The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr.
REYNOLDS). Under a previous order of
the House, the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. PAUL) is recognized for 5 minutes.
1999 Ron Paul 58:1 Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Speaker, campaign finance
reform is once again being painted
as the solution to political corruption
in Washington. Indeed, that is a
problem, but today’s reformers hardly
offer a solution. The real problem is
that government has too much influence
over our economy and lives, creating
tremendous incentive to protect
one’s own interest by investing in politicians.
1999 Ron Paul 58:2 The problem is not a lack of Federal
laws or rules regulating campaign
spending. Therefore, more laws will not
help. We hardly suffer from too much
freedom. Any effort to solve the campaign
finance problem with more laws
will only make things worse by further
undermining the principles of liberty
and private property ownership.
1999 Ron Paul 58:3 There is tremendous incentive for
every special interest group to influence
government. Every individual,
bank or corporation that does business
with government invests plenty in influencing
government. Lobbyists spend
over $100 million per month trying to
influence Congress. Taxpayers’ dollars
are endlessly spent by bureaucrats in
their effort to convince Congress to
protect their own empires. Government
has tremendous influence over the
economy and financial markets
through interest rate controls, contracts,
regulations, loans and grants.
Corporations and others are forced to
participate in the process out of greed,
as well as self defense, since that is the
way the system works.
1999 Ron Paul 58:4 Equalizing competition and balancing
powers such as between labor
and business is a common practice. As
long as this system remains in place,
the incentive to buy influence will continue.
1999 Ron Paul 58:5 The reformers argue only that the
fault is those who are trying to influence
government and not the fault of
the members who yield to the pressure
of the system that generates the abuse.
This allows Members of Congress to
avoid assuming responsibility for their
own acts and instead places the blame
on those who exert pressure on Congress
through the political process,
which is a basic right bestowed on all
Americans.
1999 Ron Paul 58:6 The reformers’ argument is to stop
us before we capitulate and before we
capitulate to the special interest
groups. Politicians unable to accept
this responsibility clamor for a system
that diminishes the need for politicians
to persuade individuals and groups to
donate money to their campaigns. Instead
of persuasion, they endorse coercing
taxpayers to finance campaigns.
This only changes the special interest
groups that control government policy.
Instead of voluntary groups making
their own decisions with their own
money, politicians and bureaucrats dictate
how political campaigns will be financed
and run.
1999 Ron Paul 58:7 Not only will politicians and bureaucrats
gain influence over elections,
other nondeservers will benefit. Clearly
incumbents will greatly benefit by
more controls over campaign spending,
a benefit to which the reformers will
never admit.
1999 Ron Paul 58:8 The quasi two-party system will become
more entrenched by limiting the
huge expenditures required to oust an
incumbent. Alternative choices and
third party candidates will be further
handicapped if all the reforms proposed
are passed. The media become a big
winner. Their influence grows as the
private money is regulated. It becomes
more difficult to refute media propaganda,
both print and electronic, when
directed against a candidate if funds
are limited. The wealthy gain a significant
edge since it is clear candidates
can spend unlimited personal funds in
elections. This is a big boost for the
independently wealthy candidates over
the average challenger who needs to
raise and spend large funds to compete.
1999 Ron Paul 58:9 Celebrities will gain an even greater
benefit than they already enjoy. Celebrity
status is money in the bank, and
by limiting the resources to counterbalance
this advantage works against
the noncelebrity who might be an
issue-oriented challenger. The current
reform effort ignores the legitimate
and moral Political Action Committees
that exist only for good reasons and do
not ask for any special benefit from
government.
1999 Ron Paul 58:10 More regulation of political speech
through control of private money without
addressing the subject of influential
government only drives the money
underground, further giving a select
group an advantage over the honest
candidate who only wants smaller government.
1999 Ron Paul 58:11 True, reform probably is not possible
without changing the role of government,
which now exists to regulate,
tax, subsidize and show preferential
treatment.
1999 Ron Paul 58:12 Only changing the nature of government
will eliminate the motive for so
many to invest so much in the political
process, but we should not make a bad
situation worse by passing more laws.
We should demand disclosure so voters
can decide if their representatives in
Congress are duly influenced or unduly
influenced, but the best thing we could
do is to encourage competition, which
will be made worse if the reformers
have their way.
1999 Ron Paul 58:13 The majority of Americans are
turned off with the system and do not
vote because they do not believe they
have a real choice. Signature requirements,
filing fees and rules written by
the two major parties make it virtually
impossible for alternative parties
to compete if not independently
rich or a celebrity. We should change
these obstructive rules to encourage
the majority of Americans who now sit
out the elections to participate in the
electoral process.
1999 Ron Paul 58:14 Campaign finance reform is once again
being painted as the solution to political corruption
in Washington. Indeed, that is a problem,
but today’s reformers hardly offer a solution.
The real problem is that government has
too much influence over our economy and
lives, creating a tremendous incentive to protect
one’s own interests by “investing” in politicians.
The problem is not a lack of federal
laws, or rules regulating campaign spending,
therefore more laws won’t help. We hardly suffer
from too much freedom. Any effort to solve
the campaign finance problem with more laws
will only make things worse by further undermining
the principles of liberty and private
property ownership.
1999 Ron Paul 58:15 The reformers are sincere in their effort to
curtail special interest influence on government,
but his cannot be done while ignoring
the control government has assumed over our
lives and economy. Current reforms address
only the symptoms while the root cause of the
problem is ignored. Since reform efforts involve
regulating political speech through control
of political money, personal liberty is compromised.
Tough enforcement of spending
rules will merely drive the influence underground
since the stakes are too high and
much is to be gained by exerting influence
over governmentlegal or not. The more
open and legal campaign expenditures are,
with disclosure, the easier it is for voters to
know who’s buying influence from whom.
1999 Ron Paul 58:16 There’s tremendous incentive for every special
interest group to influence government.
Every individual, bank or corporation that does
business with government invests plenty in influencing
government. Lobbyists spend over a
hundred million dollars per month trying to influence
Congress. Taxpayers dollars are endlessly
spent by bureaucrats in their effort to
convince Congress to protect their own empires.
Government has tremendous influence
over the economy, and financial markets
through interest rate controls, contracts, regulations,
loans, and grants. Corporations and
others are “forced” to participate in the process
out of greed as well as self defense
since that’s the way the system works. Equalizing
competition and balancing power such as
between labor and business is a common
practice. As long as this system remains in
place, the incentive to buy influence will continue.
1999 Ron Paul 58:17 Many reformers recognize this and either
like the system or believe that it’s futile to
bring about changes and argue that curtailing
influence is the only option left even if it involves
compromising political speech through
regulating political money.
1999 Ron Paul 58:18 It’s naive to believe stricter rules will make
a difference. If enough honorable men and
women served in Congress and resisted the
temptation to be influenced by any special interest
group, of course this whole discussion
would be unnecessary. Because Members do
yield to the pressure, the reformers believe
that more rules regulating political speech will
solve the problem.
1999 Ron Paul 58:19 The reformers argue that it’s only the fault
of those trying to influence government and
not the fault of the Members who yield to the
pressure or the system that generates the
abuse. This allows Members of Congress to
avoid assuming responsibility for their own
acts and instead places the blame on those
who exert pressure on Congress through the
political process which is a basic right bestowed
on all Americans. The reformer’s argument
is “stop us before we capitulate to the
special interest groups.”
1999 Ron Paul 58:20 Politicians unable to accept this responsibility
clamor for a system that diminishes the
need for politicians to persuade individuals
and groups to donate money to their campaign.
Instead of persuasion they endorse coercing
taxpayers to finance campaigns. This
only changes the special interest groups that
control government policy. Instead of voluntary
groups making their own decisions with their
own money, politicians and bureaucrats dictate
how political campaigns will be financed.
1999 Ron Paul 58:21 Not only will politicians and bureaucrats gain
influence over elections, other nondeservers
will benefit. Clearly, incumbents will greatly
benefit by more controls over campaign
spendinga benefit to which the reformers
will never admit.
1999 Ron Paul 58:22 The quasi-two party system will become
more entrenched by limiting the huge expenditures
required to oust an incumbent. Alternative
choices and third-party candidates will
be further handicapped if all the reforms proposed
are passed. They will never qualify for
equal treatment since all campaign laws are
written by Republicans and Democrats. The
same will be true when it comes to divvying
up taxpayer’s money for elections.
1999 Ron Paul 58:23 The media becomes a big winner. Their influence
grows as private money is regulated.
It becomes more difficult to refute media propaganda,
both print and electronic, when directed
against a candidate if funds are limited.
Campaigns are more likely to reflect the conventional
wisdom and candidates will strive to
avoid media attacks by accommodating their
views.
1999 Ron Paul 58:24 The wealthy gain a significant edge since
it’s clear candidates can spend unlimited personal
funds in elections. This is a big boast for
the independently wealthy candidates over the
average challenger who needs to raise and
spend large funds to compete.
1999 Ron Paul 58:25 Celebrities will gain even a greater benefit
than they already enjoy. Celebrity status is
money in the bank and by limiting the resources
to counter-balance this advantage,
works against the non-celebrity who might be
an issue-oriented challenger.
1999 Ron Paul 58:26 This current reform effort ignores the legitimate
and moral Political Action Committees
that exist only for good reasons and do not
ask for any special benefit from government.
The immoral Political Action Committees that
work only to rip-off the taxpayers by getting
benefits from government may deserve our
condemnation but not the heavy hand of government
anxious to control this group along
with all the others. The reformers see no difference
between the two and are willing to violate
all personal liberty. Since more regulating
doesn’t address the basic problem of influential
government, now out of control, neither
groups deserves more coercive government
rules. All the rules in the world can’t prevent
Members from yielding to political pressure of
the groups that donate to their campaigns.
Regulation cannot instill character.
1999 Ron Paul 58:27 More regulation of political speech through
control of private money, without addressing
the subject of influential government only
drives the money underground, further giving
a select group an advantage over the honest
candidate who only wants smaller government.
1999 Ron Paul 58:28 True reform probably is not possible without
changing the role of government, which now
exists to regulate, tax, subsidize, and show
preferential treatment. Only changing the nature
of government will eliminate the motive
for so many to invest so much in the political
process. But we should not make a bad situation
worse by passing more bad laws.
1999 Ron Paul 58:29 We should demand disclosure so voters can
decide if their Representatives in Congress
are unduly influenced. But the best thing we
could do is to encourage competition, which
will be made worse if the reformers have their
way. The majority of Americans are turned off
with the system and don’t vote because they
don’t believe they have a real choice. Signature
requirements, filing fees, and rules written
by the two major parties make it virtually impossible
for alternative parties to compete if
not independently rich or a celebrity. We
should change these obstructive rules to encourage
the majority of Americans, who now
sit out the elections, to participate in the electoral
process. Restricting political money and
speech will only further hamper competition
and discourage citizens from voting.
Notes:
Ron Paul was given permission to revise and extend his remarks. His speech,
delivered on the House floor, consists of 1999 Ron Paul 58:1 through
1999 Ron Paul 58:13 but unfortunately this is essentially
repeated in the extensions as the statement appears in the Congressional Record, one
more sentence being added there.
1999 Ron Paul 58:9
counterbalance or the hyphenated counter-balance? Here the text is unclear
because the word is hyphenated at the end of a line of text in the Congressional Record.
