Transcript

Neal Conan: Republican Representative Ron Paul of Texas has been called the Godfather of the Tea Party. He ran for president on the Libertarian Party line, but returned to Congress as a Republican. He ran twice again more for president, and along the way, he sparked what some call the ‘Ron Paul Revolution’. It promotes smaller government, less regulation and spending, and a greatly diminished U.S. role overseas. Congressman Paul retires at the end of this present term, and, Ron Paul supporters, we want to hear from you: where do you go once your leader has retired from Congress? Call us at 800-989-825 or email us at totn@npr.org You can also join the conversation at our website www.npr.org and click on ‘Talk of the Nation’. Of course, political junkie, Ken Rudin, is with us and Congressman Paul joins us from his office in Lake Jackson, Texas. It’s good to have you back on the program, sir.

Ron Paul: Thank you, it’s nice to be with you.

Neal Conan: I wonder, what advice would you have for your supporters, where should they go once you’ve retired?

Ron Paul: Well, you know, I think about that in a different way. I don’t think people have to have leaders, because I emphasis so much about the individual. If there is a revolution, it’s going to be spontaneous. So much of what happened in our campaign didn’t come from a well-organized campaign, it came from a lot of individuals getting together on the internet and spontaneously doing things. They raised money spontaneously, they would come out to rally spontaneously, with the help of the internet and with our encouragement. So I think they’ll have plenty of places to go, I think they’ll act as individuals, so they’re going to create a whole new atmosphere, and they’re going to propel the revolution in a very healthy way.

Neal Conan: Inside the Republican Party, or inside the Libertarian Party?

Ron Paul: It’s irrelevant, and I hope it’s inside the Democratic Party as well, because I have as many supporters coming in as independents and Democrats as I do Republicans. This foreign policy that I believe in, and my position on civil liberties is much better supported outside the Republican primary. I mean, that was a tough place to sell what I was believing in, I’m sure you were aware of all the resistance to some of my foreign policy on those debates.

Neal Conan: Indeed, some of your foreign policy positions sit better on the left side of the Democratic Party.

Ron Paul: That’s right, and I recall one quite by Nixon many years ago after we went off the gold standard, he said, “We’re all Keynesians now”. So the Keynesian type of economics has been taught and accepted in this country for a long time, so both parties follow it. So I think if you truly have a change in attitude and understanding of foreign policy and economic policy, it will change both parties. And it’s ideas that count, not so much political leaders and politicians; they think they’re very important, but they more or less are a reflection of a prevailing intellectual attitude.

Neal Conan: Ken?

Ken Rudin: Congressman, given the fact that you said that many supporters of yours come from the Democrats and independents as they do from Republicans, and given your positions on civil liberties and foreign policy, and given the fact that you refused to endorse both, John McCain 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012, why do you stay a Republican?

Ron Paul: Because of the system, the system is very biased against the democratic process where you can compete. I tried it, as mentioned in the introduction, I did it as a Libertarian in 1988. I spent more than half the money just trying to get on the ballots. And you think Gary Johnson who ran this time, he was Governor for 8 years, and he got no credibility, he didn’t get into the debates. We spend more time and more money and more lives are lost by us going to foreign countries saying that we’re going to spread democracy, and yet here at home, if you come to the conclusion that Republicans and Democrats never change policy when they get into office no matter what they say, then really we have a one-party system which is biased against anybody, whether it’s the Green Party or the Libertarians.

Neal Conan: You and your supporters worked inside the Republican Party to, as you say, infiltrate it and take over state party mechanics and state parties, and then were roughly shove down that road during the Republican convention.

Ron Paul: Well, in the convention, yes, though on the surface it looks like we were pushed out forever. But I had a all last night from the chairman of the Republican Party in Iowa who’s a strong supporter for the last 4 years, and this is happening around the country: in Alaska, I believe, in Nevada, in Maine. We have a very, very strong presence within the Republican Party. I just don’t want to limit it to that, I see it as a much bigger picture. And yet, at the same time, you just saw this week when we saw the Speaker kick out 2 or 3 supporters who endorsed me off their committee. But I think that hurts them and it helps us, because it emphasizes our independence and our willingness to stick to principles.

Neal Conan: Let’s see if we can get some callers in on the conversation. Our guest, of course, is Republican Congressman Ron Paul, who retires at the end of this term, and we’ll start with Joshua. Joshua is on the line from Cleveland.

Joshua: Dr. Paul, I can’t say what an honor it is to speak to you, first of all. I supported you in two presidential campaigns. I voted for Gary Johnson this year and if he runs again in 4 years, I’ll be voting for him also. I guess my question to you is, who do we have left, because Representative Dennis Kucinich who I voted for also here in Cleveland, and yourself, seem to be the only people in all of Congress who have a problem with Obama running the War on Terror the way Bush did with the drone strikers and murdering a 15 year old American child. Who do we have left to advocate for peace in Congress with you and Representative Dennis Kucinich leaving?

Ron Paul: Well, we weren’t the only two, I think we were more visible and e worked together and he was a good friend and we will continue to speak out. But I am cautiously optimistic that we picked up several more that will be in the Congress. Justin Amash, for instance, who was one of the individuals who was punished by Boehner, will be there and he will stand out. He had to work a little harder this year to get reelected. I think people will elect people to go to Washington not only to be an errand-boy, but to fight for something different than to just see how many benefits they can get back into their district. So I know what you’re talking about, I’m a little bit cautious about it, but I’m still more positive about it. I think things are changing, not so much in Washington, but when I go around the country, I think our numbers are growing, I think there are more people involved at the state-party level, there are more people in state representation and the state Senate. And I’m very optimistic about the young people accepting these ideas of liberty and civil liberty and foreign policy, that makes a lot of sense. I think they’re sick and tired of the debt that they’re facing. So I wouldn’t be too discouraged.

Neal Conan: Joshua, thanks.

Joshua: I appreciate it.

Neal Conan: I have to ask you, Congressman, about some remarks you made after the election. There have been some petitions sent about secession, and you said this was an American tradition, you talked about 1776 but, of course, there was also 1862. People were taken aback by that.

Ron Paul: Well, I don’t know why they should, what if today Greece seceded from the Europe Union, and the European Union got together and invaded Greece and killed about 50,000 people? We would frown on that. So I think the freedom to leave is the description of whether or not you’re free. The Soviet System was so bad, you could not leave, if you left, you got shot. So you have to have the right to leave, and leaving and coming together is voluntary. So, once you can’t leave, you lose your right of independence and self-determination, which is a very bad situation. If you study history carefully, I think you’ll recognize that it was well-accepted and recognized. The New-England states were much more into secession than the South was early on in the 19th century.

Neal Conan: During the war of 1812, yes.

Ron Paul: Yes, they were sick and tired and they wanted to get away from the South.

Neal Conan: Yes, because the South was dominated by slavery, and slave senators.

Ron Paul: But they recognized it, it wasn’t like they were an evil people because they wanted to separate themselves.

Neal Conan: Well, then the principle of nullification is there. If the federal government passes a law, and the states don’t like it, they have the right to say “No”.

Ron Paul: I think so, because just having the right to secede or nullify would restrain the advancement of the central state. Now, if you lean towards saying, “Well, no, we need a stronger, more centralized control”, then, of course, you don’t want that. But those of us who are strict constitutionalist and libertarians, want government that is local and at home and not at the central level because we don’t believe in central economic planning, whether it’s social planning or economic planning.

Neal Conan: A lot of people would say, Congressman, that without the role of the federal government, maybe we would not have slavery, but we would still have Jim Crow on the books in many states?

Ron Paul: Why, why would that be the case?

Neal Conan: Because it was on the books until the federal government said you couldn’t do it.

Ron Paul: The government passed all the Jim Crow laws, the federal government does have a role in that sense, you can repeal Jim Crow laws. But that doesn’t mean you have to take over medical care and education and everything else in the world to the point where nobody has any privacy and the CIA and the FBI spies on us, and the government gets so big and cumbersome. I think getting rid of bad laws is one thing, but after that, you should leave people alone. If you enforce this idea, what you do is you say, “Well, government is important to make people better, and therefore we endorse Obama’s policy of arresting people who use marijuana for medical reasons, even if the state allows them to. And this is where liberals and conservatives should company together, it’s the states’ rights, we want the states to be able to say that the people can have their liberties back and take their own risks. And, right now, this is a growing issue, I think the states are practicing nullification right now when they legalize the recreational use of marijuana. There’s a revolution going on and I think it’s great. But we don’t hear the progressives speaking out condemning Obama, just like they should condemn the Republicans for having this strong monolithic state that doesn’t allow some of these problems to be sorted out at the local level.

Neal Conan: Ron Paul is our guest, you’re listening to Talk of the Nation from NPR News. Monika is on the line, calling from Woodland in Washington.

Monica: Hi there, it’s such an honor to speak with such an American hero. I’m hoping to represent Ron Paul, my hero, at a local level, as we approach the coming up to the state convention. And I’m speaking as a 44 year old mom who has never had an interest in politics in her life, but I had one short conversation with a Ron Paul supporter named Bryce, and it completely sparked a passion and intentionality in me of looking at liberty as not just an idea anymore, but as a total and complete mindset that meant something to my life and my children’s life. And I am so impressed with the supporters that I got to know, people of high integrity. And everybody that I’ve spoken with, it just makes so much sense.

Neal Conan: And I’m sure the Congressman appreciates your kind words, but where do you go now, Monika?

Monica: Well, we go to Gary Johnson as a second choice, and really, in my heart it’s more of a supporting him as a show that Ron Paul and all of his supporters say, “You know, let’s not quit, let’s keep Ron Paul and his ideas out in the public conversation”.

Neal Conan: Monika, thanks very much for the call.

Monica: Thank you, bless you.

Neal Conan: Ken?

Ken Rudin: Congressman, regarding that last call, earlier in the show you said this was not about people, it’s more about ideas. When you ran for president the last time, when you ran in the primaries, you more than likely finished in the last place in the primaries. But in the state conventions, in the caucuses, you guys did very well. When do you go to the point from when you try to make a statement, to actually having an idea of “We can actually win this thing”?

Ron Paul: Well, first up, we didn’t come in last.

Ken Rudin: Well, in many of the primaries you finished in 4th place.

Ron Paul: Yea, in some places the votes weren’t counted quite accurately, so I don’t want to … the thing is, we did very, very well, our numbers keep growing. We were able to organize, we were able to use the democratic process where you have representation and send them to the convention, and then they weren’t even allowed to attend. So there were a lot of shortcomings there. But you ask when do you quit being overly principled and get more practical and think only about winning.

Ken Rudin: You could do both, couldn’t you?

Ron Paul: Absolutely. Even my friends, and some of our supporters who have split, say, “I love Ron Paul, and he has a good philosophy and all this and we want him to do well, but he doesn’t even really want to be President, he wants to just spread ideas”. Well, why can’t you do both? The whole thing is, my measurement of my success and support for these views is to get as many votes as possible. So it’s not like I was overly principled and didn’t care about the votes. A lot of my friends, Republicans and Conservatives, would come up to me and say, “Ron, we love what you’re doing because you’re a good fiscal conservative and we could support you if you would just change your mind about this foreign policy”. And I would bring this up in the college crowds and I’d say this is what they tell me, that if I only change my foreign policy, then I would get a lot more support. But then I allude to the fact that how many of those individuals that come out, among the thousands on the campuses, would come if I had a different foreign policy? So they don’t quite understand. In the midst of a revolution where you’re trying to change a whole mental status about what the role of government ought to be, it doesn’t happen overnight. But this lady that just called in, she’s the reason why I’m optimistic. She’s not alone, people are so disgusted with the system we have, the spending of the money, Republicans and Democrats lying to us, starting these wars, violating civil liberties, using drones to kill people around the world, using the FBI to spy on all of us; they’re so tired of it. And young people are spreading this message and understanding this like never before, because the revolution is very vibrant, mainly because of the internet.

Neal Conan: Ron Paul, thank you very much for your time, you’ve always been accessible to us, and we appreciate that.

Ron Paul: Thank you, it’s nice to be with you.

Neal Conan: Congressman Ron Paul, who retires at the end of this term, one of the people we’re talking to in exit interviews. Politically Jockey, Ken, I guess I’ll get to see you again tomorrow.

Ken Rudin: I’m not retiring yet.

Neal Conan: Not yet, alright. “Political Junkie” is our show tomorrow, join us for that, I’m Neal Conan, and it’s ‘The Talk of the Nation’ from NPR News.

Transcript

Ron Paul: I guess the revolution has arrived in Virginia, and I am delighted that I was here. It’s very appropriate that the state of Virginia be involved in our revolution that’s going on. Of course, our revolution is the American Revolution. We had a pretty good start in this country a few years back, but we drifted away and for many years now, for nearly a hundred years, I think there’s been a lot of forgetting of what the original intent of the constitution was, they have forgotten what a true republic is all about. That is our goal, to restore the American republic to the American people. You know, they keep asking about winning particular states in this campaign, but guess what, we’re still winning a lot of delegates, and that’s what counts. And, every once in a while, they include my name in the polling, and that is always helpful. And just recently there was a pretty good poll out, just yesterday and the day before, and it says that we do the best against Obama. Now, winning the primary, of course, is very, very important, but, winning the general election also is very, very important, and it is our message that appeals to the independents, the democrats, and to the Republican base. Because, very simply, it’s the message of liberty, and the message of liberty is what we are all about. That means, we have individual liberty, we’re allowed to lead our lives as we so chose. But if we have a natural right to our life and our liberties, as Jefferson argued and we agree with, shouldn’t we have the natural right to keep the fruits of our labor. Now, there’re are a couple of ways in which they undermine and take the fruits of our labor from us. One is direct taxation and, of course, the founders didn’t like that, they didn’t give us an income tax. So that’s why we have to start thinking about 1913 again, that’s why we need to repeal the 16th Amendment for sure.

To have big government, they taxed, and they had to have the income tax, and then they had to have the borrowing. Unfortunately, Jefferson lost that argument and the federal government was able to borrow. But there’s a limit on borrowing, if they keep borrowing and Congress spends too much money, interest rates go up, and they have to quit. But they had this little gimmick, it was also introduced in 1913, and that is, if there’s a limit on taxing because the people will object, and there’s a limit to borrowing or interest rates go up, they said, “We’ll they’ll have this new gimmick. What they’re going to do is just print the money when we need it”.

Crowd: End the Fed! End the Fed!

Ron Paul: Okay. What can I do? And, of course, if you want big government, that’s what you have, you have high taxes and you have the borrowing. But then eventually they have to print the money. And the founders knew this, they understand it and they were cautious about it and they warned us against it, and they understood it clearly because they had runaway inflation with the continental dollar. That is why they put in the constitution that only gold and silver could be legal tender, there is no authority to print money, and there is no authority to have a Federal Reserve System and a central bank. Now, the Fed’s been around for 99 years, and guess what, they’ve lost 99% of the value of our dollar from 1913, that’s a pretty bad record. And I’m going to let you in on a little secret, the chairman of the Federal Reserve will go before the banking committee tomorrow, and I just might show up and ask him, “Why did you destroy our money?” And I can assure you that we probably won’t get a straight answer. But, obviously, the monetary issue is a very, very big issue, governments can’t grow without it, and it’s been growing endlessly. Because when government grows, liberty is undermined. And since that time, since the progressive era, we have undermined our liberties, whether it’s through the encroachment of the entitlement system. The entitlement system was set up for those poor who were going to fall through the cracks. But I think the best demonstration of the failure of that, was the housing bubble. During the housing bubble that was created by the Federal Reserve and the affirmative action type programs by the Congress, guess what, who made a lot of money during this time? The banks and the brokers and the Fannie Maes and the Freddy Macs, they made all the money. Then they got into the gambling of derivatives and they got into big trouble, and lo-and-behold, the predictable crunch came and the predictable bursting of the bubble came. And when it came, they yelled and screamed and they said, “We’re too big to fail, we’re too big to fail, you have to bail us out or there’s going to be a depression coming”. So guess what, the Fed and the Congress bailed them out. But guess what, those very people that these programs were designed for (to give everybody a house), they lost their jobs and they lost their houses and it’s not resolved yet because the entitlement system tends to help the wealthy much more so than the poor. The poor are deceived into believing that the government can produce wealth forever and redistribute it. But I’ll tell you what, there’s a transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy, that occurs just with the destruction of the currency, the middle class gets wiped out and the wealthy get wealthier. And this is what has happened. Wealth is okay if people make money honestly and they don’t make it by ripping us off and getting advantages from the go.

If they give us a good product and we vote confidence in them, and they make money, that is a lot different than if they’re in the military-industrial complex or in the banking system and they get the money first and they get the contracts and they get the bailouts, that’s not fair and it’s not fair to dump the wasteful products and all the debt on the American people. That debt, obviously, should be liquidated. But the fact that printed money can encourage wasteful spending, is certainly true with overseas spending. Just look at the waste. The wars that have been going on for the past 10 years have added 4 trillion dollars to our national debt, and what have we gotten from it? We are less safe and we’re broke. So the very simple solution to over extension overseas is to follow the advice of the founders, follow the constitution, have a strong national defense, defend this country but get out of the business of policing the world and get out of the business of nation building.

Crowd: Bring them home! Bring them home!

Ron Paul: You know all my lines. Which means, we bring our troops home to solve that problem, the sooner the better and fortunately, our defense would be stronger. People say we have to do this because we’re an exceptional nation. We did have an exceptional nation at one time, we had an exceptional constitution, we were exceptionally wealthy, we were exceptional with our freedoms. But this idea that we’re so exceptional that we can use force and intimidation and bombs and spread our so-called goodness … it eliminates all our goodness if we believe that we have the authority that we can go overseas and tell people how to live; it doesn’t work. Now, a very simple solution to both, the entitlement system and the warmongering that goes on, is to only send people to Washington who you honestly believe really did read the constitution, and that they understood it, and that they will obey it. That’s the kind of people we need. So how many wars would we have been fighting since World War II? Zero, none have been declared, they were unnecessary, too many lives were lost, too many dollars were spent, to many veterans are suffering now without getting medical care. It doesn’t solve our problems. If I thought we were going to be safer and it was necessary, yes, we should do it. But it doesn’t work that way. So what we need is a new foreign policy based on non-intervention, minding our own business, obeying the constitution and taking advice of the founders. It’s much better to talk to people than initiate war against them. You know, the previous administration and this administration keep saying, “Take nothing off the table when it comes to dealing with our enemies”. Well, what about, why should we take off negotiations, why not diplomacy, should we take that off? I remember very, very well after being drafted in 1962 during the Cuban crisis. The Cuban crisis was dissipated rather rapidly, precisely because John Kennedy called up Khrushchev and said, “We have a problem”. And Khrushchev said, “Well, we have a problem over here, you have missiles over in Turkey”. So they made a deal, we took the missiles out of Turkey, he took the missiles out of Cuba, and we didn’t have to fight a nuclear war. Why can’t we talk to people who don’t have weapons of mass destruction?

And now, of course, they’re talking about attacking another country, Iran, and there’s no evidence they even have a weapon. Our CIA hasn’t even proved to us or told us that they are building one, and yet the war drums are beating and beating. So we have to be heard about this, this country does not need another war at all. But the other thing that happens under these conditions where government grows too much, violates our civil liberties … and we do know about the TSA, I think a certain senator brought that subject up. Our liberties are undermined under the conditions. Too often, even in earlier wars, violations have occurred. But they’re being violated more now than ever and we’re really not in a war like World War II, it’s undeclared, but it’s used as an excuse because we’re in perpetual war against terrorism. Terrorism is a crime and it should be dealt with, but to say that we are in a war against terrorism wherever they are, that means we’re against the whole world. And then literally, because we have a lot of bombs and missiles and we send our drone missiles anyplace in the world we please. That is not the way to win friends, I’ll tell you that, that’s the way to build up enemies. But, the undermining of our liberties should be one of our greatest concerns. When you think of the PATRIOT Act, the PATRIOT Act was passed shortly after 9/11, and I’m convinced if it had been called what it really is, “The Repeal the 4th Amendment Act”, it wouldn’t have passed. So, next year, when we go ahead and get rid of the PATRIOT Act, we won’t call it “Repeal the PATRIOT Act”, we’re going to call it, “Restore the 4th Amendment Act in this country.” There’s no doubt the founders, with their experience under the King, meant the 4th Amendment was to be very important, we were to have our privacy; protect our papers and our privacy. But today, there is none, whether it’s at the airports or the internet or our telephone or our records or whatever. They don’t even need search warrants anymore. And the way they come busting into our house under the excuse that somebody might be using an illegal drug. They’re busting into our houses, the SWAT teams come in, they don’t have proper search warrants, and lo-and-behold, can you believe it, they frequently go into the wrong houses, and they shoot and kill innocent people. It’s way out of control.

Of course, the president, just a year ago announced that it is a position that he now holds, that because he’s the commander-in-chief, and he explains that anything that is not prohibited by the constitution, he can do. I think he got that really mixed up. A President only has the authority to do the things that he is explicitly authorized to do by the constitution. And I can guarantee you, if I’m to be elected President, I will never go to a war and pursue a war without proper direction from the Congress and a declaration coming from the people. I will not do it.

Crowd: President Paul! President Paul!

Ron Paul: Now, for the President to prove his point about assassination, he’s carried out 3 of them just to prove that he does have the authority. But nothing says that we can’t reverse it. If this republic is to survive, those kinds of laws have to be reversed (the PATRIOT Act and the authority to assassinate, and also, the national defense Authorization Act). Anybody heard of that? This is an interesting subject because no matter where I go, the crowds know about it and they’re concerned about it, yet, I am convinced you didn’t hear about it on the evening news. And you’re concerned about it, and yet, in 22 debates, were we ever asked about our position on national defense Authorization Act? No. But this atrocious piece of legislation says that the military can arrest an American citizen without charges, without a trial, without an attorney, put him in a prison indefinitely. Believe it or not, there was one provision in there that was even worse than that, there was one provision in the bill that almost got passed, and it said that, if you are arrested in a proper manner and you are tried, you go to court and you have a trial and you have a jury and you’re found innocent, they claim that they would have the right to keep that person indefinitely in a secret prison. Now, that provision was removed, fortunately. I can’t remember his name, but it was a Senator from Kentucky that got that removed.

Crowd: Rand Paul! Rand Paul!

Ron Paul: You know, the problems are big, the economic problems are big; we’ve spent too much, we have a debt crisis, we have a monetary crisis that’s worldwide. The world expects us to bail them out, we’re deeply over regulated and we over tax, we fight too many wars, it’s just on and on. But you know what, the solutions aren’t all that complicated. We got into this mess because we have not been strict adherers to the constitution. If we only send people who will adhere to the constitution, we can correct these problems in a short period of time, and that’s what we ought to do. But our message should be loud and clear, because it’s such a wonderful message. We’ve had this wonderful experiment of liberty, it produced the largest and the richest middle class ever. Now we’re getting poorer and smaller, we are now the biggest debtor nation in the history of the world. And the trends are the same way, because Keynesian economist preach and teach that when you’re in trouble, you’re supposed to spend more money. Now, can you imagine if individuals did that? If they’re maxed out on their credit card and they can’t pay their mortgages and they’re living beyond their means and they have two cars? No, you have to cut back, you have to work hard and pay your debt down, that’s what you have to do. But the answer comes really by understanding what personal liberty is all about. We have a natural right to our lives and our liberty. And liberty should bring us all together, it’s not so much that we would use our liberties in the same way.

Crowd Member: We love you, Ron Paul.

Ron Paul: Now I’m going to forget my speech, what am I going to do? But liberty should bring us together, not because we would use our liberty or our money the same way, but precisely because we won’t. But when the government does it, when the government tells us what our lifestyles will be, what we are going to read or what religion we’ll have, it would be a disaster. And this notion that government can protect us against ourselves is a fiction, the governments can’t do that, and they only take away more liberty once they embark on that position. But liberty, for this reason, should bring people together of all walks of life; religious, social, everything. And it’s not because we allow people to do things that we might not approve of, people might spend their money, they might be wasteful, they might have a private lifestyle we disapprove of. But the whole thing is, everybody should join in the cause of liberty and let people be responsible for themselves. We were warned at the time of the founding of this country that if we were not a moral people who were willing to accept that responsibility, it was not going to work. And we drifted too long, we had so much prosperity, we concentrated on the wealth and we became consumers. And, too often, what we did was we generated the lobbyist going to Washington to ditty up the loot that they take from the people. And, as long as that happens, the society is immoral and it doesn’t work. So it has to come from the people, the type of government we have is a reflection of the people. So as this movement grows, as the number of people grow, and it is [growing]. Just think of how many young people have joined this revolution. But also, it’s great to see the young people leading the charge, but we also see others at different age groups. The ones that have been frustrated, the ones who have been independents, the ones that have dropped out. And even the frustrated Democrats have come over and said, “You know, this understanding of liberty is good”, and I think that is the reason this message [spreads]. When this revolution is successful, it will not be a Republican monopoly at all, it will be bipartisan, it will be endorsed by all the American people.

So I want to close by thanking you for coming, thanking you for your excitement, thanking you for giving me my energy. I thank you. And, we all have a responsibility, individual responsibility. You make up your mind about what you need to do, everybody has a different job, but the most important thing is to understand what this is all about and why liberty is the answer to the mess that we’re in today.

Thank you very much for coming, thank you.

—

This is a rush transcript. If you notice any errors please report them using the “Help improve this post” link at the bottom of this post.

• cutting the budget by $1 trillion the first year,
• auditing the Federal Reserve,
• saving the dollar,
• ending the income tax,
• preserving Social Security,
• guaranteeing a strong national defense,
• 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).

Let the marathon begin!

Photo by Gage Skidmore

Transcript

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Reporter: Have you been shafted?

Ron Paul: That’s a pretty darn good question, because my main goal is I believe that the views I express and the economist I follow, have answers. I want to do the things I think will help the country. But in a narrow sense of the word, just wanting to be President to be President would be would be silly and foolish, and I think for most of the others, that’s what they want, “Oh yea, I can be President, this is a very important”. But they’re not nearly coming up with something they strongly believe in. “I want to just perpetuate the status quo, I’m going to tinker here, yea maybe we can move our troops from here to here”. They just tinkerers. So I would say that my strong motivation is I am convinced that those individuals I’ve read and studied on the understanding of the concept of liberty, our history in America and what made us great, and the economic policies that we need and how important sound money is and non intervention … believe me, those are the answers to our trouble and I believe I can present them to the people and lead in that way better than the rest of them.

1. Audit the Fed and hold it accountable.
2. Legalize gold and silver (and other competing currencies).
3. Educate the people.

Date: 12/10/2010

Date: 09/15/2010

Transcript

Anderson Cooper: What do you think of Christine O’Donnell, do you think she can win?

Ron Paul: Yeah, I think that’s it, but I just think that we’re moving in the right direction. I think the most magnificent thing is that this revolution is going on and the people have discovered it; and they’re not blaming the average citizen, they’re blaming Washington. That’s why Republicans and Democrats are losing. But the most important thing for me is having something to say or having some influence on what the message should be. Right now, the message is, “Washington has messed up; and we have to do something. They spend too much money; government is too big, we have to reduce the size and scope of government”, but then on the finer points is where the discussion is going on, and I don’t like the idea of having one kingpin, either — dictating what everybody believes in. I think it should be grassroots, and that is good. But in my modest way, what I’ll try to do is, get the Tea Party People to think about, you can’t cut back spending if you don’t think about foreign policy and bringing troops home and ending endless war. And we should, as conservatives, be concerned about civil liberties. Those are the kind of things that are very important to me; and the grassroots and the Tea Party movements are very open to that — even though I would admit, they don’t all agree with that, because a lot of other Republicans now have gotten involved and they want it to be the old Republican agenda. And the Tea Party people don’t like that and they can see through this. And one thing is, if some of these people get elected and they don’t do as is expected; if they keep going for big government and more taxes, they’re going to be held accountable this go around.