Ron Paul Quotes.com
1999 Ron Paul Chapter 92

Selective Service System

Home Page   Contents   Congressional Record (Page H7911)  Cached

8 September 1999

Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. PAUL).

The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. The gentleman from Texas is recognized for 5 minutes.

1999 Ron Paul 92:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

1999 Ron Paul 92:2
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate very much this opportunity to address this amendment. I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. I compliment the chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from New York (Mr. WALSH), for deleting these funds, in this bill.

1999 Ron Paul 92:3
This to me is a heroic step in the right direction. We have an agency of Government spending more than $24 million a year accomplishing nothing. We live in an age when we do not need a draft. We live in an age of technology that makes the draft obsolete. Not only is it unnecessarily militarily to have a draft, it is budgetarily not wise to spend this type of money.

1999 Ron Paul 92:4
More importantly, I rise in strong objection on moral principles that the draft is wrong. In most of our history we did not have a draft. The gentleman from California early on pointed out that essentially since World War I we have had a draft, and that is true. Since in this century we have seen a diminished respect for personal liberty with the growth of the state we have seen much more willingness to accept the idea that young men belong to the state.

1999 Ron Paul 92:5
That is what the registration is all about. I have a young grandson that had to register not too long ago, and he came to me and said, You know, “they sent me a notice that I better go register. Why do I have to register, if they already know where I am and how old I am?” That is the case. The purpose of registration is nothing more than putting an emphasis on the fact that the state owns all 18-year-olds.

1999 Ron Paul 92:6
The unfortunate part about a draft is that too often draftees are used in wars that are not legitimate. This is so often the case. If this country faced an attack, we should have volunteers. We should all volunteer. But, unfortunately, the generation of politicians who declare the wars too often never serve. Some of them have not even served in the past. But they are willing to start wars that are not legitimate, and yet they depend on the draft. They depend on the draft for the men to go out and fight and die.

1999 Ron Paul 92:7
The one really strong reason we should all reject the idea of the draft is it is so unfair.

1999 Ron Paul 92:8
Let us say an argument is made that it is necessary. I happen to believe it is never necessary to violate somebody’s liberty, but let us say there is a sincere belief that it is necessary to impose a draft.

1999 Ron Paul 92:9
There is no such thing as a fair draft. This is why the sixties were in such turmoil in this country, because the elite frequently evaded the draft. If they are smart enough to get a deferment, they got off. Who suffers from the draft? The poor and the less educated, the inner city teenagers. They end up getting the draft, and they do not get the deferments. They cannot avoid it.

1999 Ron Paul 92:10
It is very important that we consider not only this vote on fiscal reasons and where we are taking the money. Quite frankly, I would much rather see this money stay in the programs where, as a fiscal conservative, I would not have otherwise voted for those funds nay. But any funding of that sort is so much better on principle than voting to perpetuate a system that has no purpose other than to conscript.

1999 Ron Paul 92:11
Conscription is not part of the American dream. It is not part of the American philosophy. It is not part of liberty. It is a totalitarian notion. Congress has the authority to raise an army, but it does not have the constitutional authority to enslave a certain group to bear the brunt of the fighting. A society that cherishes liberty will easily find its volunteer defenders if it is attacked. A free society that cannot find those willing to defend itself without coercion cannot survive, and probably does not deserve to.

1999 Ron Paul 92:12
A free society that depends on the vicious totalitarian principle of conscription is, by its very nature, no longer free.

1999 Ron Paul 92:13
We gradually lost our love for individual liberty throughout the 20th century as the people and the Congresses capitulated to the notion of the military draft. The vote on the Selective Service System funding will determine whether or not we are willing to take a very welcome, positive step in the direction of more liberty by rejecting the appropriations for the Selective Service System.

1999 Ron Paul 92:14
There is no other vote that a Member of Congress can cast that defines one’s belief and understanding regarding the principle of personal liberty than a vote supporting or rejecting the draft. This vote gives us a rare opportunity to reverse the trend toward bigger and more oppressive government.

1999 Ron Paul 92:15
Yes, preserving liberty is worth fighting and even dying for, but conscription is incompatible with that goal. We cannot make men free by first enslaving them and forcing them to sacrifice their lives and liberty for the policies conceived by misdirected politicians and international warmongers.
Note:

1999 Ron Paul 92:2 I compliment the chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from New York (Mr. WALSH), Here, Ron Paul compliments The Honorable James T. Walsh.

Previous     Next



Home Page   Contents   Concordance
  Links   E-mail list.