course ( and opening it for unconstrained abuse), Man wouldn’t have progressed. Your missing the very essence of Civilization and a Society. Anarcho-Libertarianism,Extreme cases of Individualism seem to have effects of religious proportion on folks like you.A bit of History, a bit of Commonsense could easily dismiss this. Being critical of Free Markets and Liberalism does not mean being against Freedom and Liberty.
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John Stossel is 65 years old
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I have no problem with a small government that protects people from coercion and harm. People seem to assume that a free market is one in which you can do whatever you want without being held accountable. That’s just not true. There would still be things such as accountability, as well as protection from coercion, unfulfilled contracts, and theft.
I’m not quite anarchist. lol
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Couldn’t agree with you more NoNameC68. I don’t understand why this is so hard for some people to get. The government doesn’t protect us!
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Don’t use words you don’t understand.
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“Its not about force its about discipline.”
I’ll slap you across the face with the butt of my pistol. Not force, discipline!
When I say “You can’t do that or I’ll punish you”, then that’s FORCE. Don’t call it discipline, that’s like calling child abuse discipline.
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Two human beings talk. They make a deal. One will do this, while the other gives the first that. The government steps in and says “no, no, no, you can’t do it that way.” For example, I can’t sell lemonade from my front yard, despite me and the customer both consenting to trade. That’s bullshit.
You’re being played a fool. The government doesn’t create more restrictions to protect people, they do so to ruin small businesses so bigger businesses can maintain their monopoly.
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Ron Paul or no one, all Americans should know this. If you do not, YOUR FUCKING WELCOME!
Vote the jokers out already jeez, what they havent stolen enough yet?…
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‘Free Markets’ is a false term. It might the best thing that can happen to an Economy, but may not serve the best interest of a society. We are more than just resources constituting the Economy.
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In a society Powers – political or economic has to be constrained and regulated to serve societies’ best interests. Its not about force its about discipline. ‘Fairness’, ‘Equality’, ‘Liberty’ are more than just ‘terms’ they are Ideas.
In order to achieve the ‘Liberty’ as seen through your lens your seek empowerment to do whatever you like on a claim being self-regulated by market forces.
In other words, Self Centered Arrogance.
I’ll take the side of Humanity
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John Stossel is a well known Libertarian.
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Ron Paul for President!
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They both support “assault weapon” bans. Romney has said he would keep most things in Obamacare. Romney IS creepy. He sounds like the serial killer version of Mr. Rogers. Romney will triple military spending, but somehow balance the budget. We spend 40% of our GDP on the military. Both will increase spending. Marriage is a distraction from the foreign policy they both share. They both support the NDAA and using drones against American citizens.They are the same person to me. They are Obamney.
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Hurricane Sandy, Controlled demolition?? Please check this out and thumbs up so many more people can see..
/watch?v=u4GJBibAVXY
HAARP? You decided
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1 day a Paul will be president of usa
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This guy was promptly fired for not being an ass to Ron Paul.
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Did I just hear that Fox Business Reporter just say thank you to RP for waking so many people up? Wooow I must be dreaming…
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You are advocating the use of force to achieve “fairness” and “equality” as seen through the lens of the person empowered to use that force.
In other words, theft.
I’ll take the side of liberty.
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Free Markets are required to follow certain rules. These rules are put in place to protect consumers. Liability, for example, would exist in a free market. “Fair markets” is false “protection”. Fair markets are entitlements and regulations that harm the economy and destroy small businesses.
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It will show that more and more people want real change. Of course, the process is painfully slow since everyone wants to vote the lesser monopolized evil every single year. If everyone voted 3rd party, we could win. Nobody votes 3rd party because they think the 3rd party is going to lose. It’s a self fulfilling prophecy.
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A truly viable 3rd party? Such as what? Such as the already existing libertarian party?!
And what do you mean “hand the election to Obama”? You want Obama to lose so bad you would vote for Romney?! Voting for Romney is voting to keep us locked in this system (IT’S NOT WORTH IT). We have to keep Obama out of office this year, what about next election? Next time we’ll have to keep a different democrat out of office.
Every God damn year “we can’t let the other guy win” keeps us TRAPPED.
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A vote for someone you DON’T believe is a wasted vote.
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Hurricane Sandy, along with Katrina, is proof that we DON’T need F.E.M.A.
I live in Jersey. Trust me, they’re dropping the ball AGAIN.
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If I vote 3rd party and I am to blame in the event that Obama wins, am I still to blame if Romney wins?
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How about we work towards getting a truly viable 3rd party in place for 2016 instead of throwing this election to Obama?
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And what good will that do other than help out the most pro-Big Gov’t president we’ve had in ages?
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“A big storm requires big government.”
“A big ass requires a big cover-up.”
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Believe society would be better off with ‘Fair Markets’ ( regulated by laws in public interest) rather than ‘Free Markets’. The Idea that Markets know better does not stand scrutiny. Free Markets does involve an unequal power equation.
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How is a “free” market “run” by anyone. Welcome to the real world. What you call a “free” market is actually fascism.
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They differ on taxes, they differ on guns rights, they differ on marriage, they differ on immigration, they differ on healthcare, they differ on welfare, etc.
They also differ in character. We know Romney. We know his religion. We know he was truly born in the United States. As for Obama, we do not know for certain any of those things. He is a creepy individual.
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