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Ron Paul
145 quotes
“The true antidote to racism is liberty. Liberty means having a limited, constitutional government devoted to the protection of individual rights rather than group claims. Liberty means free-market capitalism, which rewards individual achievement and competence, not skin color, gender, or ethnicity.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Government and Racism" (18 April 2007).
“Freedom is not defined by safety. Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference. Government cannot create a world without risks, nor would we really wish to live in such a fictional place. Only a totalitarian society would even claim absolute safety as a worthy ideal, because it would require total state control over its citizens’ lives. Liberty has meaning only if we still believe in it when terrible things happen and a false government security blanket beckons.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Security and Liberty, April 23, 2007
“Because federal hate crime laws criminalize thoughts, they are incompatible with a free society.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Unconstitutional Legislation Threatens Freedoms, May 7, 2007 freerepublic.com
“A nation without secure borders is no nation at all. It makes no sense to fight terrorists abroad when our own front door is left unlocked.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: RonPaul2008.com, May 2007
“We quadrupled the TSA, you know, and hired more people who look more suspicious to me than most Americans who are getting checked. Most of them, they just don't look very American to me. If I'd have been looking, they look suspicious.… I mean, a lot of them can't even speak English, hardly. Not that I'm accusing them of anything, but it's sort of ironic.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: quoted in Michael Scherer (2 June 2007) "Ron Paul is blowing up real good" Salon.com
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Revolution: A Manifesto, 2008
“Let me see if I get this right. We need to borrow $10 billion from China, and then we give it to Musharraf, who is a military dictator, who overthrew an elected government. And then we go to war, we lose all these lives promoting democracy in Iraq. I mean, what's going on here?”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: GOP debate on Fox News, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, January 10, 2008 [http://youtube.com/watch?v=Wuu-ElI56Mw
“The do-good liberal who said we have to take care of everybody -- and they are well intentioned -- the more debt they run up to give to the poor, the poorer the people get because they cannot keep up.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Glenn Beck Program, January 23, 2008
“I am convinced that there are more threats to American liberty within the 10 mile radius of my office on Capitol Hill than there are on the rest of the globe.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Texas Straight Talk: On Reinstating the Draft (16 February 2009)
“From the Great Depression, to the stagflation of the seventies, to the current economic crisis caused by the housing bubble, every economic downturn suffered by this country over the past century can be traced to Federal Reserve policy. The Fed has followed a consistent policy of flooding the economy with easy money, leading to a misallocation of resources and an artificial 'boom' followed by a recession or depression when the Fed-created bubble bursts.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Before the US House of Representatives, introducing The Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act, H.R. 833. (9 February 2009)
“This is the big one.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Financial Times, March 22, 2009
“Question: If you could pick one cause that has gotten us here, what'd you say it is? Ron Paul: Easy money. The Federal Reserve artificially lowering interest rates, deceiving the people, the investors, the savers, into believing that there's a lot of savings out there, and that we should invest more, build more houses, more cars. It's the malinvestment, which is every bit as dangerous, from the inflation of the money supply, as is the high prices that usually come.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fox Business Network, March 24, 2009
“Question: What about a tax to fund the war in Afghanistan? Ron Paul: Oh no... We don't need any of those wars... You don't raise taxes, that will only encourage them, what we need is to take all this money away from them, and say, bring the troops home...”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Washington Journal, C-Span, December 3, 2009
“Chris Matthews: Let me ask you this: I once went to Laundromat when I was at a Peace Corps training in Baker, Louisiana. A Laundromat had this sign on in glaze: "Whites only on the Laundromat", just to use the Laundromat machines. This was a local shop saying no blacks allowed. You say that should be legal? Ron Paul: That's — that's ancient history. That's ancient history. That's over and done with.”
“Paul: I didn't write them, I disavow them... Q: So you read them, but didn't do anything. Paul: I never read that stuff. I was probably aware of it ten years after it was written...it's going on twenty years that people have pestered me about this. Q: Well, wouldn't you say it's a legitimate question? Paul: When you get the answer, it's legitimate that you sorta take the answer I give. You know what the answer is? "I didn't write them, I didn't read them at the time, and I disavow them.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ron Paul Walks Out On CNN Interview (December 21, 2011)
“Q: "Congressman Paul, you've questioned the fiscal conservatism of all these candidates, but particularly Senator Santorum. You have a new television ad calling him a fake. Why?”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 22 February 2012
“In a free-market economy, the consumer is king: labor unions don't run things, business people don't run things, bankers don't run things, politicians don't run things, but the success of a business depends on how people spend their money.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In response to the question "What is your opinion on direct democracy, where the citizens themselves make law, rather than elected representatives?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-nfaTZNWcI (May 14, 2015)
“The $38 billion in aid to Israel is money we cannot afford going to a wealthy and powerful country that needs no assistance to maintain its status. Last week’s announcement of a record-breaking US aid package for Israel underscores how dangerously foolish and out-of-touch is our interventionist foreign policy. Over the next ten years, the US taxpayer will be forced to give Israel some $38 billion dollars in military aid. It is money we cannot afford going to a country that needs no assistance to maintain its status as the most powerful military in the Middle East.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 19 September 2016 article "Why Are We Sending $38 Billion to Rich and Powerful Israel?" on the Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Are you stunned by what has become of American culture? Well, it’s not an accident. You’ve probably heard of ‘,’ but do you know what it means?”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Ron Paul tweets racist cartoon, faces backlash (July 2, 2018) by Emily Birnbaum, The Hill. The tweet later had its image changed.
“President George W. Bush's vice president, Dick Cheney, is widely seen as the "real" president when it came to implementing an aggressive, neocon-approved foreign policy. Bush was seen as incurious putty in Cheney's hands. Has Trump's National Security Advisor John Bolton taken on that role in this Administration? Is Bolton the new Cheney?”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ron Paul asks: Is John Bolton the New Dick Cheney? Ron Paul and Daniel McAdams, Ron Paul Liberty Report, Video: 18 mins, 10 secs, (6 March 2019)
“The only time they tell the truth is when they admit that they are lying.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Possible Iran False Flag In Gulf Of Oman, With The US Already Caught In A Lie & Israel Attacks Syria, Ryan Cristian, The Last American Vagabond, Video: 1 hour 14 mins, 18 secs, (13 June 2019)
“Looks like Pompeo's attempt to sell Iran as the culprit in the Gulf of Oman tanker attacks is falling flat. We were on the story as it broke.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (14 June 2019)
“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's rush to judgement that Iran was behind the apparent attacks on two tanker ships last week has not galvanized world opinion against Iran, as the neocons hoped. Instead, it was met with high skepticism even among Washington's closest allies. Has the neocon practice of massively exaggerating and endlessly issuing threats finally destroyed US credibility on the world stage?”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Credibility Crisis: No One Believes Pompeo On Iran Attack, Liberty Report, (17 June 2019)
“The reason i maintain some optimism is that i think philosophically we're in pretty good shape... People...want to know the truth...”
“Philosophy is much more important than politics, but we have to deal with politics because politics is the measuring rod of the philosophy... It's important that we... try to get the truth out...”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reflecting On The Past & Anticipating The Future, Ron Paul Liberty Report], YouTube (31 December 2019)
“The type of people who gravitate to the government system are doing this out of desperation and they don't really have the answers, and eventually... [will] fail.”
“The people are looking for the truth and i do believe that truth will win out in the end.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reflecting On The Past & Anticipating The Future, Ron Paul Liberty Report], YouTube (31 December 2019)
“On March 24th, the CDC issued an alert stating that doctors should classify “probable COVID-19” or “likely COVID-19” as Covid-19 deaths. Perhaps that explains the seeming drop-off of pneumonia deaths this year and the simultaneous spike in Covid-19 deaths as some researchers have reported. The BBC reported last week that, “At present in the US, any death of a Covid-19 patient, no matter what the physician believes to be the direct cause, is counted for public reporting as a Covid-19 death.” Does that sound like a scientifically sound way of determining how deadly Covid-19 really is?”
“Our country is far less at risk from the coronavirus than it is from the thousands of small and large authoritarians who have suddenly flexed their muscles across the country. President Trump would do well to end this ridiculous shutdown so that Americans can get on with their lives and get back to work. Americans should remember the tyrants who locked them down next time they go to the ballot box. Let’s demand an end to the shutdown so we can resurrect our economy, our lives, and our liberties!”
“There's been a coup. We don't have any resemblance to a government that believes in a republic. We don't have honest money. We don't have integrity.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 12 April 2023 interview
“You can't have a government like this without an income tax, but we don't want a government like this. This is not the type of government that was designed by the founders of the country. This is not what was written in the Constitution. We've only had an income tax since 1913. But if you want a welfare state, and if you want to police the world and pay for the defense of Japan and Germany, give foreign aid to the Soviet Union. You not only need the income tax you need the Federal Reserve to print up the money when the deficit is accumulated. So we think that government should be smaller. If government is small, then you don't need the income tax.”
“After 200 years, the constitutional protection of the right of the individual to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is virtually gone. Today’s current terminology describing rights reflects this sad change. It is commonplace for politicians and those desiring special privileges to refer to: black rights, Hispanic rights, handicap rights, employee rights, student rights, minority rights, women’s rights, gay rights, children’s rights, student rights, Asian-American rights, Jewish rights, AIDS victims’ rights, poverty rights, homeless rights, etc. Unless all the terms are dropped & we recognize that only an individual has rights, the solution to the mess in which we find ourselves will not be found. The longer we lack of definition of rights, the worse the economic and social problems will be.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Freedom Under Siege (1987).
“Tax revenues are up 59 percent since 1980. Because of our economic growth? No. During Carter's four years, we had growth of 37.2 percent; Reagan's five years have given us 30.7 percent. The new revenues are due to four giant Republican tax increases since 1981. All republicans rightly chastised Carter for his $38 billion deficit. But they ignore or even defend deficits of $220 billion, as government spending has grown 10.4 percent per year since Reagan took office, while the federal payroll has zoomed by a quarter of a million bureaucrats... big government has been legitimized in a way the Democrats never could have accomplished. It was tragic to listen to Ronald Reagan on the 1986 campaign trail bragging about his high spending on farm subsidies, welfare, warfare, etc... the IRS has grown bigger, richer, more powerful, and more arrogant. In the words of the founders of our country, our government has "sent hither swarms" of tax gatherers "to harass our people and eat out their substance." His officers jailed the innocent George Hansen, with the President refusing to pardon a great American whose only crime was to defend the Constitution. Reagan's new tax "reform" gives even more power to the IRS. Far from making taxes fairer or simpler, it deceitfully raises more revenue for the government to waste... I want to totally disassociate myself from the policies that have given us unprecedented deficits, massive monetary inflation, indiscriminate military spending, an irrational and unconstitutional foreign policy, zooming foreign aid, the exaltation of international banking, and the attack on our personal liberties and privacy.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 1987 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to chairman of the RNC Frank Fahrenkopf (March 1987).
“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!”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Morton Downey Jr. Show, July 4, 1988 youtube.com
“In the emotion of the moment, people often say and do reckless things. For the individual, that can have deep ramifications. But when it is a single individual acting unreasonably in the throes of emotion in the face of sorrow, then the consequences are borne by only that person and his family. But when the government behaves recklessly in response to a tragedy, the consequences can be felt by everyone. This is especially true when politicians get in on the act. We can think back no further than July of 1996, when a plane carrying several hundred people suddenly and mysteriously crashed off the coast of Long Island. Within days, Congress had passed emergency legislation calling for costly new security measures, including a controversial “screening” method which calls for airlines to arbitrarily detain passengers just because the person meets certain criteria which border on racist and xenophobic.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Emotion should never dictate policy (January 12, 1998).
“...a few years back, in the 1980s, in our efforts to bring peace and democracy to the world we assisted the freedom fighters of Afghanistan, and in our infinite wisdom we gave money, technology and training to Bin Laden, and now, this very year, we have declared that Bin Laden was responsible for the bombing in Africa. So what is our response, because we allow our President to pursue war too easily? What was the President's response? Some even say that it might have been for other reasons than for national security reasons. So he goes off and bombs Afghanistan, and he goes off and bombs Sudan, and now the record shows that very likely the pharmaceutical plant in Sudan was precisely that, a pharmaceutical plant... As my colleagues know, at the end of this bill I think we get a hint as to why we do not go to Rwanda for humanitarian reasons... I think it has something to do with money, and I think it has something to do with oil... they are asking to set up and check into the funds that Saddam Hussein owes to the west. Who is owed? They do not owe me any money. But I will bet my colleagues there is a lot of banks in New York who are owed a lot of money, and this is one of the goals... Dana Rohrabacher: This resolution is exactly the right formula... Support democracy. Oppose tyranny. Oppose aggression and repression... We should strengthen the victims so they can defend themselves. These things are totally consistent with America's philosophy, and it is a pragmatic approach as well... Our support for the Mujahedin collapsed the Soviet Union. Yes, there was a price to pay, because after the Soviet Union collapsed, we walked away, and we did not support those elements in the Mujahedin who were somewhat in favor of the freedom and western values. With those people who oppose this effort of pro democracy foreign policy, a pro freedom foreign policy rather than isolation foreign policy, they would have had us stay out of that war in Afghanistan. They would never have had us confronting Soviet aggression in different parts of the world... Mr. Speaker, the gentleman does not think it is proper for us to offer those people who are struggling for freedoms in Iraq against their dictatorship a helping hand? Ron Paul: Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I think it would be absolutely proper to do that, as long as it came out of the gentleman's wallet and we did not extract it from somebody in this country, a taxpayer at the point of a gun and say, look, bin Laden is a great guy. I want more of your money. That is what we did in the 1980s. That is what the Congress did. They went to the taxpayers, they put a gun to their head, and said, you pay up, because we think bin Laden is a freedom fighter. Dana Rohrabacher: Well, if the gentleman will further yield, it was just not handled correctly. Ron Paul: Mr. Speaker, again reclaiming my time, the policy is flawed. The policy is flawed.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Debate on the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, October 5, 1998
“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.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: CONFERENCE REPORT ON S. 900, GRAMM-LEACH-BLILEY ACT, November 8, 1999
“If we can't or won't define the enemy, the cost to fight such a war will be endless. How many American troops are we prepared to lose? How much money are we prepared to spend? How many innocent civilians, in our nation and others, are we willing to see killed? How many American civilians will we jeopardize? How much of our civil liberties are we prepared to give up? How much prosperity will we sacrifice? [...] I support President Bush and voted for the authority and the money to carry out his responsibility to defend this country, but the degree of death and destruction and chances of escalation must be carefully taken into consideration.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: U.S. House of Representatives, September 25, 2001
“Rarely do we hear that Iraq has never committed any aggression against the United States. No one in the media questions our aggression against Iraq for the past 12 years by continuous bombing and imposed sanctions responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children. [...] Only tyrants can take a nation to war without the consent of the people. The planned war against Iraq without a Declaration of War is illegal. It is unwise because of many unforeseen consequences that are likely to result. It is immoral and unjust, because it has nothing to do with US security and because Iraq has not initiated aggression against us. We must understand that the American people become less secure when we risk a major conflict driven by commercial interests and not constitutionally authorized by Congress. Victory under these circumstances is always elusive, and unintended consequences are inevitable”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Before We Bomb Iraq (February 26, 2002).
“Capitalism should not be condemned, since we haven’t had capitalism. A system of capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat money manipulated by a central bank. Capitalism cherishes voluntary contracts and interest rates that are determined by savings, not credit creation by a central bank. It’s not capitalism when the system is plagued with incomprehensible rules regarding mergers, acquisitions, and stock sales, along with wage controls, price controls, protectionism, corporate subsidies, international management of trade, complex and punishing corporate taxes, privileged government contracts to the military-industrial complex, and a foreign policy controlled by corporate interests and overseas investments. Add to this centralized federal mismanagement of farming, education, medicine, insurance, banking and welfare. This is not capitalism!”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Has Capitalism Failed? (July 9, 2002).
“Racism is simply an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans only as members of groups and never as individuals. Racists believe that all individuals who share superficial physical characteristics are alike; as collectivists, racists think only in terms of groups. By encouraging Americans to adopt a group mentality, the advocates of so-called 'diversity' actually perpetuate racism. Their intense focus on race is inherently racist, because it views individuals only as members of racial groups. Conservatives and libertarians should fight back and challenge the myth that collectivist liberals care more about racism. Modern liberalism, however, well-intentioned, is a byproduct of the same collectivist thinking that characterizes racism. The continued insistence on group thinking only inflames racial tensions. The true antidote to racism is liberty. Liberty means having a limited, constitutional government devoted to the protection of individual rights rather than group claims. Liberty means free-market capitalism, which rewards individual achievement and competence, not skin color, gender, or ethnicity. In a free market, businesses that discriminate lose customers, goodwill, and valuable employees- while rational businesses flourish by choosing the most qualified employees and selling to all willing buyers. More importantly, in a free society every citizen gains a sense of himself as an individual, rather than developing a group or victim mentality. This leads to a sense of individual responsibility and personal pride, making skin color irrelevant. Rather than looking to government to correct what is essentially a sin of the heart, we should understand that reducing racism requires a shift from group thinking to an emphasis on individualism.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: What Really Divides Us (23 December 2002).
“Ironically, by transferring the risk of a widespread mortgage default, the government increases the likelihood of a painful crash in the housing market. This is because the special privileges granted to Fannie and Freddie have distorted the housing market by allowing them to attract capital they could not attract under pure market conditions. As a result, capital is diverted from its most productive use into housing. This reduces the efficacy of the entire market and thus reduces the standard of living of all Americans. Despite the long-term damage to the economy inflicted by the government’s interference in the housing market, the government’s policy of diverting capital to other uses creates a short-term boom in housing. Like all artificially-created bubbles, the boom in housing prices cannot last forever. When housing prices fall, homeowners will experience difficulty as their equity is wiped out. Furthermore, the holders of the mortgage debt will also have a loss. These losses will be greater than they would have otherwise been had government policy not actively encouraged over-investment in housing.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Subsidies Distort the Housing Market, September 10, 2003
“It is said we go about the world waging war to promote peace, and yet the price paid is rarely weighed against the failed efforts to make the world a better place. Justifying conscription to promote the cause of liberty is one of the most bizarre notions ever conceived by man! Forced servitude, with the risk of death and serious injury as a price to live free, makes no sense. What right does anyone have to sacrifice the lives of others for some cause of questionable value? Even if well motivated it can’t justify using force on uninterested persons. It’s said that the 18 year old owes it to his country. Hogwash! It just as easily could be argued that a 50 year-old chickenhawk, who promotes war and places the danger on innocent young people, owes a heck of a lot more to the country than the 18 year-old being denied his liberty for a cause that has no justification.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Conscription - The Terrible Price of War, November 21, 2003
“It is great comedy to hear the secular, pro-gay left, so hostile to states’ rights in virtually every instance, suddenly discover the tyranny of centralized government. The newly minted protectors of local rule find themselves demanding: “Why should Washington dictate marriage standards for Massachusetts and California? Let the people of those states decide for themselves.” This is precisely the argument conservatives and libertarians have been making for decades! Why should Washington dictate education, abortion, environment, and labor rules to the states? The American people hold widely diverse views on virtually all political matters, and the Founders wanted the various state governments to most accurately reflect those views. This is the significance of the 10th Amendment, which the left in particular has abused for decades.”
“The rights of all private property owners, even those whose actions decent people find abhorrent, must be respected if we are to maintain a free society... Federal bureaucrats and judges cannot read minds to see if actions are motivated by racism. Therefore, the only way the federal government could ensure an employer was not violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was to ensure that the racial composition of a business's workforce matched the racial composition of a bureaucrat or judge's defined body of potential employees... Racial quotas have not contributed to racial harmony or advanced the goal of a color-blind society. Instead, these quotas encouraged racial balkanization, and fostered racial strife... Relations between the races have improved despite, not because of, the 1964 Civil Rights Act.”
“Mr. Speaker, I once again find myself compelled to vote against the annual budget resolution for a very simple reason: it makes government bigger. [...] We need to understand that the more government spends, the more freedom is lost. Instead of simply debating spending levels, we ought to be debating whether the departments, agencies, and programs funded by the budget should exist at all. My Republican colleagues especially ought to know this. Unfortunately, however, the GOP has decided to abandon principle and pander to the entitlements crowd. But this approach will backfire, because Democrats will always offer to spend even more than Republicans. When Republicans offer to spend $500 billion on Medicare, Democrats will offer $600 billion. Why not? It’s all funny money anyway, and it helps them get reelected. [...] The increases in domestic, foreign, and military spending would not be needed if Congress stopped trying to build an empire abroad and a nanny state at home.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Oppose the Spendthrift 2005 Federal Budget Resolution, March 25, 2004
“I introduced an amendment last week that would have eliminated funds for this intrusive survey in a spending bill, explaining on the House floor that perhaps the American people dont appreciate being threatened by Big Brother. The amendment was met by either indifference or hostility, as most members of Congress either dont care about or actively support government snooping into the private affairs of citizens. One of the worst aspects of the census is its focus on classifying people by race. When government tells us it wants information to help any given group, it assumes every individual who shares certain physical characteristics has the same interests, or wants the same things from government. This is an inherently racist and offensive assumption. The census, like so many federal policies and programs, inflames racism by encouraging Americans to see themselves as members of racial groups fighting each other for a share of the federal pie.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: None of Your Business! (12 July 2004).
“The Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave the federal government unprecedented power over the hiring, employee relations, and customer service practices of every business in the country. The result was a massive violation of the rights of private property and contract, which are the bedrocks of free society. The federal government has no legitimate authority to infringe on the rights of private property owners to use their property as they please and to form (or not form) contracts with terms mutually agreeable to all parties. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 not only violated the Constitution and reduced individual liberty; it also failed to achieve its stated goals of promoting racial harmony and a color-blind society.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 2004-07-03 speech to Congress opposing House resolution celebrating 40th anniversary of Civil Rights Act, quoted in
“Aaron Russo: Do you think America is going deeper and deeper into becoming a police state? Ron Paul: Yeah, I think we're moving in that direction, because there's not much we can do without permission. The absence of a police state is that people are free, and if you don't commit crimes you can do what you want. But today, you can't open up a business, you can't develop land, you can't go to the bank, you can't go to the doctor without the government knowing what you're doing. They talk about medical privacy, that's gone. Financial privacy, that's gone. The right to own property, that's essentially gone. So you have to get permission from the government for almost everything. And if that is the definition of a police state, that you can't do anything unless the government gives you permission, we're well on our way. This is something that people eventually, I hope, will get sick and tired of, and say enough is enough.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: America: Freedom to Fascism, 2006
“The American people have been offered two lousy choices. One, which is corporatism, a fascist type of approach, or, socialism. We deliver a lot of services in this country through the free market, and when you do it through the free market prices go down. But in medicine, prices go up. Technology doesn't help the cost, it goes up instead of down. But if you look at almost all of our industries that are much freer, technology lowers the prices. Just think of how the price of cell phones goes down. Poor people have cell phones, and televisions, and computers. Prices all go down. But in medicine, they go up, and there's a reason for that, that's because the government is involved with it... I do [think that prices will go down without government involvement], but probably a lot more than what you're thinking about, because you have to have competition in the delivery of care. For instance, if you have a sore throat and you have to come see me, you have to wait in the waiting room, and then get checked, and then get a prescription, and it ends up costing you $100. If you had true competition, you should be able to go to a nurse, who could for 1/10 the cost very rapidly do it, and let her give you a prescription for penicillin. See, the doctors and the medical profession have monopolized the system through licensing. And that's not an accident, because they like the idea that you have to go see the physician and pay this huge price. And patients can sort this out, they're not going to go to a nurse if they need brain surgery...”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview by Laura Knoy on NHPR, June 5, 2007