|
Please enjoy this short speech given by Ron Paul back in 1988. Take note that the ideas of Liberty have not changed at all.
By definition, future human actions and the motivations behind those actions cannot be known ahead of time, or predicted with pinpoint accuracy. However, an understanding of immutable economic laws and the principles of Liberty can shine a light as to the general direction that we're heading in. Join us on what to expect in the coming year.
By Ron Paul
Last week Congress passed a massive coronavirus relief and omnibus spending bill. President Trump threatened to veto the bill, saying he wants an increase in the amount for “stimulus” checks authorized by the bill from 600 dollars to 2,000 dollars. The checks are designed to help those harmed by the lockdowns. President Trump also demanded a cut in some of the wasteful spending contained in the bill, such as the ten million dollars for gender programs in Pakistan. At the 11th hour, however, President Trump signed the bill. President Trump’s veto threat came after many people complained that a 600 dollars one-time payment was insufficient, and that the payment could be higher if Congress cut spending on militarism, foreign aid, and corporate handouts. The text of the 5,593-page bill was made available hours before the votes in the House and Senate. Representatives and senators were told the bill had to pass immediately or else government would shut down around Christmas. This does not excuse voting for the bill. Congress should have refused to vote for this bill until members had time to read it. Those who voted “yes” should not get away with claiming the bill needed to be passed before members could read it. While it is understandable that many are outraged over the way this bill was rushed through, the real outrage is that the rushed passage of omnibus bills has become a yearly Christmas tradition on Capitol Hill. These spending bills are always full of outrageous special interest giveaways. This practice denies the average member of Congress a meaningful role in carrying out one of Congress’ two most significant constitutional duties — funding the government. Congress long ago abandoned its other main constitutional responsibility — declaring war. Whether 600 dollars or 2,000 dollars, a one-time stimulus payment is hardly adequate compensation for the suffering the government lockdowns have inflicted on the American people. Stimulus checks will not reopen closed small businesses or stop increases in domestic violence and substance abuse. A government check will not restore educational and development opportunities denied to children stuck at home struggling with “virtual education.” A one-time check will not compensate workers for the health problems developed due to having to wear a mask for eight hours a day. The only just solution is to end the lockdowns, and never again allow overblown fears to justify shutting down the economy. Funding the government via massive omnibus bills drafted in secret and rushed into law concentrates power in the hands of a select few representatives and senators. It also gives the president excessive influence over the appropriations process. This is exactly the opposite of what the Framers intended when they gave Congress power over government spending. This situation is the inevitable result of a government that tries to maintain the fiction that republican institutions are compatible with a welfare-warfare leviathan. Congress will continue to indulge this delusion until the system collapses. This collapse will likely be brought on by a collapse in the dollar’s value. The combination of the high-profile coronavirus bill with this year’s omnibus spending bill has brought new attention to Congress’ practice of funding the government via massive, unread appropriations bills. Hopefully, the anger people are expressing, instead of just disappearing once people receive their checks, will strengthen the movement to return to free markets and limited constitutional government. Liberty is a far better option than descent into economic chaos and totalitarianism.
The politically-connected rich keep getting richer at the expense of the middle class and poor. The Fed is the apparatus that makes it all happen.
Even in the most dire circumstances, optimism and belief in the cause of Liberty must be maintained. This show focuses on positive developments for Liberty, in a year filled with authoritarianism.
Please enjoy this speech given by Ron Paul at CPAC 2011.
 By Chris Rossini
Government is force. That's it. It's not Mother Teresa. It's not a caretaker. It's not a charity, or a helping hand. It's not a business. It's not a nanny. It's not a "regulator." It's force. Government's first act, before it can do anything else, is to use force against someone. This is why America's Founders struggled so hard to chain government down. Unfortunately, those chains were broken a century ago, and government today is primarily seen as something that has the power to take from one in order to give to another. Ordinary individuals in a civilized society do not have this ability. If you steal from one in order to give to another (no matter what your excuse) you're committing a crime, and are justly punished. The property of others is the property of others. It's not yours for the taking. Private property is the foundation of civilization. Without it, it's a free-for-all war, where only the strongest and most militant would thrive and take by force whatever they please from those who are weaker. Respect for each person's ultimate property (their life) and their material possessions keeps a general free-for-all war out of the human experience. With private property, the weak and poor have a chance. If the strong and rich aggress against them, the strong and rich are justly punished. Neither brute strength or bank account exempt anyone from punishment if they aggress against others. Private property gives the weak and poor room. It gives them an opportunity to rise up and become strong and rich should they desire to do so. Private Property protects everyone from the free-for-all war of 'if you want it, just go and take it from someone else.' Unless... Unless government is given the power to harm a person's life or take a person's property...That changes the game entirely. Everything changes when government is granted a moral "loophole" and is able to do what an individual is prohibited from doing. Under these conditions, a free-for-all war does take place. Government becomes the primary tool for looting others. After all, it's legal! No longer are the weak and poor protected. Their private property is no longer secure. When government was prohibited from looting, and was there to protect them from aggression, the weak and the poor had a chance. Now, with government acting as the looter, it is the weak and the poor who will pay the biggest price. Now the strong and rich can abuse the weak and the poor, and they can do so under the banner of government. Naturally, the very first job is to "educate" the population by convincing them that government must be able to take from one to give to another. After all, that's the way that government "helps." More specifically, that's the way that government will "help" the weak and the poor. And so, those who are "educated" become the greatest and loudest voices for the government-as-looter "system." With private property no longer secure, the gap between rich and poor artificially rises to unheard of levels. And yet, the "educated" cry even louder for more of the same! More "help"! Government needs to "help" even more! Never has government "helped" so much...and never have there been so many impoverished and in need of actual and genuine help. As long as the role of government is to have an exemption to steal whatever it wants, there cannot be a different result. More of the same cause will only get you more of the same effect. The only way to get a different result is to once again prohibit government from doing what individuals are prohibited from doing. No theft! By anyone. Private property must once again be secured for the weak and the poor. Unless, and until that happens, the strong and the rich will continue to dine at their expense. And the government "help" will continue to grind the poor further into penury.
Across the country hospital administrators are facing unexpected push-back from employees on the issue of the covid vaccine. More and more are refusing to take it, with at least one hospital CEO mentioning "mistrust" and fear. Why? Also today, poor Dr. Birx has had her feelings hurt over her family Thanksgiving trip. US has record deaths in 2020? San Francisco's record overdoses. And more...
Forget about borrowing money from China. That's old-fashioned. These days, with yesterday's trillion dollar "stimulus" bill, the Fed just creates free money for Americans! We can all be rich! What could go wrong? The combined 5,500 page "stimulus" bill and omnibus bill sprung on Congress at the last minute should go down as one of the most shameful chapters of US governance...
By Ron Paul
A video of a confrontation between Ventura County, California health officials and restaurant owner Anton Van Happen has gone viral. The health officials were ordering Mr. Van Happen to close his business because he allegedly violated California’s ban on outdoor dining. Mr. Van Happen asked the health officials if the government will pay his employees and his rent while his business is indefinitely closed. Mr. Van Happen is hardly the only small business owner worried about how to pay bills during the lockdowns. Many small businesses operate on a narrow profit margin, so being forced to “temporarily” shut down or limit the number of customers they can serve is a virtual death sentence. The lockdowns have already caused as many as 200,000 small businesses to permanently close. Lockdowns, by shrinking the number of employers, lead to long-term unemployment or lower wages for many workers. While governments have terrorized small businesses, they have typically deemed the big chain stores “essential businesses” so they can remain open. The lockdowns are thus another government policy that gives big businesses a competitive advantage over their smaller competitors. The benefits big businesses get from the lockdowns — including fewer competitors, more customers, and a job market with more workers competing for fewer jobs — may explain why many big businesses are not fighting the lockdowns. Instead, most big retail chains are requiring their workers and customers to wear masks. Many big businesses may soon deny service to those who refuse to receive a Covid vaccine. One would think that progressives who claim to oppose policies that benefit big corporations like WalMart, Target, and Amazon would oppose the lockdowns. Sadly, even many progressives are unquestioningly parroting the Covid propaganda and demonizing those who dissent. By slowing down the development of herd immunity among the population, the lockdowns could put those truly at risk in greater danger. Lockdowns have also had negative effects such as increases in drug and alcohol abuse and increases in domestic violence. Meanwhile, many schoolchildren are deprived of the opportunity to interact with their teachers and their peers. Instead, these children are subjected to the fraud of “virtual learning.” Resistance to Covid tyranny is growing as more people figure out that lockdowns and mandates are both unnecessary and harmful. This resistance was largely started by small business owners faced with a choice between obeying the government or making sure they, and their employees, can feed their families. Small business owners have been leaders in recent anti-lockdown protests across America. Eventually the resistance will grow to the point where the politicians will be forced to either double down on authoritarianism or admit the lockdowns were a mistake. Either way, those of us who know the truth must resist the Covid tyranny until government officials no longer terrorize small businesses for the crime of serving willing consumers. |
Archives
December 2024
 
 
 
 
|
RSS Feed