Ron Paul, the Texas congressman, is retiring. He took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives Nov. 14 and gave a farewell speech, viewable on YouTube. It’s a speech that is worth watching.
When Paul leaves, he will take with him a principled libertarianism that provided a refreshing contrast to the traditional left-right arguments in Congress.
While Paul is sometimes viewed as an uncompromising and even extreme libertarian-minded Republican, he often voices thoughts on government that would likely have Thomas Jefferson nodding in agreement. Now who will express such thoughts in Congress?
It’s not radical to say the federal government is running amok. Total federal debt has surpassed annual gross domestic product. The federal government is running annual deficits that exceed $1 trillion. Government extends its reach into virtually every area of American life.
Paul has been a civil but firm voice criticizing the modern Leviathan. He has been at times a sole voice arguing with those who believe government is the solution to almost every problem.
Paul butted heads with members of his own party when he opposed most of the war on terror and the Iraq War. Paul also vigorously opposed the federal government’s main tool to root out terrorists — the Patriot Act.
Paul was in Congress for 23 years. He ran for president three times. Paul’s main criticism of the two-party system is that no matter who is in federal power, the government seems to keep growing.
Despite the improving U.S. standard of living, Paul told Congress last week, there has been damage done to the marketplace through more regulations and higher taxes. And much of U.S. wealth is based on debt. If the Republican Party is to expand its base, especially among young people and Hispanic voters, it needs to incorporate into its agenda more of Paul’s love for individual freedom.
Paul’s views are really no more radical than those of America’s third president, said to be one of the founders of the Democratic Party. In 1801, Jefferson told the nation in his inaugural address that “a wise and frugal government … shall leave (people) otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.”
At times, Paul seemed out of place urging Americans to return to a small-government philosophy. But as the debt and federal spending balloon, his ideas may gain a wider audience and exert more influence on the debate between Republicans and Democrats.
