We recently stumbled upon this heartwarming Ron Paul family video from 2007 and thought we’d share it with everybody. Enjoy!
We recently stumbled upon this heartwarming Ron Paul family video from 2007 and thought we’d share it with everybody. Enjoy!
by Ron Paul
Many observers were surprised when Michigan, historically a stronghold of union power, became the nation’s 24th “Right to Work” state. The backlash from November’s unsuccessful attempt to pass a referendum forbidding the state from adopting a right to work law was a major factor in Michigan’s rejection of compulsory unionism. The need for drastic action to improve Michigan’s economy, which is suffering from years of big government policies, also influenced many Michigan legislators to support right to work.
Let us be clear: right to work laws simply prohibit coercion. They prevent states from forcing employers to operate as closed union shops, and thus they prevent unions from forcing individuals to join. In many cases right to work laws are the only remedy to federal laws which empower union bosses to impose union dues as a condition of employment.
Right to work laws do not prevent unions from bargaining collectively with employers, and they do not prevent individuals from forming or joining unions if they believe it will benefit them. Despite all the hype, right to work laws merely enforce the fundamental right to control one’s own labor.
States with right to work laws enjoy greater economic growth and a higher standard of living than states without such laws. According to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, from 2001-2011 employment in right to work states grew by 2.4%, while employment in union states fell by 3.4%! During the same period wages rose by 12.5% in right to work states, while rising by a mere 3.1% in union states. Clearly, “Right to Work” is good for business and labor.
Workers are best served when union leaders have to earn their membership and dues by demonstrating the benefits they provide. Instead, unions use government influence and political patronage. The result is bad laws that force workers to subsidize unions and well-paid union bosses.
Of course government should not regulate internal union affairs, or interfere in labor disputes for the benefit of employers. Government should never forbid private-sector workers from striking. Employees should be free to join unions or not, and employers should be able to bargain with unions or not. Labor, like all goods and services, is best allocated by market forces rather than the heavy, restrictive hand of government. Voluntarism works.
Federal laws forcing employees to pay union dues as a condition of getting or keeping a job are blatantly unconstitutional. Furthermore, Congress does not have the moral authority to grant a private third party the right to interfere in private employment arrangements. No wonder polls report that 80 percent of the American people believe compulsory union laws need to be changed.
Unions’ dirty little secret is that real wages cannot rise unless productivity rises. American workers cannot improve their standard of living simply by bullying employers with union tactics. Instead, employers, employees, and unions must recognize that only market mechanisms can signal employment needs and wage levels in any industry. Profits or losses from capital investment are not illusions that can be overcome by laws or regulations; they are real-world signals that directly affect wages and employment opportunities. Union advocates can choose to ignore reality, but they cannot overcome the basic laws of economics.
As always, the principle of liberty will provide the most prosperous society possible. Right to work laws are a positive step toward economic liberty.
Enjoy this classic Ron Paul speech from May 19, 2009.
Ron Paul: The title to my special order tonight is ‘Current Conditions or Just a Bad Dream’.
Could it all be a bad dream or a nightmare? Is it my imagination or have we lost our minds?
It’s surreal, it’s just not believable.
A grand absurdity, a great deception, a delusion of momentous proportions based on preposterous notions and on ideas whose time should never have come.
Simplicity, grossly distorted and complicated.
Insanity, passed off as logic.
Grandiose schemes built on falsehoods with the morality of Ponzi and Madoff.
Evil described as virtue.
Ignorance pawned off as wisdom.
Destruction and impoverishment in the name of humanitarianism.
Violence, the tool of change.
Preventive wars used as the road to peace.
Tolerance delivered by government guns.
Reactionary views in the guise of progress.
An empire replacing the republic.
Slavery sold as liberty. Continue reading “Ron Paul: Is This Reality or Just a Bad Dream?”
by Ron Paul
Earlier this month we learned that the Obama Administration is significantly expanding the number of covert Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) agents overseas. From just a few hundred DIA agents overseas today, the administration intends to eventually deploy some 1,600 covert agents. The nature of their work will also shift, away from intelligence collection and more toward covert actions. This move signals a major change in how the administration intends to conduct military and paramilitary operations overseas. Unfortunately it is not a shift toward peace, but rather to an even more deadly and disturbing phase in the “war on terror.”
Surely attacks on foreign countries will increase as a result of this move, but more and more the strikes will take place under cover of darkness and outside the knowledge of Congress or the American people. The move also represents a further blurring of the lines between the military and intelligence services, with the CIA becoming more like a secret military unto itself. This is a very troubling development.
In 2010, I said in a speech that there had been a CIA coup in this country. The CIA runs the military, the drone program, and they are in drug trafficking. The CIA is a secretive government all on its own. With this new expanded Defense Intelligence Agency presence overseas it will be even worse. Because the DIA is operationally under control of the Pentagon, direct Congressional oversight of the program will be more difficult. Perhaps this is as intended. The CIA will be training the DIA in its facilities to conduct operations overseas. Much of this will include developing targeting data for the president’s expanding drone warfare program.
Already the president has demonstrated his preference for ever more drone attacks overseas. In Pakistan, for example, President Obama has in his first four years authorized six times more drone strikes than under all eight years of the Bush Administration. Nearly three thousand individuals have been killed by these drones, many of those non-combatants.
President Obama said recently of Israel’s strikes against the Palestinians in Gaza, “No country on Earth would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders.” This announcement by the administration amounts to precisely that: the US intends to rain down ever more missiles on citizens overseas. I believe what the president says about Israel is true everywhere, so what about those overseas who live in fear of our raining missiles? How will they feel about the United States? Is it not possible that we may be inviting more blowback by expanding the covert war overseas? Does that make us safer?
An exhaustive study earlier this year by Stanford and New YorkUniversity law schools found that US drone strikes on Pakistan are “damaging and counterproductive,” potentially creating more terrorists than they kill. Its recommendations of a radical re-appraisal of the program obviously fell on deaf ears in the administration.
Thousands of new DIA spies are to be hired and placed undercover alongside their CIA counterparts to help foment ever more covert wars and coups in foreign lands. Congress is silent. Where will it all end?
On November 14 Ron Paul gave one of the most powerful speeches mankind has ever heard. In just 48 minutes, Ron Paul condensed down his thirty plus years of fighting tyranny into this incredibly important and profound warning that if we don’t turn things around, we are in deep, deep trouble and are going to repeat history.
Alex Jones and his team took the time to illustrate and document some of the facts presented in Ron Paul’s speech. The impressive result is this outstanding video:
After leaving Congress, Ron Paul will continue speaking up for liberty. Starting January 8 Ron Paul is available to speak at events around the world. He is represented by the Greater Talent Network, America’s leading celebrity speakers bureau:
At the podium, Dr. Paul delivers a candid look at the dysfunctional American political system. Using anecdotes from his 23 years in Congress, he highlights the need for a limited government and more personal liberties. Dr. Paul captures audiences’ attention by relating the occurrence of current national issues such as debt, privacy and freedom to the government’s neglect to follow the constitution. Despite the less than ideal condition of the country, Dr. Paul is an optimist. His unwavering passion leaves audiences motivated to speak out, wake up and let politicians know what they want.
To have Ron Paul speak at your event call 212.645.4200 or email info@greatertalent.com. More information is available here.
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