Ron Paul

Ron Paul - Bigot Republican Congressman.

Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is paid $158,000 per annum from taxpayers to represent the Texas 14th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Elected as a Republican Party candidate, he professes a limited government libertarian ideology, which frequently conflicts with his fellow Republicans and indeed all of his colleagues. His regular votes against almost all government spending, taxes, and new programs as well as the fact that he is often the lone dissenter in otherwise unanimous votes have earned him the nickname "Dr. No".

He was vigorously but unsuccessfuly opposed by mainstream Republicans, troubled by what they see as allegiance to another political party.

Attitudes to the Role of Government

Despite his opposition to government spending, he collects $158,000 per annum for a full-time Congressional salary and since 1976 has spent tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers' money on salary and office expenses. The Founding Fathers advocated "citizen-statesman" populating the Congress, not career politicians like Congressman Paul who have been in full-time politics since 1976. When the United States Congress first served, its members paid a sitting fee of $6 per day and the Congress served no more than a month per annum. Congressman Paul's acceptance of the generous full-time salary is in stark contrast to the position of the Founding Fathers.

His newsletter which speaks of abolishing the IRS and most government programs is itself taxpayer funded. Critics argue that his stance is hypocritical in light of his opposition to even the most limited of government action, such as the federal ban of date rape drugs.

The ban of date rape drugs is believed to save tens of thousands of women in the United States from acquaintance rape every year. Ron Paul has not explained his opposition beyond expressing his view the measure was unconstitutional, a view not supported by the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.

History

Ron Paul was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. from Gettysburg College (1957) and M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine (1961). He served as a surgeon for the United States Air Force in the 1960s. In 1968 he and his wife Carol moved to Texas, where they reside in the town of Surfside Beach.

Dr. Paul was first elected to the House of Representatives in a 1976 special election to replace Robert R. Casey. He lost his bid for re-election in the November 1976 election to Democrat Robert A. Gammage but defeated him in a 1978 rematch. In 1984, he avoided certain defeat in the Republican primary by retiring to not to medical practice as an OBGYN.

In 1988, Dr. Paul Libertarian Party nominee for the U.S. Presidency. He spent the year campaigning, losing to George H. W. Bush with 0.5% of the popular national vote.

Republican Libertarian

In 1996, he was again elected to the House of Representatives, again accepting its full-time salary not envisaged by the Founding Fathers. In order to get elected in a politically calculated move, despite having Libertarian membership and views he once again ran as a Republican. The mainstream (non-racist) Republican Party backed his challenger in the primary; however, he won it and went on to win the general election. The mainstream (non-racist) Republican Party made similar efforts in 1998, but he again won the primary and the election. The Republicans, having twice failed to defeat him, reluctantly agreed to a compromise: Paul votes with the Republicans on procedural matters and remains nominally Republican in exchange for the committee assignments normally due according to his seniority. This is arguably similar to the deal that Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont has with the Democratic Party (although Jeffords, unlike Paul, is officially an independent). He was convincingly re-elected in 2000 and 2002, and was unopposed in 2004. He is a member of the Republican Liberty Caucus.

Congressman Paul joined the Libertarian Party as a lifetime member, which he has not renounced despite being a registered Republican and serving as a Republican congressman. Though he does not identify himself publicly as a Libertarian, he remains on good terms with the party and has addressed its national convention. A Libertarian Party spokesman said thousands of libertarians from outside Texas donate money to Ron Paul's campaign funds. Texas Democrats allege he uses those campaign funds to present himself as having more moderate positions than he actually does [1]. His views opposing a strong military, abolishing Social Security and winding back measures to combat terrorism are considered unlikely to enjoy popular support in Texas in general and in his district in particular.

Ron Paul's Views

Although his economic views have earned him a reputation as a conservative, he has strongly criticized the United States' intervention in Iraq and what he charges is the use of the war on terror to curtail civil liberties. He believes in the complete abolition of income tax, most Cabinet departments, the Federal Reserve and American withdrawal from the United Nations. Paul has referred to the Internal Revenue Service as the Gestapo [2], a position many believe diminishes the experience of victims of the Holocaust.

He has been criticized at times for his voting record, opposing such measures as banning the date-rape drug GHB and being the only dissenting vote against awarding civil rights advocate Rosa Parks, Mother Theresa and Pope John Paul II the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. Paul argues that Congress is not authorized by the Constitution to undertake any of these tasks.

Commentary on African-Americans

In one 1992 issue of the Ron Paul Survival Report, which was published since 1985, it referred to claims that 85 percent of all African-American men in Washington, D.C., are arrested at some point: "Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the 'criminal justice system,' I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal." And under the headline "Terrorist Update," the report said: "If you have ever been robbed by a black teenaged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be." [3] Several years after publication, he denied authorship, blaming staff. He explained he accepted the criticism himself, not wishing to blame others for his publication.

Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy theorists have favorably quoted Congressman Paul who allegedly declared that there is an international and internal conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States. "I think there are 25,000 individuals that have used offices of powers, and they are in our Universities and they are in our Congresses, and they believe in One World Government. And if you believe in One World Goverment, then you are talking about undermining National Sovereignty and you are talking about setting up something that you could well call a Dictatorship - and those plans are there!..."[4]

District and contact information

The 14th Congressional District of Texas stretches from the Gulf Coast south of Houston almost to Corpus Christi; north through Victoria and west close to San Antonio; extending north to Hays county near Austin. From Hays county, the District stretches east to Fayette and Colorado counties, south through Wharton county, and back to the Gulf through the lower half of Brazoria county. In all, the district encompasses more than 22,000 square miles.

External links

Preceded by:
David Bergland

Libertarian Party Presidential candidate
1988 (lost)

Followed by:
Andre Marrou