Ron Paul

Ron Paul’s Tea Party Speech

By RonPaul.com on April 15, 2010

Ron Paul gave a stirring speech at the Tax Day Tea Party in Washington DC, calling for an end to big government and a return to a sensible foreign policy.

Event: Tax Day Tea Party in Washington DC
Date: 04/15/2010

Transcript

Announcer: It gives me great honor to introduce our next guest. I think you’re going other be pretty excited about this. If you want a friend of limited government in Congress, you’ve got one here. If you want a congressional record that shows that somebody has spent decades fighting big government without exception, if you want somebody who’s got the guts to take on the Federal Reserve of the United States, you got him in this guy. Please join me in welcoming presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Ron Paul: Hey, thank you. End the Fed, hey! Along with the IRS. Let’s repeal 1913 and we’d all be better off. Now, it’s great to be here. You know, sometimes I give speeches on the House floor and there’s nobody there. I like to leave the House floor and I like to go to America. I like to go to Texas and other states because people actually cheer what I say, and I like that.

You know, I’m sure everybody here has talked a lot about taxes and this is tax day. But taxes, in many ways, are nothing more than a symptom. The taxes that we pay are a symptom of runaway government. And that is the problem. It is the fact that we have allowed our government to be so big and out of control – the Congress doesn’t control it, the executive branch has more control than they deserve and the courts have more control than they deserve. What wee need is a strong Congress to rein in the executive branch and the courts to get back to a constitutional government.

I have a belief about taxes and I believe that taxes, indeed, are theft; stealing from the people. You may have seen this on the Internet, I have a bumper sticker on my desk that everybody that comes to my offices sees, that says, “Don’t steal, the government hates competition”. But the government taxes us in many ways. I think of spending as the culprit, because think of spending as being the tax. And then it’s paid for in many different ways; they do tax us and it’s way too high. But they never tax enough to pay the bills. So what do they do? They endlessly borrow, and they borrow so much and then interest rates go up and that doesn’t work. So then what do they do? They resort to the printing press, and the Federal Reserve is the culprit that finances big government.

And that’s exactly right. Eventually, if we’re going to have a republic, we’re going to have sound money. The Constitution is very clear: only gold and silver can be legal tender, not paper money.

Now why is it that even the Federal Reserve is involved in taxation? When they print money, they devalue your currency. Anytime you complain about a high price, you’re paying a tax. So it is a tax, and the big sin, of course, is the big spending. Politicians, up until just recently, were always rewarded by spending money and telling their constituents back home, “I’m going to get you whatever you want”. Well, those days are over, and you’ve helped end those days.

Now, the Federal Reserve serves two special interests in Congress. There are two types of spending that we have to be concerned about. One is the liberal spending; we know all about that. They like to take over your lives because they consider you too stupid to take care of your lives yourself. So they have to take care of you from cradle to grave, so they justify that.

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Posted in Ron Paul's Speeches | Tagged End the Fed, End the IRS, Tax Protest, Tea Party, Washington D.C. | 217 Responses

Ron Paul 2012: A Libertarian Renaissance?

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By RonPaul.com on April 15, 2010

Ron Paul presents the case for limited government, personal liberty, free-market economics and a more sensible foreign policy.

Channel: Fox News
Date: 04/15/2010

Transcript

Megyn Kelly: Well, here in this country, there are no delays for the Tea Party Express. Right now, hundreds of rallies taking place across the United States and they come on the biggest day for this young political movement: Tax Day, April 15th. Meantime, a new poll puts one figure popular with Tea Partiers virtually neck and neck with President Obama. Would you look at that? A survey by Rasmussen Reports finds that President Obama has a 1 percentage point edge over Republican Texas Congressman Ron Paul in a hypothetical 2012 race. As you probably know, Congressman Ron Paul ran for the Republican nomination back in 2008. Joining me now is Congressman Paul. Congressman, what do you think of that? Just one point behind the President?

Ron Paul: Well, it’s a small victory I guess, but not too much to think about. We’ll have to wait and see what that means. But I was fascinated with it. It goes to shows that there’s a lot of frustration out there especially with independents, and also some Democrats, because I argue the case for limited government. Even when Obama pretends he’s for limited government, civil liberties and maybe a less aggressive war, he doesn’t pursue those issues. So I think it’s interesting, I hope it has significance, but right now I think it’s a little bit premature to put too much stake on this.

Megyn Kelly: You know, we all watched you during the primary process last presidential election, and you had a libertarian message back then. You believe in limited government and you argued that on virtually every point. And nonetheless, it didn’t seem to resonate that much with the voters at that time. Do you think that given what we’ve seen in this country since then, that you will have a better shot if you decide to give it another go come 2012?

Ron Paul: Well, at least the message is going to have a better shot, because I think the message is spreading. I think the attention that the libertarian message got came about after financial crisis hit, because that’s what I had been talking about the most, was the financial problems that we face and the difficulty we have with this deficit and the bubbles that we have. I thought it probably would fade, any interest in what I was doing after the campaign, but actually the interest has grown. I think it’s the problems that we face and people are realizing that the government is inept, they’re not capable of delivering what they promise. How can the message of freedom not grow in strength? The people need something, they’ve neglected that issue, and now when it’s offered to them, they say “Yes, it makes a whole lot of sense because we can’t depend on borrowing money from China for our prosperity.” They know we’re going to have to go back to work and we’re going to have to pay some of these bills, so I think it’s a very attractive message.

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Posted in Ron Paul 2012, Ron Paul's Interviews | Tagged Libertarian, Obama, Poll, Rasmussen, Tax Day, Tea Party | 27 Responses

Ron Paul: Taxation is a Symptom of Big Government

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By RonPaul.com on April 15, 2010

Taxation is a symptom of big government. As long as Americans condone and encourage a government will take care of people from cradle to grave and maintain an empire that polices the world, abolishing the income tax would be a great symbolic victory but it would not cure the problem itself. The government could still print money endlessly, and that is a tax, too: the inflation tax.

Channel: MSNBC
Date: 04/15/2010

Transcript

Tamron Hill: Tea Party activists are gathering right now in the nation’s capital to mark Tax Day. It’s also the end of the 19 day, 49 stop tour organized by the Tea Party Express and they’ve been protesting big government, big spending, and high taxes. There are rallies scheduled all over the country today, including Chicago, Ann Arbor, and Albuquerque. Another major rally will be held near the Washington monument tonight at 6.

Republican Congressman Ron Paul of Texas will be attending and speaking at tonight’s rally, and he’s likely to get a hero’s welcome from the anti-tax activists because he wants to completely eliminate the income tax and abolish the IRS. In fact, at last weekend’s Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Congressman Paul came in second in their straw poll. He was just one vote behind Mitt Romney. With me now, Republican Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. Congressman Paul, great to have you on, thanks so much.

Ron Paul: Thank you, good to be with you.

Tamron Hill: So let me ask you, what do you think of these huge rallies again today, Tax Day? You’re going to speak to the folks there. What do you plan to tell them tonight?

Ron Paul: Probably the same old thing I’ve been talking about for the last 30 years. Government is too big, they spend too much money, and the deficit is going to be very very damaging to us. We’re in the midst of the damage that deficits bring, we have a severe financial crisis. I don’t think it’s over. I think it’s going to get a lot worse. We’re much poorer than we used to be, we live on borrowed money, and the basic flaw is not taxation. Taxation is the symptom. The basic flaw is in what the American people expect from their government. As long as the American people condone and encourage a government that’s supposed to take care of them from cradle to grave, as long as they condone a government that they think should police the world and have troops in 135 countries and have 700 bases, no. You can’t do anything about balancing the budget. You can’t do anything about cutting taxes. Because if you cut income tax and cut taxes, and you still spend, you still borrow, and then you still print money, and inflation is a tax because they literally destroy the value of money and that is a tax as well.

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Posted in Ron Paul's Interviews, Tax Freedom | Tagged Income Tax, Inflation Tax, IRS, Tax Day, Tea Party | 3 Responses

End the Income Tax, Abolish the IRS!

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By RonPaul.com on April 15, 2010

Ron Paul supports the complete elimination of the income tax and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). On April 30, 2009, the Congressman introduced the Liberty Amendment, a bill to repeal the 16th Amendment to the Constitution:

Ron Paul: I am pleased to introduce the Liberty Amendment, which repeals the 16th Amendment, thus paving the way for real change in the way government collects and spends the people’s hard-earned money. The Liberty Amendment also explicitly forbids the Federal government from performing any action not explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution.

The 16th Amendment gives the Federal government a direct claim on the lives of American citizens by enabling Congress to levy a direct income tax on individuals. Until the passage of the 16th amendment, the Supreme Court had consistently held that Congress had no power to impose an income tax.

Income taxes are responsible for the transformation of the Federal government from one of limited powers into a vast leviathan whose tentacles reach into almost every aspect of American life. Thanks to the income tax, today the Federal government routinely invades our privacy, and penalizes our every endeavor.

The Founding Fathers realized that “the power to tax is the power to destroy,” which is why they did not give the Federal government the power to impose an income tax. Needless to say, the Founders would be horrified to know that Americans today give more than a third of their income to the Federal government.

Income taxes not only diminish liberty, they retard economic growth by discouraging work and production. Our current tax system also forces Americans to waste valuable time and money on compliance with an ever-more complex tax code. The increased interest in flat-tax and national sales tax proposals, as well as the increasing number of small businesses that question the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) “withholding” system provides further proof that America is tired of the labyrinthine tax code. Americans are also increasingly fed up with an IRS that continues to ride roughshod over their civil liberties, despite recent “pro-taxpayer” reforms.

America survived and prospered for 140 years without an income tax, and with a Federal government that generally adhered to strictly constitutional functions, operating with modest excise revenues. The income tax opened the door to the era (and errors) of Big Government. I hope my colleagues will help close that door by cosponsoring the Liberty Amendment.

Ron Paul introduced the Liberty Amendment in 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009. It is currently know as H. J. RES. 48 and has 2 cosponsors, Roscoe G. Bartlett (MD-6) and Don Young (AK). Here is the text of the proposed amendment:

Liberty Amendment

Section 1. The Government of the United States shall not engage in any business, professional, commercial, financial, or industrial enterprise except as specified in the Constitution.

Section 2. The constitution or laws of any State, or the laws of the United States, shall not be subject to the terms of any foreign or domestic agreement which would abrogate this amendment.

Section 3. The activities of the United States Government which violate the intent and purposes of this amendment shall, within a period of three years from the date of the ratification of this amendment, be liquidated and the properties and facilities affected shall be sold.

Section 4. Three years after the ratification of this amendment the sixteenth article of amendments to the Constitution of the United States shall stand repealed and thereafter Congress shall not levy taxes on personal incomes, estates, and gifts.’.

“Looks Like Magic” – Ron Paul on the Fed’s Money Machine

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By RonPaul.com on April 15, 2010

Congressman Ron Paul questioned Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke at the Joint Economic Committee hearing “The Economic Outlook”. Topics of discussion included debt monetization, the Greece bailout, and where all that money is coming from.

Event: Joint Economic Committee Hearing
Date: 4/15/2010

Transcript

Ron Paul: Thank you, Madam Chairman. And welcome, Chairman Bernanke. I want to make a brief comment and then I want to ask you a question about the IMF. My brief comment is a comment about the answer you gave Mr. Brady about monetizing debt. Because you balance sheet remains relatively stable with treasury bills, it doesn’t mean the Fed can’t monetize debt.

You mentioned in your statement that you bought mortgage-backed securities and agency debt, and that’s over $1.3 trillion. Well, where did you get the money? You created this money. So you did monetize debt, and that went into the banking system. The banking system can buy treasury bills and they can borrow money at 0% and that’s why they’re making a lot of money right now because they can buy other debt and make little bit more.

And it looks like magic, except for the people who’re losing their mortgages, losing their houses right now. But one other quick question is: the thousand examiners that you are training, are any of those new or are these people already on the payroll?

Ben Bernanke: On the payroll, and they include both Federal Reserve and state examiners.

Ron Paul: Okay. Because my comment there is probably 10,000 won’t do much good. Because it isn’t a lack of examination if you don’t deal with the problem, and the problem really comes from a monetary policy of low interest rates. As long as low interest rates rig the market and gives bad information to the investor, all the examiners in the world can’t compensate for this.

This whole idea that capital can come from a printing press rather than savings, I still have a terrible time trying to understand how an economy can thrive on that, because it rejects every notion of free-market capitalism.

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Posted in Federal Reserve, Ron Paul in Congress | Tagged Bailout, Ben Bernanke, Fiat Money, Greece, IMF | 29 Responses

End the Mandate Flier

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By RonPaul.com on April 14, 2010

Click here to get a PDF of the Campaign for Liberty’s H.R. 4995 “End the Mandate” flier and spread the word! Two half sheet fliers will print per page. There’s also an “I share the mission!” form you can put on the reverse side to sign up new members for Campaign for Liberty.