Post by RS Davis on Apr 7, 2004 3:24:26 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Steven Yates Wrote:[/glow] Samuel Adams once observed how "it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds." I don’t know how irate he is, but Dr. Ron Paul (R-Tx) is surely among the leaders of a tireless minority in our time. If liberty by some chance does return to American soil in our lifetimes, we will doubtless have Dr. Paul to thank for having laid part of the groundwork over the past couple of decades.
On April 2, Dr. Paul spoke to a crowded conference room at the Sheraton Hotel in Columbia, South Carolina. The event, entitled "An Evening With Ron Paul," was hosted by the South Carolina Libertarian Party. His talk ranged across topics from his enormous popularity in his own Texas district to the "foolishness and silliness and ruthlessness" of the drug war to the dangers of the Patriot Act and its successors.
In his district, he is practically unopposed. He noted how he had voted against 700 expansionist-government bills over his two most recent terms in office, and won by a larger margin the second election than he did the first. "People aren’t begging for more laws," he said. He added, "What we ought to have is a moratorium on all new legislation."
Dr. Paul threw cold water on so-called war on terrorism. Were we attacked on September 11, 2001 because we are "free and prosperous"? Switzerland is also "free and prosperous." Why weren’t the Swiss also attacked? Of course, Switzerland does not have an interventionist foreign policy. Its government has not spent the past 50 years attempting to dominate an entire region, against the wishes of most of those living there. Switzerland is not in the business of "nation building." It does not see its goal as establishing "global democracy." Dr. Paul noted that Al Qaida’s numbers are growing, not shrinking. The neocons’ foolish and misguided war against Saddam Hussein and subsequent occupation of Iraq hasn’t reduced the dangers of terrorism one iota. Dr. Paul wondered aloud, "Why don’t we work to make America a more perfect republic, and forget about using guns to spread democracy?"
On April 2, Dr. Paul spoke to a crowded conference room at the Sheraton Hotel in Columbia, South Carolina. The event, entitled "An Evening With Ron Paul," was hosted by the South Carolina Libertarian Party. His talk ranged across topics from his enormous popularity in his own Texas district to the "foolishness and silliness and ruthlessness" of the drug war to the dangers of the Patriot Act and its successors.
In his district, he is practically unopposed. He noted how he had voted against 700 expansionist-government bills over his two most recent terms in office, and won by a larger margin the second election than he did the first. "People aren’t begging for more laws," he said. He added, "What we ought to have is a moratorium on all new legislation."
Dr. Paul threw cold water on so-called war on terrorism. Were we attacked on September 11, 2001 because we are "free and prosperous"? Switzerland is also "free and prosperous." Why weren’t the Swiss also attacked? Of course, Switzerland does not have an interventionist foreign policy. Its government has not spent the past 50 years attempting to dominate an entire region, against the wishes of most of those living there. Switzerland is not in the business of "nation building." It does not see its goal as establishing "global democracy." Dr. Paul noted that Al Qaida’s numbers are growing, not shrinking. The neocons’ foolish and misguided war against Saddam Hussein and subsequent occupation of Iraq hasn’t reduced the dangers of terrorism one iota. Dr. Paul wondered aloud, "Why don’t we work to make America a more perfect republic, and forget about using guns to spread democracy?"
- Rick
Steven Yates has a Ph.D. in
philosophy and is the author of
Civil Wrongs: What Went Wrong
With Affirmative Action (1994).
