Ron Paul Strikes Gold
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Ron Paul Strikes Gold
Why the oft-marginalized congressman is the greatest threat to Obama’s regulatory plan.
Posted Thursday, July 2, 2009 - 3:38pm
Ron Paul's legislative history is a lesson in principled failure. Among the bills he has co-sponsored: ending U.S. cooperation with the United Nations, a repeal of antitrust law "to restore the inherent benefits of the market economy," and stripping the government of the right to set a minimum wage. Just last week, he again introduced a bill "to repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990," which would presumably make schools less safe but which would reinforce our right to bear arms. For Paul, ideology almost always trumps politics.
None of these bills, I should note, have picked up much support. And Paul's track record with economic legislation isn't any better. His perennial efforts—shifting the country back toward a gold standard, abolishing the personal income tax, and dismantling the Federal Reserve—are nonstarters. They so change the very fabric of this country that Paul can't marshal his colleagues to his side.
Which is why Paul's most recent legislative accomplishment is so impressive. He has rallied the majority of the House to support his new cause: an audit of the Federal Reserve. Legislators are sick of not knowing what's going on inside Bernanke's fortress, especially as the Fed becomes further enmeshed in the nation's fiscal policy. Paul's little bill has become emblematic of a larger movement, one that could spell trouble for Obama's troubled regulatory plan. Ron Paul—always an enemy of regulation—is now an enemy of Obama. And a mighty powerful one at that.
Paul wants to audit the Fed primarily because he wants to destroy it; the audit bill is just the latest chapter in Paul's lifelong crusade against it. His vendetta is fueled by the belief that the Federal Reserve is unconstitutional, a central bank within a country that doesn't allow central banks. That the Fed can manipulate the currency and "create legal tender out of thin air" is heresy. And so Paul attempts to dismantle it the only way he can: through legislation.
Thus we come to the audit. For Paul it's a foot in the door to a much larger goal. To the 244 co-sponsors—74 of them Democrats—it's a way to show their constituents that they're worried, too, about where taxpayer dollars are going. It's an amusing dissonance between the leader of the rebellion and his revolutionaries. The two parties are after entirely separate goals, one (transparency) vastly more achievable than the other (the end of the Federal Reserve).
This again makes Paul's coalition all the more remarkable. The distrust of the Fed has reached a point at which a majority of House members are following a radical into battle. Congress' frustration was evident last month when Bernanke got roasted in front of Congress, putting his future as Fed chairman and the health of Obama's regulatory plan in doubt.
Photograph of Ron Paul by Gabriel Bouys/Staff/Getty Images.
Comments
Hurrah for the Dr. No Coalition!
I'm glad to see we have so many congress members standing alongside Dr. No in his push to audit the Fed. This absolutely needs to happen; didn't Obama get my vote, in part, because he said he'd begin an era of greater accountability? Hmm.. @COMAlite J: it occurs to me that the media doesn't consider it a "school shooting" unless white people are involved. But regarding what you wrote, I have to wonder, "What changed?" Do we have evidence to suggest that the GFSZA took guns out of white kids' hands, thus creating defenseless victims where none had been before? If not, something else must have happened to cause this change. Good call on GFSZA being pretty useless, though. @HeroicLife: regulation does not make socialism. At the outside, you could argue that our financial sector is operating under something loosely like social democracy (loosely!), but no, our financial sector is still fundamentally capitalist: "Capitalism typically refers to an economic and social system in which trade, industry and the means of production (also known as capital) are privately controlled and operated for a profit.[1][2]" (from wikipedia.org) The spectrum of more/less regulation is irrelevant in defining if an economy is capitalistic.
Gun-Free School Zones Act
From the article:
The facts disagree with that presumption. Clinton signed that Act (GFSZA) into law on October 20th, 1990. It gave States and localities one year from that date to enact policies to fully enforce its provisions, for both public and private schools of all kinds.
Thus, it did not take full effect until October 20th, 1991. Note that date.
The first of the modern rash of premeditated multiple-target school shooting sprees was in Moses Lake, Washington, on February 2nd, 1992.
Prior to the GFSZA, the USA had an average of less than one such incident per decade, or slightly more than one per generation. The immediately preceding one was in the late 1970s, and before that, the Texas University Sniper of the 1960s.
After it, the next one happened only a year later. Hardly a year after that, the rash peaked with numerous incidents in 1998 alone, including a month therein (May) with two days, only two days apart, with multiple such incidents per day!
Far and away more such incidents have happened in the 1¾ decades since the GFSZA than happened during the over 2¼ centuries of U.S. history before the GFSZA! Pearl, Jonesboro, Columbine, Santee, Virginia Tech., and many more, all happened AFTER the GFSZA! And all this began mere months after the GFSZA took full effect!
DIDN’T WORK,, DID IT!?!?
Now, I’m not saying that the GFSZA caused such things to happen. But, time and again, it has been shown that people who commit such acts, even when mentally and/or emotionally unbalanced, or even suicidal, are still sane enough to realize that their chances of living long enough to take lots of other people with them, to make whatever sick “final statement” they’re trying to make, is far greater when their potential victims are defenseless.
In short: they do it where the defenseless people are! It really is that simple. The law is no barrier to them, because criminals, by definition, break laws. It’s what the word means!
In all of U.S. history, combined, there has only been, to the best of my knowledge, one school shooting spree incident that happened in a place and time that did not ban guns in and/or around schools. It resulted in a total of one death and two injuries.
Dozens of such incidents, with hundreds of deaths and many hundreds of injuries, have happened in places and times that did ban guns in and/or near schools. And, of course, as of October 20th, 1991, that means the entire USA.
Of course, the passage of the GFSZA would not in and of itself inspire or even enable an increase in such incidents in general. It would only inspire them to happen more often in schools, specifically because of the defenseless victims factor. Something else is at the root of the extremely sharp and steep statistical spike of such violence that occurred beginning in the late 1990s. And it’s not any of the usual scapegoats promoted by either liberals nor conservatives: not bullying, not violence in the media, not decline of Christianity or “traditional Christian family values,” not Roe vs. Wade, not our failure to ban flag burning (I lost what little respect I ever had for Senator Orrin Hatch when he blamed Columbine on our failure to pass his little pet Constitutional Amendment), etc. etc. etc. All of those things have been around since long before February 2nd, 1996, and most were gradual. Only something that happened relatively closely before that date, and which was itself a sudden and steep rise, could account for that. And I think I know what it is, but it would be a thread digression to discuss it further here. Use my Personal Contact Form if you want to know more.
As for Ron Paul, I used to be an avid supporter of his (and indeed voted for him in 1988), until I realized that he was not, despite his claims, a true libertarian. He’s a neo-confederate (not to be confused with a Neo-Conservative, which he most definitely is not). A libertarian places the inherent and unalienable Rights of Personhood above all else. A neo-confederate places “States’ Rights” (a false concept that violates the express and obvious intent of the Founding Fathers, even before the Civil War and passage of the 14th Amendment) above all else.
Wacky Ron Paul???
Ron Paul is the only legislator that is showing us how far we are going away from the original principles of freedom, liberty, free enterprise and limited government found in the long forgotten and disregarded Constitution.
The Constitution restricts government and is in opposition to the plans of Obama to create a government controlled economy and a government controlled citzenry.
There have been dark forces working behind the scenes in our government. Is there is an American today, who doesn't sense and distrust the unseen forces in our government? Can you really trust a privately owned cartel of banks that have been controlling our money since early 1900's and are completely secret and hidden from view of our Congress (the Federal Reserve).
Our 'government, particularly now with Obama in charge' is enthusiastically sucking our coffers dry, picking up where Bush left off, causing a national collapse of the dollar - if there is an American around who doesn't see that what's been happening around here centers around the Federal Reserve and their links to the international elites that are planning a global world govenrment, I don't know where you are getting your information? Mainstream media like this magazine?
The corporate elites who are profiting from all this govenrment spending OWN mainstream media!
We need to pray and ask that God return to our country and appear to the hearts of men because without the creative power of God, our children will inherit a world where they have no say or control in their govenrment, they will lose their liberty to self govern ourselves (which we are already experiencing) and lose our own national sovereignty.
Thank God for Ron Paul and the swell of support he is attracting. The only thing wacky about Ron Paul is that he's still in Congress with all the ridicule and malicious defamation that the media can heap upon him.
"Wacky" Ron Paul
Yes, we in America and England prefer our school zones completely defenseless for any and all criminals and nutcases. Even more ridiculous is the idea of unchaining ourselves from the "Federal" Reserve and Marx's progressive income tax: why would anyone want to go back to the days when we had over 10% annual growth rates in our economy before we enthroned the money manipulators? That kooky Ron Paul! What will he dream up next? Legalizing freedom or some other archaic notion?
The crisis is a failure of socialism
Much of the blame for the mortgage lending meltdown has been placed on the “failure of the free market.” But is there really any truth to this? The financial industry is the single most regulated industry in the economy. The failing institutions are precisely the ones that New Deal policies were meant to protect us from: the FDIC was supposed to prevent bank runs, the SEC was supposed to be stop shady investments, Fannie May and Freddie Mac were supposed to make sure that loans went to people who deserved them. Opportunistic politicians are quick to blame the capture of regulatory institutions on lobbyists and “special interests.” They promise to fix the problem by giving yet more money and power to corrupt government agencies, much like a mob boss who blames his enforcers for his protection schemes, and then promises his victims to lay off them if they just give him more guns and money. The only reason that special interests are so involved in government is that the government has ingrained itself so deeply in our lives. Giving more power to the state to regulate markets and redistribute wealth and privileges from one group to another only increases the incentive to strengthen one’s political connections.
Private Federal Reserve
Let's clear up the record on the Federal Reserve Bank. Chadwick Mattin is clearly under the dellusion that the Federal reserve is an agency that is out for our nations wealth and economic well being. Since it's inception while most of congress was away on christmas brake, we have seen one depression in the 30's, created by private banksters, and a reccesion in the 1970's and now a depression that we may not recover from for years to come or result in our total economic colapse that will force us into the creation of another currency.
While the average American taxpayer suffers from increased taxes because of failed monetary policies and record job losses, the media has been downplaying and lieing to the American people. Lack of federal oversight in the securities buisness and banking led to risky and dangerious credit default swaps. Either they are Incompetent morons, or are on a self enrichment program at the nations expense.
Nixon, was hood winked by thse same banksters by doing away with the Gold standard. This turned our currency, which was the staple of the global economy, and turned our cash into monopoly money and further destablizing global economic prosperity.
Chadwick, is either an apologist or just the total ignorant court jester in defending these people. If this is considered an attack on Chadwick, then its well deserved.
Sincerely,
Philip Kirschner
Political Consultant.
Ron Paul
I may be a bit naive, but Ron Paul seems like he genuinely cares about our country. God bless Ron Paul!
Beat Making
What's Ben hiding?
The bill is to strip the Fed naked and see what Ben’s hiding!
Every American has the right to question this private institution of what it does to/with our money.
It’s to expose the fraudulent of free moneys for friends & favors bailouts of the Fed!
With Dr. Paul leading the charge to remove power of something central, something federal, something reserved. Never underestimate Dr. Ron Paul, he’s the only man left that obeyed and honored his “Oath of Office” to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, by the People and for the People.
If you'd followed his public life, he's much deserved to be call Doctor. He's THE MOST Consistent of all the issues that concern all of us. He’s what the founders of this country should be proud of…
Freedom, Prosperity and Peace. That's his motto...
The Fed
Try to imagine a US where the duties of the Fed were given to the Treasury. An administration of either party would not be able to disclaim responsibility because it was an independent government agency but they themselves that were responsible for all decisions. (In other words, Democracy, where elected officials are responsible to the people for their actions). Well neither party is going to want that for the obvious reason. An argument that the Fed does a better job than the Treasury because it is independent, pretty much fails on the record of history.