1998 Ron Paul 91:1 Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Chairman, I yield myself
such time as I may consume.
It is always interesting that when we
have an appropriate amendment that
seems to catch the attention of the
Members, that it is probably not the
appropriate time to bring it up, and
that we should hold hearings and do it
some other day.
1998 Ron Paul 91:2 We have been spending months, and I
believe both sides of the aisle have
been very sincere in their efforts to
clarify and to improve our election
process. I think this would be a tremendous
benefit to the congressional
candidates as well, because there would
be more interest. People are not even
listening to the debates. If they are not
even willing to listen to the presidential
debates, how can they get interested
in Senate races and in House
races?
1998 Ron Paul 91:3 The rating of the debates in 1996 was
the lowest in 36 years. The Vice-Presidential
debate, we cannot even get people
to listen to the Vice-Presidential
debates. It had dropped off 50 percent
from 1992. In 1992, there was more interest.
It is because we happened to
have a billionaire interested, and he
was able to stimulate some people in
some debates.
1998 Ron Paul 91:4 All I am asking for is for us to endorse
the notion, and we have the authority,
the money comes from congressional
appropriations. We have
written these laws. These are election
laws. We have this authority. We have
the authority under the Constitution
and we have the authority under our
laws to do this.
1998 Ron Paul 91:5 So I would strongly suggest if Members
are fair-minded and think they
would like more interest, or if they
want to continue the way we are going
now, we are going to have less and less
people interested. People are really
tired of it. The American people do not
understand this debate, but they do understand
they would like to have somebody
speak up for them.
1998 Ron Paul 91:6 Forty-two percent of the people have
been essentially disenfranchised, and
they are important. Hopefully they are
important enough to go to the polls
and let us know about it. But they
have been disenfranchised because they
have lost interest. They have been
pushed around, either with ballot access
rules and regulations, or not being
allowed to appear.
1998 Ron Paul 91:7 This does not mean those candidates
more on the right would happen to be
in the debate, or more on the left. It
would open it up. This is fair-minded,
it is proper, it is a good place to do it.
It is a chance to vote on it, and I ask
for support on this amendment.
1998 Ron Paul 91:8 Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance
of my time.
Notes:
1998 Ron Paul 91:1
Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Here, Ron Paul continues consumption of time from
1998 Ron Paul Chapter 90.
1998 Ron Paul 91:4
congressional probably should be capitalized: Congressional.
