By Ron Paul
When the end of another year rolls around it is not a bad idea to think about how we might improve ourselves and perhaps even improve the lives of others given the clean slate of a New Year. Many people resolve to exercise more, eat better, spend more time with their families. These are all worthy goals, but shouldn’t our elected officials and the bureaucrats who run DC be making some resolutions of their own? Here are a few suggestions. First up is Congress. Next month the 119th US Congress will be sworn in, with Republican majorities in both Houses. With every opinion poll we see how the US public holds Congress in contempt. How about doing something about it? What about returning to the Constitution? That means no more 1,500 page omnibus spending bills which hide countless unconstitutional surveillance, censorship, and police state measures behind convoluted legislative language. Return to the normal legislative process and pass individual, clean appropriations bills with open rules that allow maximum participation from each Member or Senator. Then spend the rest of the year renaming post offices, if you want. The American people will thank you for it. Americans are rightly furious that President Biden has sent as much as $200 billion to fund Ukraine’s futile war with Russia, but where did Biden get that money? From Congress. The Founding Fathers gave Congress the ability to check the Executive branch’s foreign adventurism with the power of the purse. Every US foreign policy fiasco of the 21st century could have been prevented had Congress only had the courage to say “no” when the President and the military-industrial complex demanded money for a new overseas conflict. Next, the Executive Branch. On January 20th we will begin the second Trump Administration. Trump appealed to war-weary American voters by promising no new wars and an end to the current conflicts we are involved in overseas. A good place to start would be an announcement on day one that US troops would be removed from Syria. We learned only last week that the Biden Administration had been lying to us about the number of troops in Syria, but the real question is why do we have troops there at all? Trump rightly said it is not our war, so why not just march home? Likewise, Ukraine. As a parting “gift” to the American people, President Biden just announced another six billion to Ukraine. Most of that money – like the billions before – will end up in the hands of the US military-industrial complex, with a few billion stolen by the corrupt Ukraine government. Even the US mainstream media admits that Ukraine has lost the war. So why are we draining the US treasury and draining the population of Ukraine for a lost cause? President Trump: end the funding and end the war. We should be cautiously optimistic that should Trump’s nominees to head the FBI and the Intelligence Community make it through the Senate we might finally be able to see the deep state lose its grip. That’s the best news possible. We need to rein in the CIA from overseas conflicts and end the FBI’s wars on our civil liberties at home. Keeping just a few resolutions like these above will produce a more peaceful and prosperous New Year!
By Ron Paul
This week saw a new twist in what has become a D.C. Christmas tradition. I am not referring to the lighting of the White House Christmas tree but to passage of a “continuing resolution” (CR) funding the government and thus avoiding a Christmastime government shutdown. It took the production of three separate CRs before one passed in the Senate after midnight Friday night and was then signed by President Joe Biden. A reason an earlier CR failed to obtain congressional approval was that President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy called on Republicans to oppose it. There was also opposition to the inclusion of new spending, including 100 billion dollars in disaster relief and an extension of the farm bill along with billions of dollars more in aid for farmers. The farm provisions were added at the request of Republican representatives from rural areas. Many of these Republicans denounce welfare spending and crony capitalism, while fighting to increase subsidies for large agribusinesses and rich farmers. The CR that ultimately passed included the disaster relief and the farm provisions. President Trump wanted the CR to raise or suspend the debt ceiling that was expected to be reached soon. It is understandable that President Trump would want to avoid a fight over the debt ceiling early in his second term. However, refusing to raise or suspend the debt ceiling would benefit President Trump’s efforts to reduce wasteful spending. The debt ceiling was created during World War One to allow the Treasury to sell bonds without first obtaining congressional authorization. Contrary to the claims of the big spenders, failure to raise or suspend the debt ceiling would not force the government to default or cause the government to not “pay its bills.” Instead, it would force the government to do what ordinary people who find themselves over their heads in debt have to do: reduce other expenses in order to pay their bills. Saying a failure to raise or suspend the debt ceiling is irresponsible is like saying a credit card company is irresponsible for refusing to extend credit to a deadbeat. Raising or suspending the debt ceiling helps enable the continued growth of the welfare-warfare state, but the real enabler of Congress’s spending is the Federal Reserve’s monetization of government debt. The Federal Reserve monetizes the federal debt via the purchase of Treasuries. Congress should pass legislation forbidding the Fed from purchasing Treasuries so the Fed can no longer enable Congress’s reckless spending. The Constitution gives Congress two primary responsibilities: appropriating federal funds and declaring war. Congress long ago abdicated its authority to declare war. The practice of funding the government through CRs and omnibus spending bills drafted by a few members and rushed through Congress before most members have a chance to read them deprives most members of the ability to fulfill their constitutional responsibility to help determine how to best allocate taxpayer dollars. It also denies members an opportunity to offer amendments cutting spending. This is why everyone who supports constitutional government and who understands the dangers of increasing government debt should support ending Congress’s Christmas tradition.
Liberty Report co-hosts Daniel McAdams and Chris Rossini wish all of our viewers a Merry Christmas on their behalf and on behalf of Ron Paul. Plus...an exciting announcement about the Ron Paul Studio.
The Ron Paul Institute still has matching funds left. Hurry and DOUBLE your donation: https://ronpaulinstitute.org/donate/ 
It’s not a good look when Republicans and Democrats “negotiate” together and present an unreadable 1,500 page bill. It’s also not a good look for a follow-up Republican bill that seeks to raise the debt ceiling again for two years. We’re going bankrupt thanks to $36 trillion in debt. The American people voted to go in the other direction. Why doesn’t Washington ever get it?
After promising there would be no Christmas Continuing Resolution...Speaker Johnson put out...a Christmas Continuing Resolution. It was jammed with so much pork that he faced a GOP revolt in the House and a D.O.G.E revolt from Elon and Vivek. What's next? Also today, New House-introduced "D.O.G.E." Bill is unimpressive. We'll tell you why.
If it's Christmas, then it's another massive, bloated "Continuing Resolution" keeping the US government open for a few more months. Every year House leadership - doesn't matter which party - strong-arms Members to vote for the bloated bill...or miss Christmas with their families. Also today: "Peacekeepers" in Ukraine is a very bad idea. That's why the neocons love it.
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According to a new report, the US government keeps pouring money into fighting "misinformation" - but is it just another word for censorship? Also today: Israel moves deeper into Syria. What's the endgame?
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By Ron Paul
My first reaction to news earlier this month that the Syrian government had been overthrown was, how much did we have to do with it; how involved was the CIA; and how much is it going to cost. As with Saddam and Gaddafi before him, we know that Assad was no libertarian hero. But unleashing an army dedicated to establishing an Islamic state in once-secular Syria hardly seems like a good idea to me. As with President George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” moment after Saddam’s overthrow, getting rid of Assad will prove to be the easy part. Rebuilding Syrian society after the destruction of the country will cost billions and will likely be about as successful as our “liberation” of Libya, which is still a failed, terrorist-dominated state more than a decade later. In 2017 the Los Angeles Times published an article that, sadly, speaks volumes about the insanity of our interventionist foreign policy. “In Syria, militants armed by the Pentagon fight those armed by the CIA,” read the headline. How does it make any sense that the Pentagon is fighting a proxy war with the CIA on Syrian soil? What’s worse is that the American people are forced to pay for this Pentagon versus CIA war and then forced to pay again to rebuild the country after all the destruction. The Syrian people will feel the cost in more than just dollars. How involved is the US government in the overthrow of the Syrian government? For the past ten years the US has controlled the areas of Syria oil and wheat production, stealing resources that we have no legal claim on. The combination of resource theft and extreme sanctions hollowed out Syrian society over the past ten years, so when the terrorists sprang forth from Idlib a few weeks ago there was little resistance. Now instead of the relatively benign yet authoritarian rule of Assad, we have rule by the direct inheritors of the people who attacked us on 9/11. I am shocked that the mainstream media and many if not most politicians are cheering this. Ironically, some of the biggest cheerleaders for the al-Qaeda takeover of Syria are the same Members of Congress who finished their daily speeches on the House Floor with “we will never forget 9/11.” I guess they finally forgot? The implosion of Syria, like the US-engineered implosion of Libya and Iraq, has not led to democracy, peace, and the protection of civil liberties. In each case it has produced the exact opposite. Millions dead, millions more living in misery with many seeking revenge against those who destroyed their families, their lifestyle, and their countries. Are we safer having created millions of new enemies? President-elect Donald Trump made a statement last week about Syria, saying that this is not our fight and we should have nothing to do with it. His sentiment is the correct one, though we have unfortunately to this point had far too much to do with it. Let us hope that as president, Donald Trump will follow through with this sentiment and extract the US – the overt and covert presence – from not only Syria but the entire Middle East. This is not our fight and every single thing we have done there for the past 75 or so years has only made things worse. Time for an America first foreign policy!
"How do you End The Fed?” is a common question. Since the government created the Fed by signing the Federal Reserve Act in 1913 (yes, The Fed is a government-created monopoly) then the simple answer is for Congress to repeal that Act. But alas, it is not so simple in practice.
The Fed has been our albatross for over 100 years and it has entrenched itself into our economic lives. Steps can definitely be taken, however, to free ourselves from this immoral and unconstitutional monopoly. Over time, as has happened with Americans freeing themselves from the mainstream media, it can be done. 
Despite the positive election results on Nov. 5, we must forget that economically America is a sinking ship. Over the last several weeks, President-elect Trump has made public some proposals that are clearly designed to bring business back to America. For decades, our overbearing government has chased big business away, and has made it very difficult for small business to survive.
This cannot be fixed without a drastic decrease in regulations and government spending. It will not be fixed if the Trump Administration attempts to save the military empire. Trying to preserve the empire will just shuffle the deck chairs on our sinking ship. America First has to really be America First. It can be done. 
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