Ron Paul

It’s time to rethink the whole system of HMOs and managed care. This entire unnecessary level of corporatism rakes off profits and worsens the quality of care. But HMOs did not arise in the free market; they are creatures of government interference in health care dating to the 1970s. These non-market institutions have gained control over medical care through collusion between organized medicine, politicians, and drug companies, in an effort to move America toward “free” universal health care.

I think I'm fondest of Ron Paul… He's the only person I agree with on foreign policy.

...does not our Lord tell us that our yea is to be yea and our nay is to be nay? In other words, genuine believers are to be true to their word. How, then, could a true Christian make a promise before God and the American people to preserve, protect, and defend the U.S. Constitution and then turn around and ignore that promise? Ron Paul lives his Christian faith and takes his oath to the Constitution seriously.

I thought Mayor Giuliani's intercession there was appropriate, and frankly, very, very excellent. I really appreciated it. Because we should never, never believe that we brought on this conflict. This is an evil force that is trying to destroy everything we stand for and believe in. And this is a transcendent struggle. That's why I want to be president of the United States.

Question: Your solutions, on stopping drug trade, is, give up, give up to world drugs. I say zero tolerance, we use the military for aid, we stop it from getting into the country, we cut it off at the source. Why give up on that fight?
Ron Paul: What we give up on is a tyrannical approach to solving a social and medical problem, and We endorse the idea of voluntarism, self-responsibility, family, friends, and churches to solve problems, rather than saying that some monolithic government is going to make you take care of yourself and be a better person. It's a preposterous notion, it never worked, it never will. The government can't make you a better person, it can't make you follow good habits. Why don't they put you on a diet; you're a little overweight, and i think you need government help!

He really lit my fuse when he continued to assert that it was our fault we were attacked on Sept. 11 ... [Ron Paul's comments were] ludicrous and unacceptable.

...the guy I would have really voted for in your election is Ron Paul.

Most — maybe all — libertarians acknowledge a right to self defense. But in the modern world this cannot be done by militias. It requires a military industrial complex, with all the attendant consequences. [...] Ron Paul is a pencil head, leading a jacquerie of wicked idiots.

Rep. Paul has a record of philosophical consistency unmatched in recent congressional history. He seeks to limit government at practically every turn. His refusal to compromise is legendary.

I mean this is all seriousness, Ron Paul [is my pro-stock market candidate].

He's a great member of our caucus.

Good morning, Mr. Greenspan. I understand that you did not take my friendly advice last fall. I thought maybe you should look for other employment, but I see you have kept your job.

In the end, nothing happened. Basically, the night of the debate, I was down there, and I reacted to what I perceived Ron Paul to have said, which is basically to blame America for the attacks of 9/11. The next day, everybody talked about it, the reports came out, people read the transcripts, and he didn't actually say that. He said, he was talking about American policy, and the effects of American policy there. And the reality is, we never introduced any resolution, there was never a petition, and that morning we basically just dropped the subject. [...] I've invited Ron Paul, I've invited all the candidates. Every candidate has been invited to come to Mackinac, if he's available and he can make it, we'd love to have him. [...] Actually I'd argue they ought to make me the honorary national co-chairman for the Ron Paul campaign, because what I've probably started doubled his name ID and got him more exposure that he'd have ever gotten on his own. So from that regard you guys ought to be sending me flowers rather than nasty emails, give me a break. [...] Whoever the Republican nominee, I'll be out there supporting him, and if it's Ron Paul, I'll be front and center.

Mr. Paul isn't going to be president. He trails in national polls, in no small part because his lack of a proactive foreign policy makes him an unserious candidate in today's terror world.... His more kooky views (say, his belief in a conspiracy to create a "North American Union") and his violent antiwar talk have allowed the other aspirants to dismiss him.

The growth in money and credit has outpaced both savings and economic growth. These inflationary pressures have been concentrated in asset prices, not consumer price inflation--keeping monetary policy too easy. This increase in asset prices has fueled domestic borrowing and spending. Government policy and the increase in securitization are largely responsible for this bubble. In addition to loose monetary policies by the Federal Reserve, government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have contributed to the problem. The fourfold increases in their balance sheets from 1997 to 1998 boosted new home borrowings to more than $1.5 trillion in 1998, two-thirds of which were refinances which put an extra $15,000 in the pockets of consumers on average--and reduce risk for individual institutions while increasing risk for the system as a whole.

At least the Democrats would leave some troops overseas to protect American interests, while Paul would remove all of them and allow Islamic radicals to overrun our interests and allies everywhere. He even advocates shutting down all military bases here at home, essentially leaving the country defenseless.

You know, the last two nations that the United States saved before 9/11 were two Muslim nations. So, to my friend Ron Paul: don't blame America first.

He's fantastic... This guy - he's a Republican - and he says listen, when I become president, I'm taking us out of Iraq, I'm taking us out of everywhere in the world, because what good has it done us being in these fucking Middle Eastern countries? Because they hate us, I'm taking us out of all these wars, and we're done. And he goes, I'm not an isolationist, I'm not afraid to use the military where it's needed. But to sit in these extended fucking wars, draining the economy - and if we stay or we leave, the same goddamn thing happens: nothing! So let's leave. And people love this guy when he talks, he makes sense.

Laura Knoy: Now how does this noninterventionist philosophy play out when it's a humanitarian crisis like genocide in Darfur, Sudan?
Ron Paul: ...it should be done voluntarily. I have no right – no moral right or constitutional right – to come with a gun and tax the people and say: "I will take money because I want to do good" ... there's warring factions going on there, it's a civil war... You could've argued that in Somalia as well ... And the American people are generous – there's no reason why we can't help feed the world, and we do. But there's no justification to use violence against our people to extract money to do good overseas.

We've lost the south, that was one of the biggest fallacies. We went in there and we served the interests of one of our enemies over there, the Iranians. We propped up the Shiites, we overthrew the Sunnis, and the British didn't hold, they left. So there's more peace and less killing in southern Iraq, because all of a sudden we've allowed local control to develop more naturally. Warlords and local people are in charge, and they're more allied with Iran. But this is not a catastrophe, that's why we should deal with the Iranians in a more respectful way: if they had more control of the oil they'd want to sell, what they're gonna do with it, drink it? That's why the balance of power and the idea of self-determination should be worked out by them, not by us. As long as we do it, there'd be resentment and that is the source of the hatred towards us.