The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr.
GREEN of Wisconsin). Under the Speaker’s
announced policy of January 6,
1999, the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
PAUL) is recognized for 60 minutes.
2000 Ron Paul 2:1 Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Speaker, I have taken
this special order this evening to discuss
the importance of the American
Republic and why it should be preserved.
2000 Ron Paul 2:2 Mr. Speaker, the dawn of a new century
and millennium is upon us and
prompts many of us to reflect on our
past and prepare for the future. Our
Nation, divinely blessed, has much to
be thankful for. The blessings of liberty
resulting from the Republic our
forefathers designed have far surpassed
the wildest dreams of all previous generations.
2000 Ron Paul 2:3 The form of government secured by
the Declaration of Independence, the
American Revolution and the Constitution
is unique in history and reflects
the strongly held beliefs of the American
revolutionaries. At the close of
the Constitutional Convention in
Philadelphia on September 18, 1787, a
Mrs. Powel anxiously awaited the results
and as Benjamin Franklin
emerged from the long task now finished
asked him directly,
“Well, Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?”
“A republic, if you can keep it,”
responded Franklin.
2000 Ron Paul 2:4 The term “republic” had a significant
meaning for both of them and all
early Americans. It meant a lot more
than just representative government
and was a form of government in stark
contrast to pure democracy where the
majority dictated laws and rights. And
getting rid of the English monarchy
was what the revolution was all about,
so a monarchy was out of the question.
2000 Ron Paul 2:5 The American Republic required
strict limitation of government power.
Those powers permitted would be precisely
defined and delegated by the
people with all public officials being
bound by their oath of office to uphold
the Constitution. The democratic process
would be limited to the election of
our leaders and not used for granting
special privileges to any group or individual
nor for defining rights.
2000 Ron Paul 2:6 Federalism, the binding together
loosely of the several States, would
serve to prevent the concentration of
power in a central government and was
a crucial element in the new republic.
The authors of the Constitution wrote
strict limits on the national government
and strove to protect the rights
and powers of the State and the people.
2000 Ron Paul 2:7 Dividing and keeping separate the
legislative, executive, and the judiciary
branches provided the checks and
balances thought needed to preserve
the Republic the Constitution created
and the best way to preserve individual
liberty.
2000 Ron Paul 2:8 The American Revolutionaries clearly
chose liberty over security for their
economic security and their very lives
were threatened by undertaking the
job of forming a new and limited government.
Most would have been a lot
richer and safer by sticking with the
King. Economic needs or desires were
not the driving force behind the early
American patriotic effort.
2000 Ron Paul 2:9 The Revolution and subsequent Constitution
settled the question as to
which authority should rule man’s action,
the individual or the state. The
authors of the Constitution clearly understood
that man has free will to
make personal choices and be responsible
for the consequences of his own
actions. Man, they knew, was not simply
to be a cog in a wheel or a single
cell of an organism or a branch of a
tree but an individual with free will
and responsibility for his eternal soul
as well as his life on earth. If God could
permit spiritual freedom, government
certainly ought to permit the political
freedom that allows one to pursue life’s
dreams and assume one’s responsibilities.
2000 Ron Paul 2:10 If man can achieve spiritual redemption
through grace which allows him to
use the released spiritual energy to
pursue man’s highest and noblest
goals, so should man’s mind, body, and
property be freed from the burdens of
unchecked government authority. The
founders were confident that this
would release the creative human energy
required to produce the goods and
services that would improve the living
standards of all mankind.
2000 Ron Paul 2:11 Minimizing government authority
over the people was critical to this endeavor.
Just as the individual was key
to salvation, individual effort was the
key to worldly endeavors. Little doubt
existed that material abundance and
sustenance came from work and effort,
family, friends, church, and voluntary
community action, as long as government
did not obstruct.
2000 Ron Paul 2:12 No doubts were cast as to where
rights came from. They came from the
Creator. And if government could not
grant rights to individuals, it certainly
should not be able to take them away.
If government could provide rights or
privileges, it was reasoned, it could
only occur at the expense of someone
else or with the loss of personal liberty
in general.
2000 Ron Paul 2:13 Our constitutional Republic, according
to our founders, should above all
else protect the rights of the minority
against the abuses of an authoritarian
majority. They feared democracy as
much as monarchy and demanded a
weak executive, a restrained court, and
a handicapped legislature.
2000 Ron Paul 2:14 It was clearly recognized that equal
justice and protection of the minority
was not egalitarianism. Socialism and
welfarism were never considered. The
colonists wanted to be free of the
King’s oppressive high taxes and burdensome
regulations. It annoyed them
that even their trees on their own
property could not be cut without the
King’s permission. The King kept the
best trees for himself and his shipbuilding
industry. This violation of
property ownership prompted the colonists
to use the pine tree on an early
revolutionary flag to symbolize the
freedom they sought.
2000 Ron Paul 2:15 The Constitution made it clear that
the government was not to interfere
with productive, nonviolent human energy.
This is the key element that has
permitted America’s great achievements.
It was a great plan. We should
all be thankful for the bravery and wisdom
of those who established this Nation
and secured the Constitution for
us. We have been the political and economic
envy of the world. We have truly
been blessed.
2000 Ron Paul 2:16 The founders often spoke of divine
providence and that God willed us this
great Nation. It has been a grand experiment,
but it is important that the
fundamental moral premises that underpin
this Nation are understood and
maintained. We, as Members of Congress,
have that responsibility.
2000 Ron Paul 2:17 This is a good year to address this
subject, the beginning of a new century
and millennium provides a wonderful
opportunity for all of us to dedicate
ourselves to studying and preserving
these important principles of liberty.
2000 Ron Paul 2:18 One would have to conclude from history
as well as current conditions that
the American Republic has been extremely
successful. It certainly has allowed
the creation of great wealth with
a large middle-class and many very
wealthy corporations and individuals.
Although the poor are still among us,
compared to other parts of the world,
even the poor in this country have
done quite well.
2000 Ron Paul 2:19 We still can freely move about from
town to town, State to State, and job
to job. Free education is available to
everyone, even for those who do not
want it or care about it. But the capable
and the incapable are offered a government
education. We can attend the
church of our choice, start a newspaper,
use the Internet and meet in private
when we choose. Food is plentiful
throughout the country and oftentimes
even wasted. Medical technology has
dramatically advanced and increased
life expectancy for both men and
women.
2000 Ron Paul 2:20 Government statistics are continuously
reaffirming our great prosperity
with evidence of high and rising wages,
no inflation, and high consumer confidence
and spending. The U.S. Government
still enjoys good credit and a
strong currency in relationship to most
other currencies of the world. We have
no trouble financing our public nor private
debt. Housing markets are booming
and interest rates remain reasonable
by modern day standards. Unemployment
is low.
2000 Ron Paul 2:21 Recreational spending and time spent
at leisure are at historic highs. Stock
market profits are benefiting more
families than ever in our history. Income,
payroll, and capital gains taxes
have been a windfall for politicians
who lack no creative skills in figuring
out how to keep the tax-and-spend policies
in full gear. The American people
accept the status quo and hold no
grudges against our President.
2000 Ron Paul 2:22 The nature of a republic and the current
status of our own are of little concern
to the American people in general.
Yet there is a small minority ignored
by political, academic, and media personnel
who do spend time thinking
about the importance of what the proper
role for government should be. The
comparison of today’s government to
the one established by our Constitution
is the subject of deep discussion for
those who concern themselves with the
future and look beyond the fall election.
2000 Ron Paul 2:23 The benefits we enjoy are a result of
the Constitution our founding fathers
had the wisdom to write. However, understanding
the principles that were
used to establish our Nation is crucial
to its preservation and something we
cannot neglect.
2000 Ron Paul 2:24 Unbelievable changes have occurred
in the 20th century. We went from the
horse and buggy age to the space age.
Computer technology and the Internet
have dramatically changed the way we
live. All kinds of information and opinions
on any subject are now available
by clicking a few buttons. Technology
offers an opportunity for everyone who
seeks to the truth to find it, yet at the
same time it enhances the ability of
government to monitor our every physical,
communicative, and financial
move.
2000 Ron Paul 2:25 Mr. Speaker, let there be no doubt.
For the true believers in big government,
they see this technology as a
great advantage for their cause. We are
currently witnessing an ongoing effort
by our government to develop a national
ID card, a medical data bank, a
work data bank, “Know Your Customer”
regulations on banking activity,
a national security agent all-pervasive
telephone snooping system
called Echelon, and many other programs.
There are good reasons to understand
the many ramifications of the
many technological advancements we
have seen over the century to make
sure that the good technology is not
used by the government to do bad
things.
2000 Ron Paul 2:26 The 20th century has truly been a
century of unbelievable technological
advancement. We should be cognizant
of what this technology has done to the
size and nature of our own Government.
It could easily be argued that,
with greater technological advances,
the need for government ought to decline
and private alternatives be enhanced.
But there is not much evidence
for that argument.
2000 Ron Paul 2:27 In 1902, the cost of Government activities
at all levels came to 7.7 percent
of GDP. Today it is more than 50 percent.
2000 Ron Paul 2:28 Government officials oversee everything
we do, from regulating the
amount of water in our commodes to
placing airbags in our cars, safety
locks on our guns, and using our own
land. Almost every daily activity we
engage in is monitored or regulated by
some Government agency. If one attempts
to just avoid Government harassment,
one finds himself in deep
trouble with the law.
2000 Ron Paul 2:29 Yes, we can be grateful that the technological
developments in the marketplace
over the last 100 years have made
our lives more prosperous and enjoyable.
But any observant person must be
annoyed by the ever-present Big Brother
that watches and records our every
move.
2000 Ron Paul 2:30 The idea that we are responsible for
our own actions has been seriously undermined.
And it would be grossly misleading
to argue that the huge growth
in the size of government has been
helpful and necessary in raising the
standard of living of so many Americans.
2000 Ron Paul 2:31 Since government cannot create anything,
it can only resort to using force
to redistribute the goods that energetic
citizens produce. The old-fashioned
term for this is “theft.”
2000 Ron Paul 2:32 It is clear that our great prosperity
has come in spite of the obstacles that
big government places in our way and
not because of it. And besides, our current
prosperity may well not be as permanent
as many believe.
2000 Ron Paul 2:33 Quite a few major changes in public
policy have occurred in this century.
These changes in policy reflect our current
attitude toward the American Republic
and the Constitution and help us
to understand what to expect in the future.
Economic prosperity seems to
have prevailed. But the appropriate
question asked by too few Americans
is, have our personal liberties be undermined?
2000 Ron Paul 2:34 Taxes: Taxes are certainly higher. A
federal income tax of 35 to 40 percent is
something many middle-class Americans
must pay, while, on average, they
work for the Government more than
half the year. In passing on our estates
from one generation to the next, our
partner, the U.S. Government, decides
on its share before the next generation
can take over.
2000 Ron Paul 2:35 The estate tax certainly verifies the
saying about the inevitability of death
and taxes. At the turn of the century,
we had neither. And in spite of a continuous
outcry against both, there is
no sign that either will soon be eliminated.
2000 Ron Paul 2:36 Accepting the principle behind both
the income and the estate tax concedes
the statist notion that the Government
owns the fruits of our labor as well as
our savings and we are permitted by
the politicians’ generosity to keep a
certain percentage.
2000 Ron Paul 2:37 Every tax cut proposal in Washington
now is considered a cost to Government,
not the return of something
rightfully belonging to a productive
citizen. This principle is true whether
it is a 1 percent or 70 percent income
tax. Concern for this principle has been
rarely expressed in a serious manner
over the past 50 years. The withholding
process has permitted many to believe
that a tax rebate at the end of the year
comes as a gift from Government.
2000 Ron Paul 2:38 Because of this, the real cost of Government
to the taxpayer is obscured.
The income tax has grown to such an
extent and the Government is so dependent
on it that any talk of eliminating
the income tax is just that,
talk. A casual acceptance of the principle
behind high taxation with an income
tax and an inheritance tax is incompatible
with the principle belief in
a true republic. It is impossible to
maintain a high tax system without
the sacrifice of liberty and an undermining
of property ownership. If kept
in place, such a system will undermine
prosperity regardless of how well off we
may presently be.
2000 Ron Paul 2:39 In truth, the amount of taxes we now
pay compared to 100 years ago is shocking.
There is little philosophic condemnation
by the intellectual community,
the political leaders, or the media
of this immoral system. This should be
a warning sign to all of us that even in
less prosperous times we can expect
high taxes and that our productive economic
system will come under attack.
2000 Ron Paul 2:40 Not only have we seen little resistance
to the current high tax system, it
has become an acceptable notion that
this system is moral and is a justified
requirement to finance the welfare/warfare state.
2000 Ron Paul 2:41 Propaganda polls are continuously
cited claiming that the American people
do not want tax reductions. High
taxes, except for only short periods of
time, are incompatible with liberty
and prosperity. We will, I am sure, be
given the opportunity in the early part
of the next century to make a choice
between the two. I am certain of my
preference.
2000 Ron Paul 2:42 Welfare: There was no welfare state
in 1900. In the year 2000, we have a huge
welfare state which continues to grow
each year. Not that special interest
legislation did not exist in the 19th
century. But for the most part, it was
limited and directed toward the
monied interest, the most egregious example
being the railroads.
2000 Ron Paul 2:43 The modern-day welfare state has
steadily grown since the Great Depression
of the 1930s. The Federal Government
is now involved in providing
healthcare, houses, unemployment benefits,
education, food stamps to millions,
plus all kinds of subsidies to
every conceivable special interest
group. Welfare is now a part of our culture,
costing hundreds of billions of
dollars every year. It is now thought to
be a right, something one is entitled
to. Calling it an entitlement makes it
sound proper and respectable and not
based on theft.
2000 Ron Paul 2:44 Anyone who has a need, desire, or demand
and can get the politicians’ attention
will get what he wants even
though it may be at the expense of
someone else.
2000 Ron Paul 2:45 Today, it is considered morally right
and politically correct to promote the
welfare state. Any suggestion otherwise
is considered political suicide.
2000 Ron Paul 2:46 The acceptance of the welfare ethic
and rejection of the work ethic as the
process for improving one’s economic
condition are now ingrained in our political
institutions. This process was
started in earnest in the 1930s, received
a big boost in the 1960s, and has continued
a steady growth even through the
1990s despite some rhetoric in opposition.
2000 Ron Paul 2:47 This public acceptance has occurred
in spite of the fact that there is no evidence
that welfare is a true help in assisting
the needy. Its abject failure
around the world where welfarism took
the next step into socialism has even a
worse record.
2000 Ron Paul 2:48 The transition in the past hundred
years from essentially no welfare to an
all encompassing welfare state represents
a major change in attitude in
the United States. Along with the acceptance,
the promoters have dramatically
reinterpreted the Constitution in
the way it had been for our first 150
years.
2000 Ron Paul 2:49 Where the General Welfare clause
once had a clear general meaning,
which was intended to prohibit special
interest welfare and was something
they detested and revolted against
under King George, it is now used to
justify any demand of any group as
long as a majority in the Congress
votes for it.
2000 Ron Paul 2:50 But the history is clear and the
words in the Constitution are precise.
Madison and Jefferson, in explaining
the General Welfare clause, left no
doubt as to its meaning.
2000 Ron Paul 2:51 Madison said,
“With respect to the
words ‘general welfare,’ I have always
regarded them as qualified by the detail
of power connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited
sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution and to a character which
there is a host of proof not contemplated by its creators.”
2000 Ron Paul 2:52 Madison argued that there would be
no purpose whatsoever for the enumeration
of the particular powers if
the General Welfare clause was to be
broadly interpreted.
2000 Ron Paul 2:53 The Constitution granted authority
to the Federal Government to do only
20 things, each to be carried out for the
benefits of the general welfare of all
the people.
2000 Ron Paul 2:54 This understanding of the Constitution,
as described by the Father of the
Constitution, has been lost in this century.
Jefferson was just as clear, writing
in 1798 when he said,
“Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the
general welfare but only those specifically enumerated.”
2000 Ron Paul 2:55 With the modern-day interpretation
of the General Welfare clause, the principle
of individual liberty in the Doctrine of Enumerated Powers have been
made meaningless.
2000 Ron Paul 2:56 The goal of strictly limiting the
power of our national Government as
was intended by the Constitution is impossible
to achieve as long as it is acceptable
for Congress to redistribute
wealth in an egalitarian welfare state.
2000 Ron Paul 2:57 There is no way that personal liberty
will not suffer with every effort to expand
or make the welfare state efficient.
And the sad part is that the sincere
effort to help people do better economically
through welfare programs
always fails. Dependency replaces self-reliance,
while the sense of self-worth
of the recipient suffers, making for an
angry, unhappy and dissatisfied society.
The cost in dollar terms is high,
but the cost in terms of liberty is even
greater but generally ignored; and, in
the long run, there is nothing to show
for this sacrifice.
2000 Ron Paul 2:58 Today there is no serious effort to
challenge welfare as a way of life, and
its uncontrolled growth in the next
economic downturn is to be expected.
Too many citizens now believe they are
entitled to the monetary assistance
from the Government anytime they
need it and they expect it. Even in
times of plenty, the direction has been
to continue expanding education, welfare,
and retirement benefits.
2000 Ron Paul 2:59 No one asked where the Government
gets the money to finance the welfare
state. Is it morally right to do so? Is it
authorized in the Constitution? Does it
help anyone in the long run? Who suffers
from the policy? Until these questions
are seriously asked and correctly
answered, we cannot expect the march
toward a pervasive welfare state to
stop and we can expect our liberties to
be continuously compromised.
2000 Ron Paul 2:60 The concept of the Doctrine of Enumerated
Powers was picked away at in
the latter part of the 19th century over
strong objection by many constitutionalists.
But it was not until the
drumbeat of fear coming from the Roosevelt
administration during the Great
Depression that the courts virtually rewrote
the Constitution by reinterpretation
of the General Welfare clause.
2000 Ron Paul 2:61 In 1936, the New Deal Supreme Court
told Congress and the American people
that the Constitution is irrelevant
when it comes to limits being placed on
congressional spending. In a ruling justifying
the Agricultural Adjustment
Act, the Court pronounced,
“The power of Congress to authorize appropriations
of public money for public purposes is
not limited by the grants of legislative
power found in the Constitution.”
2000 Ron Paul 2:62 With the stroke of a pen, the courts
amended the Constitution in such a
sweeping manner that it literally legalized
the entire welfare state, which,
not surprisingly, has grown by leaps
and bounds ever since.
2000 Ron Paul 2:63 Since this ruling, we have rarely
heard the true explanation of the General
Welfare clause as being a restriction
of government power, not a grant
of unlimited power.
2000 Ron Paul 2:64 We cannot ignore corporate welfare,
which is part of the problem. Most people
think the welfare state involves
only giving something to the unfortunate
poor. This is generally true. But
once the principle established that special
benefits are legitimate, the monied
interests see the advantages and influences
the legislative process.
2000 Ron Paul 2:65 Our system, which pays lip service to
free enterprise and private property
ownership, is drifting towards a form of
fascism or corporatism rather than
conventional socialism. And where the
poor never seem to benefit under welfare,
corporations become richer. But
it should have been expected that once
the principle of favoritism was established,
the contest would be over who
has the greatest clout in Washington.
2000 Ron Paul 2:66 No wonder lobbyists are willing to
spend $125 million per month influencing
Congress; it is a good investment.
No amount of campaign finance
reform or regulation of lobbyists can
deal with this problem. The problem
lies in the now accepted role for our
Government. Government has too
much control over people and the market,
making the temptation and incentive
to influence government irresistible
and, to a degree, necessary.
2000 Ron Paul 2:67 Curtailing how people spend their
own money or their right to petition
their government will do nothing to
this influence peddling. Treating the
symptoms and not the disease only further
undermines the principles of freedom
and property ownership.
2000 Ron Paul 2:68 Any serious reforms or effort to
break away from the welfare state
must be directed as much at corporate
welfare as routine welfare. Since there
is no serious effort to reject welfare on
principle, the real conflict over how to
divide what Government plunders will
continue.
2000 Ron Paul 2:69 Once it is clear that it is not nearly
as wealthy as it appears, this will become
a serious problem and it will get
the attention it deserves, even here in
the Congress.
2000 Ron Paul 2:70 Preserving liberty and restoring constitutional
precepts are impossible as
long as the welfare mentality prevails,
and that will not likely change until
we have run out of money. But it will
become clear as we move into the next
century that perpetual wealth and the
so-called balanced budget, along with
an expanding welfare state, cannot
continue indefinitely. Any effort to
perpetuate it will only occur with the
further erosion of liberty.
2000 Ron Paul 2:71 The role of the U.S. Government in
public education has changed dramatically
over the past 100 years. Most of
the major changes have occurred in the
second half of this century. In the 19th
century, the closest the Federal Government
got to public education was
the land grant college program. In the
last 40 years, the Federal Government
has essentially taken charge of the entire
system. It is involved in education
at every level through loans, grants,
court directives, regulations and curriculum
manipulation. In 1900, it was of
no concern to the Federal Government
how local schools were run at any
level.
2000 Ron Paul 2:72 After hundreds of billions of dollars,
we have yet to see a shred of evidence
that the drift toward central control
over education has helped. By all measurements,
the quality of education is
down. There are more drugs and violence
in the public schools than ever
before. Discipline is impossible out of
fear of lawsuits or charges of civil
rights violations. Controlled curricula
have downplayed the importance of our
constitutional heritage while indoctrinating
our children, even in kindergarten,
with environmental mythology,
internationalism and sexual liberation.
Neighborhood schools in the
early part of the 20th century did not
experience this kind of propaganda.
2000 Ron Paul 2:73 The one good result coming from our
failed educational system has been the
limited, but important, revival of the
notion that parents are responsible for
their children’s education, not the
state. We have seen literally millions
of children taken from the public
school system and taught at home or
in private institutions in spite of the
additional expense. This has helped
many students and has also served to
pressure the government schools into
doing a better job. And the statistics
show that middle-income and low-income
families are the most eager to
seek an alternative to the public school
system.
2000 Ron Paul 2:74 There is no doubt that the way
schools are run, how the teachers teach
and how the bills are paid is dramatically
different from 100 years ago. And
even though some that go through public
schools do exceptionally well, there
is clear evidence that the average high
school graduate today is far less educated
than his counterpart was in the
early part of this century.
2000 Ron Paul 2:75 Due to the poor preparation of our
high school graduates, college expects
very little from their students since
nearly everyone gets to go to college
who wants to. Public school is compulsory
and college is available to almost
everyone, regardless of qualifications.
In 1914, English composition was required
in 98 percent of our colleges.
Today, it is about one-third. Only 12
percent of today’s colleges require
mathematics be taught where in 1914,
82 percent did. No college now requires
literature courses, but rest assured
plenty of social babble courses are required
as we continue to dumb down
our Nation.
2000 Ron Paul 2:76 Federal funding for education grows
every year, hitting $38 billion this
year, $1 billion more than requested by
the administration and 7 percent more
than last year. Great congressional debates
occur over the size of the classroom,
student and teacher testing, bilingual
education, teacher salaries,
school violence and drug usage. And it
is politically incorrect to point out
that all these problems are not present
in the private schools. Every year,
there is less effort at the Federal level
to return education to the people, the
parents and the local school officials.
2000 Ron Paul 2:77 For 20 years at least, some of our
presidential candidates advocated the
abolishing of the Department of Education
and for the Federal Government
to get completely out of public education.
This year, we will hear no more
of that. The President got more money
for education than he asked for and it
is considered not only bad manners but
also political suicide to argue the case
for stopping all Federal Government
education programs.
2000 Ron Paul 2:78 Talk of returning some control of
Federal programs to the States is not
the same as keeping the Federal Government
out of education as directed
by the Constitution. Of the 20 congressionally
authorized functions granted
by the Constitution, education is not
one of them. That should be enough of
a reason not to be involved. There is no
evidence of any benefit and statistics
show that great harm has resulted. It
has cost us hundreds of billions of dollars,
yet we continue the inexorable
march toward total domination of our
educational system by Washington bureaucrats
and politicians. It makes no
sense. It is argued that if the Federal
funding for education did not continue,
education would suffer even more. Yet
we see poor and middle-class families
educating their children at home or at
private school at a fraction of the cost
of a government school education, with
results fantastically better, and all
done in the absence of violence and
drugs.
2000 Ron Paul 2:79 A case can be made that there would
be more money available for education
if we just left the money in the States
to begin with and never brought it to
Washington for the bureaucrats and
the politicians to waste. But it looks
like Congress will not soon learn this
lesson, so the process will continue and
the results will get worse. The best
thing we could do now is pass a bill to
give parents a $3,000 tax credit for each
child they educate. This would encourage
competition and allow a lot more
choice for parents struggling to help
their children get a decent education.
2000 Ron Paul 2:80 The practice of medicine is now a
government managed care system and
very few Americans are happy with it.
Not only is there little effort to extricate
the Federal Government from the
medical care business but the process
of expanding the government’s role
continues unabated. At the turn of the
19th century, it was not even considered
a possibility that medical care
was the responsibility of the Federal
Government. Since Lyndon Johnson’s
Great Society programs of the 1960s,
the role of the Federal Government in
delivering medical care has grown exponentially.
Today the Federal Government
pays more than 60 percent of all
the medical bills and regulates all of it.
The demands continue for more free
care at the same time complaints
about the shortcomings of managed
care multiply. Yet it is natural to assume
that government planning and financing
will sacrifice quality care. It is
now accepted that people who need
care are entitled to it as a right. This
is a serious error in judgment.
2000 Ron Paul 2:81 There is no indication that the trend
toward government medicine will be
reversed. Our problems are related to
the direct takeover of medical care in
programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
But it has also been the interference in
the free market through ERISA mandates
related to HMOs and other managed
care organizations, as well as our
tax code, that have undermined the
private insurance aspect of paying for
medical care. True medical insurance
is not available. The government dictates
all the terms.
2000 Ron Paul 2:82 In the early stages, patients, doctors
and hospitals welcomed these programs.
Generous care was available
with more than adequate reimbursement.
It led to what one would expect,
abuse, overcharges and overuse. When
costs rose, it was necessary through
government rulemaking and bureaucratic
management to cut reimbursement
and limit the procedures available
and personal choice of physicians.
We do not have socialized medicine but
we do have bureaucratic medicine, mismanaged
by the government and select
corporations who usurp the decision-making
power from the physician. The
way medical care is delivered today in
the United States is a perfect example
of the evils of corporatism and an artificial
system that only politicians, responding
to the special interests, could
create. There is no reason to believe
the market cannot deliver medical care
in an efficient manner as it does computers,
automobiles and televisions.
But the confidence is gone and everyone
assumes, just as in education, that
only a Federal bureaucracy is capable
of solving the problems of maximizing
the number of people, including the
poor, who receive the best medical care
available. In an effort to help the poor,
the quality of care has gone down for
everyone else and the costs have skyrocketed.
2000 Ron Paul 2:83 Making generous medical savings accounts
available is about the only program
talked about today that offers an
alternative to government mismanaged
care. If something of this sort is not
soon implemented, we can expect more
pervasive government involvement in
the practice of medicine. With a continual
deterioration of its quality, the
private practice of medicine will soon
be gone.
2000 Ron Paul 2:84 Government housing programs are no
more successful than the Federal Government’s
medical and education programs.
In the early part of this century,
government housing was virtually
unheard of. Now the HUD budget
commands over $30 billion each year
and increases every year. Finances of
mortgages through the Federal Home
Loan Bank, the largest Federal Government
borrower, is the key financial
institution pumping in hundreds of billions
of dollars of credit into the housing
market, making things worse. The
Federal Reserve has now started to use
home mortgage securities for monetizing
debt. Public housing has a reputation
for being a refuge for drugs,
crimes and filth, with the projects
being torn down as routinely as they
are built. There is every indication
that this entitlement will continue to
expand in size regardless of its failures.
Token local control over these expenditures
will do nothing to solve the problem.
2000 Ron Paul 2:85 Recently, the Secretary of HUD,
using public funds to sue gun manufacturers,
claimed this is necessary to
solve the problems of crime which government
housing perpetuates. If a government
agency, which was never
meant to exist in the first place under
the Constitution, can expand their role
into the legislative and legal matters
without the consent of the Congress,
we indeed have a serious problem on
our hands. The programs are bad
enough in themselves but the abuse of
the rule of law and ignoring the separation
of powers makes these expanding
programs that much more dangerous to
our entire political system and is a direct
attack on personal liberty. If one
cares about providing the maximum
best housing for the maximum number
of people, one must consider a free
market approach in association with a
sound, nondepreciating currency. We
have been operating a public housing
program directly opposite to this and
along with steady inflation and government
promotion of housing since the
1960s, the housing market has been
grossly distorted. We can soon expect a
major downward correction in the
housing industry prompted by rising
interest rates.
2000 Ron Paul 2:86 Our attitude toward foreign policy
has dramatically changed since the beginning
of the century. From George
Washington through Grover Cleveland,
the accepted policy was to avoid entangling
alliances. Although we spread our
wings westward and southward as part
of our manifest destiny in the 19th century,
we accepted the Monroe Doctrine
notion that European and Asians
should stay out of our affairs in this
hemisphere and we theirs. McKinley,
Teddy Roosevelt, and the Spanish
American war changed all that. Our intellectual
and political leaders at the
turn of the last century brought into
vogue the interventionist doctrine setting
the stage for the past 100 years of
global military activism. From a country
that once minded its own business,
we now find ourselves with military
personnel in more than 130 different
countries protecting our modern day
American empire. Not only do we have
troops spread to the four corners of the
Earth, we find Coast Guard cutters in
the Mediterranean and around the
world, our FBI in any country we
choose, and the CIA in places Congress
does not even know about. It is a truism
that the state grows and freedom
is diminished in times of war. Almost
perpetual war in the 20th century has
significantly contributed to steadily
undermining our liberties while glorifying
the state.
2000 Ron Paul 2:87 In addition to the military wars, liberty
has also suffered from the domestic
wars on poverty, literacy, drugs,
homelessness privacy and many others.
We have in the last 100 years gone from
the accepted and cherished notion of a
sovereign Nation to one of a globalist
new world order. As we once had three
separate branches of our government,
the United Nations proudly uses its
three branches, the World Bank, the
IMF and the World Trade Organization
to work their will in this new era of
globalism. Because the U.S. is by far
the strongest military industrial
power, it can dictate the terms of these
international institutions, protecting
what we see as our various interests
such as oil, along with satisfying our
military industrial complex. Our commercial
interests and foreign policy are
no longer separate. This allows for subsidized
profits while the taxpayers are
forced to protect huge corporations
against any losses from overseas investments.
The argument that we go
about the world out of humanitarian
concerns for those suffering, which was
the excuse for bombing Serbia, is a
farce. As bad as it is that average
Americans are forced to subsidize such
a system, we additionally are placed in
greater danger because of our arrogant
policy of bombing nations that do not
submit to our wishes. This generates
the hatred directed toward America,
even if at times it seems suppressed,
and exposes us to a greater threat of
terrorism since this is the only vehicle
our victims can use to retaliate against
a powerful military state.
2000 Ron Paul 2:88 But even with the apparent success
of our foreign policy and the military
might we still have, the actual truth is
that we have spread ourselves too thinly
and may well have difficulty defending
ourselves if we are ever threatened
by any significant force around the
world. At the close of this century, we
find our military preparedness and morale
at an all-time low. It will become
more obvious as we move into the 21st
century that the cost of maintaining
this worldwide presence is too high and
cutbacks will be necessary. The costs
in terms of liberty lost and the unnecessary
exposure to terrorism are difficult
to determine but in time it will
become apparent to all of us that foreign
interventionism is of no benefit to
American citizens but instead is a
threat to our liberties.
2000 Ron Paul 2:89 Throughout our early history and up
to World War I, our wars were fought
with volunteers. There was no military
draft except for a failed attempt by
Lincoln in the Civil War which ended
with justified riots and rebellion
against it. The attitudes toward the
draft definitely changed over the past
century. Draftees were said to be necessary
to fight in World War I and
World War II, Korea and Vietnam. This
change in attitude has definitely satisfied
those who believe that we have an
obligation to police the world. The idiocy
of Vietnam served as a catalyst for
an antidraft attitude which is still
alive today. Fortunately we have not
had a draft for over 25 years, but Congress
refuses to address this matter in
a principled fashion by abolishing once
and for all the useless selective service
system. Too many authoritarians in
Congress still believe that in times of
need, an army of teenage draftees will
be needed to defend our commercial interests
throughout the world. A return
to the spirit of the republic would
mean that a draft would never be used
and all able-bodied persons would be
willing to volunteer in defense of their
liberty. Without the willingness to do
so, liberty cannot be saved. A conscripted
army can never substitute for
the willingness of freedom-loving
Americans to defend their country out
of their love for liberty.
2000 Ron Paul 2:90 The U.S. monetary system. The U.S.
monetary system during the 20th Century
has dramatically changed from
the one authorized by the Constitution.
Only silver and gold were to be used in
payment of debt, and no paper money
was to be issued. In one of the few restrictions
on the states, the Constitution
prohibited them from issuing their
own money, and they were to use only
gold and silver in payment of debt. No
Central Bank was authorized.
2000 Ron Paul 2:91 The authors of the Constitution were
well aware of the dangers of inflation,
having seen the harm associated with
the destruction of the Continental currency.
They never wanted to see another
system that ended with the slogan,
“it’s not worth a Continental.”
They much preferred sound as a dollar,
or as good as gold, as a description of
our currency.
2000 Ron Paul 2:92 Unfortunately, their concerns as
they were reflected in the Constitution
have been ignored and as this century
closes we do not have a sound dollar as
good as gold. The changes to our monetary
system are by far the most significant
economic events of the 20th Century.
The gold dollar of 1900 is now
nothing more than a Federal Reserve
note with a promise by untrustworthy
politicians and the central bankers to
pay nothing for it.
2000 Ron Paul 2:93 No longer is there silver or gold
available to protect the value of a
steadily depreciating currency. This is
a fraud of the worst kind and the type
of a crime that would put a private citizen
behind bars. But there have been
too many special interests benefitting
by our fiat currency, too much ignorance
and too much apathy regarding
the nature of money.
2000 Ron Paul 2:94 We will surely pay the price for this
negligence. The relative soundness of
our currency that we enjoy as we move
into the 21st Century will not persist.
The instability in world currency market
because of the dollar’s acceptance
for so many years as the world’s currency,
will cause devastating adjustments
that Congress will eventually be
forced to address.
2000 Ron Paul 2:95 A transition from sound money to
paper money did not occur instantaneously.
It occurred over a 58 year period
between 1913 and 1971, and the mischief
continues today.
2000 Ron Paul 2:96 Our Central Bank, the Federal Reserve
System, established in 1913 after
two failed efforts in the 19th Century,
has been the driving force behind the
development of our current fiat system.
Since the turn of the century, we
have seen our dollar lose 95 percent of
its purchasing power, and it continues
to depreciate. This is nothing less than
theft, and those responsible should be
held accountable.
2000 Ron Paul 2:97 The record of the Federal Reserve is
abysmal, yet at the close of the 20th
Century, its chairman is held in extremely
high esteem, with almost zero
calls for study of sound money with the
intent to once again have the dollar
linked to gold.
2000 Ron Paul 2:98 Ironically, the government and politicians
are held in very low esteem, yet
the significant trust in them to maintain
the value of the currency is not
questioned. But it should be.
2000 Ron Paul 2:99 The reasons for rejecting gold and
promoting paper are not mysterious,
since quite a few special interests benefit.
Deficit financing is much more
difficult when there is no Central Bank
available to monetize government
debt. This gives license to politicians
to spend lavishly on the projects that
are most likely to get them reelected.
War is more difficult to pursue if government
has to borrow or tax the people
for its financing. The Federal Reserve’s
ability to create credit out of
thin air to pay the bills run up by Congress
establishes a symbiosis that is
easy for the politician to love.
2000 Ron Paul 2:100 It is also advantageous for the politicians
to ignore the negative effects
from such a monetary arrangement,
since they tend to be hidden and disseminated.
A paper money system attracts
support from various economic
groups. Bankers benefit from the float
that they get with the fractional reserve
banking that accompanies a fiat
monetary system. Giant corporations
who get to borrow large funds at below
market interest rates enjoy the system
and consistently call for more inflation
and artificially low interest rates.
Even the general public seems to benefit
from the artificial booms brought
about by credit creation, with lower interest
rates allowing major purchases
like homes and cars.
2000 Ron Paul 2:101 The naive and uninformed fully endorse
the current system because the
benefits are readily available, while
the disadvantages are hidden, delayed
or not understood. The politicians, central
bankers, commercial banks, big
business borrowers, all believe their
needs justify such a system.
2000 Ron Paul 2:102 But the costs are many and the dangers
are real. Because of easy credit
throughout this century we have found
out that financing war was easier than
if taxes had to be raised. The many
wars we have fought and the continuous
military confrontations in smaller
wars since Vietnam have made the
20th Century a bloody century. It is
most likely that we would have pursued
a less militaristic foreign policy if
financing it had been more difficult.
2000 Ron Paul 2:103 Likewise, financing the welfare state
would have progressed much slower if
our deficits could not have been financed
by an accommodative Central
Bank willing to inflate the money supply
at will.
2000 Ron Paul 2:104 There are other real costs as well
that few are willing to believe are a direct
consequence of Federal Reserve
Board policy. Rampant inflation after
World War I as well as the 1921 depression
were a consequence of monetary
policy during and following the war.
The stock market speculation of the
1920s, the stock market collapse of 1929
and the depression of the 1930s causing
millions to be unemployed, all resulted
from Federal Reserve Board monetary
mischief.
2000 Ron Paul 2:105 Price inflation of the early 1950s was
a consequence of monetary inflation
required to fight the Korean War. Wage
and price controls used then totally
failed, yet the same canard was used
during the Vietnam war in the early
1970s to again impose wage and price
controls, with even worse results.
2000 Ron Paul 2:106 All the price inflation, all the distortions,
all the recessions and unemployment
should be laid at the doorstep of
the Federal Reserve. The Fed is an accomplice
in promoting all unnecessary
war, as well as the useless and harmful
welfare programs, with its willingness
to cover Congress’ profligate spending
habits.
2000 Ron Paul 2:107 Even though the Fed did great harm
before 1971 after the total elimination
of the gold-dollar linkage, the problems
of deficit spending, welfare expansion
and military-industrial complex
influence have gotten much worse.
2000 Ron Paul 2:108 Although many claim the 1990s have
been great economic years, Federal Reserve
Board action of the past decade
has caused problems yet to manifest
itself. The inevitable correction will
come as the new century begins, and it
is likely to be quite serious.
2000 Ron Paul 2:109 The stage has been set. Rampant
monetary growth has led to historic
high asset inflation, massive speculation,
overcapacity, malinvestment, excessive
debt, a negative savings rate
and a current account deficit of huge
proportions. These conditions dictate a
painful adjustment, something that
would have never occurred under a gold
standard.
2000 Ron Paul 2:110 The special benefits of foreigners
taking our inflated dollars for low
priced goods and then loaning them
back to us will eventually end. The dollar
must fall, interest rates must rise,
price inflation will accelerate, the financial
asset bubble will burst, and a
dangerous downturn in the economy
will follow.
2000 Ron Paul 2:111 There are many reasons to believe
the economic slowdown will be worldwide,
since the dollar is the reserve
currency of the world. An illusion
about our dollar’s value has allowed us
to prop up Europe and Japan in this
pass decade during a period of weak
growth for them, but when reality sets
in, economic conditions will deteriorate.
Greater computer speed, which
has helped to stimulate the boom of
the 1990s, will work in the opposite direction
as all of the speculative positions
unwind, and that includes the
tens of trillions of dollars in derivatives.
2000 Ron Paul 2:112 There was a good reason the Federal
Reserve rushed to rescue long-term
capital management with a multibillion
dollar bailout: It was unadulterated
fear that the big correction was
about to begin. Up until now, feeding
the credit bubble with even more credit
has worked, and is the only tool they
have to fight the business cycle, but
eventually control will be lost.
2000 Ron Paul 2:113 A paper money system is dangerous
economically and not constitutionally
authorized. It is also immoral for government
to counterfeit money, which
dilutes the value of the currency and
steals values from those who hold the
currency and those who do not necessary
benefit from its early circulation.
2000 Ron Paul 2:114 Not everyone benefits from the largesse
of government spending programs
or systematic debasement of the currency.
The middle class, those not on
welfare and not in the military industrial
complex suffer the most from rising
prices and job losses in the correction
phase of the business cycle.
2000 Ron Paul 2:115 Congress must someday restore
sound money to America. It is mandated
in the Constitution, it is economically
sound to do so, and it is
morally right to guarantee a standard
of value for the money. Our oath of office
obligates all Members of Congress
to pay attention to this and participate
in this needed reform.
2000 Ron Paul 2:116 Police state. A police state is incompatible
with liberty. One hundred years
ago the Federal Government was responsible
for enforcing very few laws.
This has dramatically changed. There
are now over 3,000 Federal laws and
10,000 regulations, employing hundreds
of thousands of bureaucrats diligently
enforcing them, with over 80,000 of the
bureaucrats carrying guns.
2000 Ron Paul 2:117 We now have an armed national police
state, just as Jefferson complained
of King George in the Declaration of
Independence.
“He has send hither swarms of officers to harass our people
and eat out their substance.”
2000 Ron Paul 2:118 A lot of political and police power
has shifted from the state and local
communities to the Federal Government
over the past 100 years. If a constitutional
republic is desired and individual
liberty is cherished, this concentration
of power cannot be tolerated.
2000 Ron Paul 2:119 Congress has been derelict in creating
the agencies in the first place
and ceding to the Executive the power
to write regulations and even tax without
Congressional approval. These
agencies enforce their own laws and supervise
their own administrative court
system where citizens are considered
guilty until proven innocent. The Constitution
has been thrown out the window
for all practical purposes, and although
more Americans every day
complain loudly, Congress does nothing
to stop it.
2000 Ron Paul 2:120 The promoters of the bureaucratic
legislation claim to have good intentions,
but they fail to acknowledge the
cost, inefficiency or the undermining
of individual rights. Worker safety, environmental
concerns, drug usage, gun
control, welfarism, banking regulations,
government insurance, health insurance,
insurance against economic
and natural disaster, and the regulation
of fish and wildlife. Are just a few
of the issues that prompts the unlimited
use of Federal regulatory and legislative
power to deal with perceived
problems.
2000 Ron Paul 2:121 But, inevitably, for every attempt to
solve one problem, government creates
two new ones. National politicians are
not likely to volunteer a market or
local government solution to a problem,
or they will find out how unnecessary
they really are.
2000 Ron Paul 2:122 Congress’ careless attitude about the
Federal bureaucracy and its penchant
for incessant legislation have prompted
serious abuse of every American citizen.
Last year alone there were more
than 42,000 civil forfeitures of property
occurring without due process of law or
conviction of a crime, and oftentimes
the owners were not even charged with
a crime.
2000 Ron Paul 2:123 Return of illegally ceased property is
difficult, and the owner is forced to
prove his innocence in order to retrieve
it. Even though many innocent Americans
have suffered, these laws have
done nothing to stop drug usage or
change people’s attitude toward the
IRS.
2000 Ron Paul 2:124 Seizure and forfeitures only make
the problems they are trying to solve
that much worse. The idea that a police
department under Federal law can
seize property and receive direct benefit
from it is an outrage. The proceeds
can be distributed to the various police
agencies without going through the
budgetary process. This dangerous incentive
must end.
2000 Ron Paul 2:125 The national police state mentality
has essentially taken over crime investigation
throughout the country. Our
local sheriffs are intimidated and frequently
overruled by the national police.
Anything worse than writing traffic
tickets prompts swarms of Federal
agents to the scene. We frequently see
the FBI, the DEA, the CIA, the BATF,
Fish and Wildlife, the IRS, Federal
marshals and even the Army involved
in local law enforcement. They do not
come to assist, but to take over.
2000 Ron Paul 2:126 The two most notorious examples of
federal abuse of police powers were
seen at Ruby Ridge and Waco, where
non-aggressive citizens were needlessly
provoked and killed by government
agents. At Waco, even Army tanks
were used to deal with a situation that
the local sheriff could have easily handled.
2000 Ron Paul 2:127 These two incidents are well-known,
but thousands of other similar abuses
routinely occur with little publicity.
The Federal police state seen in the action
the Ruby Ridge and Waco hopefully
is not a sign of things to come,
but it could be, if we are not careful.
2000 Ron Paul 2:128 If the steady growth of the Federal
police power continues, the American
republic cannot survive. The Congresses
of the 20th Century have steadily
undermined the principle that the
government closest to home must deal
with law and order, and not the Federal
Government.
2000 Ron Paul 2:129 The Federal courts also have significantly
contributed to this trend. Hopefully
in the new century our support
for a national police state will be diminished.
We have in this past century
not only seen the undermining of the
Federalism that the Constitution desperately
tried to preserve, but the principles
of separation of powers among
the three branches of government has
been severely compromised as well.
2000 Ron Paul 2:130 The Supreme Court no longer just
rules on Constitutionality, but frequently
rewrites the laws with attempts
at comprehensive social engineering.
The most blatant example was
the Roe v. Wade ruling. The Federal
court should be hearing a lot fewer
cases, deferring as often as possible to
the states courts.
2000 Ron Paul 2:131 Throughout the 20th Century, with
Congress’ obsession for writing laws for
everything, the Federal courts were
quite willing to support the idea of a
huge interventionist Federal Government.
The fact that the police officers
in the Rodney King case were tried
twice for the same crime, ignoring the
constitutional prohibition against double
jeopardy, was astoundingly condoned
by the courts, rather than condemned.
It is not an encouraging sign
that the concept of equal protection
under the law will prevail.
2000 Ron Paul 2:132 Mr. Speaker, I will yield back the few
minutes I have left because I plan to
complete my special order on this subject
on Wednesday evening.
Note:
2000 Ron Paul 2:9
earth probably should be capitalized: Earth as Ron Paul
probably meant Earth, the planet, and not earth, the material.
2000 Ron Paul 2:14
shipbuilding or ship-building? The original is ambiguous as the word is hyphenated at the end of a line of text in the Congressional Record. The word is unhyphenated on Ron Paul’ Congressional website.
2000 Ron Paul 2:18
a large middle-class probably should not be hyphenated because class is a noun:
a large middle class.
2000 Ron Paul 2:20
modern day standards probably should be hyphenated:
modern-day standards.
2000 Ron Paul 2:24
Technology offers an opportunity for everyone who seeks to the truth to find it probably should be
Technology offers an opportunity for everyone who seeks the truth to find it
2000 Ron Paul 2:35
The estate tax certainly verifies the saying about the inevitability of death and taxes. At the turn of the century, we had neither.
Here, Ron Paul probably means that they had neither an income tax nor an estate tax, not that they had neither death nor taxes.
2000 Ron Paul 2:48
an all encompassing welfare state probably should be hyphenated:
an all-encompassing welfare state.
2000 Ron Paul 2:48
Along with the acceptance, the promoters have dramatically reinterpreted the
Constitution in the way it had been for our first 150 years.
Ron Paul probably means something like
Along with the acceptance, the promoters have dramatically reinterpreted the
Constitution inadifferentwayfrom the way it had been for our first 150 years.
2000 Ron Paul 2:49
Where the General Welfare clause once had a clear general meaning, which was intended to
prohibit special interest welfare andwas something they detested and revolted against under King George
Here, Ron Paul probably meant something like:
Where the General Welfare clause once had a clear general meaning,
which was intended to prohibit special interest welfare, something they detested and revolted against under King George.
2000 Ron Paul 2:64
the monied interests see the advantages and influences the legislative process
probably should be
the monied interests see the advantages and influences the legislative process.
2000 Ron Paul 2:80
a government managed care system probably is correct, as
both government and managed are probably modifying care.
Ron Paul probably did not mean a government-managed care system.
2000 Ron Paul 2:86
the Monroe Doctrine notion that European and Asians
probably should be plural:
the Monroe Doctrine notion that Europeans and Asians.
2000 Ron Paul 2:86
the Spanish American war probably should be capitalized and hyphenated: the Spanish-American War.
2000 Ron Paul 2:86
our modern day American empire probably should be hyphenated:
our modern-day American empire.
2000 Ron Paul 2:87
There should probably be a comma after homelessness.
2000 Ron Paul 2:89
selective service system probably should be capitalized:
Selective Service System.
2000 Ron Paul 2:90
Central Bank probably should be uncapitalized: central bank.
2000 Ron Paul 2:96
Central Bank probably should be uncapitalized: central bank.
2000 Ron Paul 2:99
Central Bank probably should be uncapitalized: central bank.
2000 Ron Paul 2:103
Central Bank probably should be uncapitalized: central bank.
2000 Ron Paul 2:108
problems yet to manifest itself probably should be plural:
problems yet to manifest themselves.
2000 Ron Paul 2:110
low priced goods probably should be hyphenated: low-priced goods.
2000 Ron Paul 2:111
this pass decade probably should be this past decade
2000 Ron Paul 2:112
long-term capital management probably should be capitalized: Long-Term Capital Management.
2000 Ron Paul 2:120
Worker safety, environmental concerns, drug usage, gun control, welfarism, banking regulations, government insurance, health insurance, insurance against economic and natural disaster, and the regulation of fish and wildlife. Are just a few of the issues that prompts the unlimited use of Federal regulatory and legislative power to deal with perceived problems.
probably should be one sentence:
Worker safety, environmental concerns, drug usage, gun control, welfarism, banking regulations, government insurance, health insurance, insurance against economic and natural disaster, and the regulation of fish and wildlife, are just a few of the issues that prompts the unlimited use of Federal regulatory and legislative power to deal with perceived problems.
2000 Ron Paul 2:123
illegally ceased property probably should be
illegally seized property.
