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The Ron Paul Myth
Vanity | 9/1/11 | Alan Levy

Posted on 09/01/2011 12:44:44 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama

One of the lies Ron Paul's more vocal supporters (his army of cyberstormtroopers) will tell you until they're blue in the face is that the Shame of Texas has a strict constructionist view of the Constitution. They'll hiss, scratch, and burn a cross on your blog for daring to point out the obvious. In other words, they're like Chairman Obama's Drones, big on fascisti passion, small on critical thinking.

Let's take a stroll down Memory Hole Lane, shall we ? Here is the text of Ayatollah RuPaul's interview with Neil Cavuto of FOX News back in 2009:

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NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: Speaking of a lot of money, the battle about the money they're spending on Capitol Hill and, ironically, this guy is being targeted as maybe spending the most or at least earmarking the most for his constituents. He says it isn't fair.

But we thought it only fair to give him his due and explain what is going on. I'm talking about Texas congressman and former presidential candidate, Ron Paul.

Congressman, the rap is that you're a porker, that — that a lot of pork, $73 million-plus, went to your district. Is that true?

REP. RON PAUL, R-TEXAS: Well, it might be.

But I think you're missing the whole point. I have never voted for an earmark. I voted against all appropriation bills. So, this whole thing about earmarks is totally misunderstood.

Earmarks is the responsibility of the Congress. We should earmark even more. We should earmark every penny. So, that's the principle that we have to follow and the — and the responsibility of the Congress. The whole idea that you vote against an earmark, you don't save a penny. That just goes to the administration and they get to allocate the funds.

CAVUTO: Well, then, who — who — who proposes the bridge or the highway or the school? How does that even get in there?

PAUL: I have no idea. But the most important thing is to have transparency.

If you don't earmark something, then somebody else spends it and there's no transparency. So, the principle of the earmark is very crucial. But we need more earmarks.

The reason that we don't have — didn't have earmarks, you know, in that $350 billion on TARP funds...

CAVUTO: Right.

PAUL: We needed to earmark every single thing. We need to earmark every single thing the Fed does. So, this whole thing, this charade — this is a charade.

CAVUTO: No, no, I understand.

But you know what? It just strikes people as a little weird, Congressman, because, you know, you champion and rail against government waste. And I know you rejected and voted against this package. But, yet, your constituents are going to benefit to the tune of more than $73 million in various projects from this package.

So, it's kind of like you're having your cake and eating it, too.

PAUL: But — but, Neil — Neil, you're — you're missing the whole point.

The principle of the earmark is our responsibility. We're supposed to — it's like a — a tax credit. And I vote for all tax credits, no matter how silly they might seem. If I can give you any of you of your money back, I vote for it. So, if I can give my district any money back, I encourage that.

But, because the budget is out of control, I haven't voted for an appropriation in years — if ever.

CAVUTO: But would you argue, then, sir, that, when John McCain was here saying the whole earmark thing itself is what's out of control?

PAUL: Oh, no, no. He — he — he totally misunderstands that. That's grandstanding.

If you cut off all the earmarks, it would be 1 percent of the budget. But, if you vote against all the earmarks, you don't cut one penny. That is what you have to listen to. We're talking about who has the responsibility, the Congress or the executive branch?

I'm saying, get it out of the hands of the executive branch. Just listen again about what I have said about the TARP funds. We needed to earmark every penny. Now we gave them $350 billion, no earmarks, and nobody knows...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: You're right about...

PAUL: OK. But then I'm right about the whole issue.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: But are you saying, then — are you saying, then, Congressman, that the moneys that you appropriated, whether for the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, the Texas City Channel, Wallisville Lake, the City of Bay City, that rehab center — that that's money in the aggregate that you would have called waste?

PAUL: It's the kind I don't vote for, because I don't think the federal government should be doing it. But, if they're going to allot the money, I have a responsibility to represent my people.

If they say, hey, look, put in a highway for the district, I put it in. I put in all their requests, because I'm their representative.

But, if you put an earmark for a bridge in Iraq, it's not called an earmark. If you build military equipment in somebody's city...

CAVUTO: So, you don't think their requests are wastes? You don't think their requests are wastes?

PAUL: Well, no, it's — it's — it shouldn't be done. There's a better way to do it.

CAVUTO: Right.

PAUL: But, if you're going to spend the money, the Congress has the responsibility. It's better to spend it on a bridge here than spend it on a bridge in Iraq, and blow it up, and then build it up again.

Those are the kind of earmarks they don't count.

CAVUTO: All right.

PAUL: So, you have to count...

CAVUTO: All right, Congressman.

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/your-world-cavuto/2009/03/11/rep-ron-paul-defends-his-earmarks-spending-bill#ixzz1Wg9BNOZX

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Now to be fair to Reichsfuhrer Paul, he does make a lot of sense in some spots in the above interview. He was a 1000% right about TARP and building bridges in Iraq. No one can argue those points, and I applaud him for saying it. (And he also took a shot at the horrid John McLame, so kudos on that, too.) However, as I've written in a previous column, his view of public spending is almost Marxist. (Pork spending is in no way, shape, or form a "tax rebate".)

Not only is that knd of talk Marxist-lite, it's also something the Father of the Constitution, James Madison, would have vehemently disagreed with.

In 1792, Madison said:

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"If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every State, county and parish and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision of the poor;they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, everything, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police,would be thrown under the power of Congress."

(This statement was made in response to a bill that was proposed in Congress to subsidize cod fishermen. Even in the 1790's, there were slobs who wanted to "spread the wealth around.")

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Interesting note: I found this quote in The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History by Thomas Woods, Jr. (Another "Libertarian" who has a fondness for appearing on Iran's Islamonazi state-run television station, but that's another rant for another time.) It's also a book Sheikh Ali-Paul wrote a blurb for. He writes:

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"Knowing our past is essential if we are to preserve our freedoms. Professor Woods's work heroically rescues real history from the politcally correct memory hole. Every American should read this book."

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Maybe the good doctor should read this book again. We the People get it, he sure doesn't.


TOPICS: Government; Politics
KEYWORDS: 911truther; acorn; earmarks; executivepower; freemoney; hypocrisy; liar; libertarians; obamacash; randpaultruthfile; ronpaul; ronpaultruthfile
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To: GunRunner

It’s his attitude towards this behavior the the problem.


21 posted on 09/01/2011 7:34:17 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama (Ron Paul is a just another CONgress Critter. Why else would he be in CONgress for 35 years ?)
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To: Absolutely Nobama
Why is his attitude wrong?

Do you understand the reason why he puts in earmarks and then votes against the appropriations bills?

22 posted on 09/01/2011 8:46:53 AM PDT by GunRunner (***Not associated with any criminal actions by the ATF***)
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To: GunRunner

The last time I checked, public spending is not a “tax rebate.” The individual doesn’t benefit, only the “collective” allegedly does.

In the interview with Cavuto, Paul sounded like a Marxist.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes Ron Paul says great things. (At one point, I was one of his supporters. Why else would I read a book by Thomas Woods ?) But he also says a lot of stupid things. It’s the stupid things, which greatly outnumber the good things.

Ron Paul has also voted for a tax hike.

“In addition to never voting for an unbalanced budget, Ron Paul often touts his record of never having voted for a tax increase. Some people are arguing that this streak ended yesterday when Paul, joined by Paul-influenced Republicans Jimmy Duncan and Walter Jones, voted for the House Democrats’ extension of the Bush tax cuts for the middle class.”

http://spectator.org/blog/2010/12/03/did-ron-paul-vote-for-a-tax-in

“In the space of 24 hours, Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas) has voted for tax hikes, against censure for Charlie Rangel, and defended Julian Assange.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/254459/ron-pauls-idiem-mirabilisi-daniel-foster


23 posted on 09/01/2011 9:05:05 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama (Ron Paul is a just another CONgress Critter. Why else would he be in CONgress for 35 years ?)
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To: Absolutely Nobama
The last time I checked, public spending is not a “tax rebate.” The individual doesn’t benefit, only the “collective” allegedly does.

I don't think he was being literal. It is a way for taxation to get back to the local district from where it came. His point was that it is better for spending to go back to the local districts than to stay in Washington.

24 posted on 09/01/2011 9:08:09 AM PDT by GunRunner (***Not associated with any criminal actions by the ATF***)
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To: GunRunner

“I don’t think he was being literal.”

I do, especially since he’s voted for tax hikes. Please check out the links I’ve posted on this thread.


25 posted on 09/01/2011 9:13:53 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama (Ron Paul is a just another CONgress Critter. Why else would he be in CONgress for 35 years ?)
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To: Absolutely Nobama

Ron Paul has voted for tax increases? News to me. I’ll look at anything you have.


26 posted on 09/01/2011 9:23:25 AM PDT by GunRunner (***Not associated with any criminal actions by the ATF***)
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To: GunRunner

#23


27 posted on 09/01/2011 9:26:49 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama (Ron Paul is a just another CONgress Critter. Why else would he be in CONgress for 35 years ?)
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To: Absolutely Nobama
These articles contradict each other on the Rangel censure.

I don't think the extension would count as voting for a tax increase. He's on the record supporting a repeal of the 16th Amendment. Semantics over what is and what's not a tax cut on the Bush extensions are just that.

He's one of the good guys on taxation, and to suggest otherwise is just stupid.

28 posted on 09/01/2011 9:27:37 AM PDT by GunRunner (***Not associated with any criminal actions by the ATF***)
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To: GunRunner

We’ll have to agree to disagree.


29 posted on 09/01/2011 10:25:53 AM PDT by Absolutely Nobama (Ron Paul is a just another CONgress Critter. Why else would he be in CONgress for 35 years ?)
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To: Absolutely Nobama
You said that he's voted for tax hikes; plural. Is there another instance that you're pointing to?

I just don't see how one can call Ron Paul a supporter of higher taxation.

He wants to eliminate the 16th Amendment and the IRS.

30 posted on 09/01/2011 10:38:17 AM PDT by GunRunner (***Not associated with any criminal actions by the ATF***)
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To: GunRunner

So if he gets back more pork for his state than the taxes that were extracted from it, he’s still just returning stolen money, or doing some stealing himself from some other state? Furthermore, was the money returned to the taxpayers from whom it was actually filched, or to some project that abstractly benefits “his state,” and therefore also indirectly the individual taxpayers who actually paid the taxes, even though they may never visit the museum or cross the bridge, or chill in the park. This sounds like a flimsy rationalization for keeping the racket going exactly as is.


31 posted on 09/01/2011 12:25:54 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 (End the occupation. Annex today.)
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To: Eleutheria5
So if he gets back more pork for his state than the taxes that were extracted from it, he’s still just returning stolen money, or doing some stealing himself from some other state?

I can't speak for his district, but the state of Texas as a whole only gets back 94% of what it puts in as far as taxation is concerned.

This sounds like a flimsy rationalization for keeping the racket going exactly as is.

I don't understand your issue, I truly don't. You seem to be saying that the money should stay in Washington, and that to be truly consistent, he can't just vote against the appropriations bills, he has to reserve no return of tax money to his district.

So is it better to have the money stay in Washington, or better for some of it to return to the district in some form. If Ron Paul had his way, there would be no income tax and no IRS, but he's working within the reality of the situation.

32 posted on 09/01/2011 12:44:03 PM PDT by GunRunner (***Not associated with any criminal actions by the ATF***)
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To: GunRunner

How about not send it there in such large gobs. The money doesn’t stay in Washington. It goes there because Washington needs it to support all the pet projects that each lawmaker brings home to his district or state, as well as gigantic entitlement programs, and a military that has been known in the past to spend hundreds of dollars on a hammer. Tax less. Spend less. Simple enough.

It requires a little discipline on the part of lawmakers. They bring pork to their district so that they can use it as a plus for their reelection campaigns. Many of them run unopposed. Those that do have a race to win are in office. Their opponents are not in a position to outspend them in the halls of Congress. So to win reelection, they can instead enact wise laws, support limitations on government spending, make lofty speeches.

Or they can appropriate pork based on the erroneous supposition that the money starts out in Washington and will stay there if they don’t bring home the bacon, and that’s the way the game is played, whether Texas is giving more than it’s getting or getting more than it’s giving.


33 posted on 09/01/2011 12:57:23 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 (End the occupation. Annex today.)
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To: MestaMachine

“his reent appearance on iran TV is nothing short of incitement from a sitting US Congresman.”

Pardon my ignorance. I didn’t know he was doing that. That comes dangerously close to the Hanoi Jane line between free speech and treason.


34 posted on 09/01/2011 1:02:24 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 (End the occupation. Annex today.)
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To: Eleutheria5; MestaMachine

I poked around looking at the issue, and it looks like Paul did appear on Al-Jazeera, but was only quoted by Iranian state TV after his debate appearance. I don’t like the idea of appearing on Al-Jazeera, but it’s not quite to the same degree as appearing on Iran’s state channel.


35 posted on 09/01/2011 1:20:41 PM PDT by GunRunner (***Not associated with any criminal actions by the ATF***)
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To: GunRunner; Eleutheria5; Absolutely Nobama

http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/81547.html

http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/79752.html

Here ya go.


36 posted on 09/01/2011 1:25:08 PM PDT by MestaMachine (Bovina Sancta!)
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To: GunRunner

There is more. I have to search to refind the links. there have been several articles posted here on FR with links. One specifically dealt with Israel’s nukes and the poster was nearly hysterical over it.


37 posted on 09/01/2011 1:32:29 PM PDT by MestaMachine (Bovina Sancta!)
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To: MestaMachine
Mmmph. Not good, not good.

I wonder how they identified themselves.

38 posted on 09/01/2011 1:35:11 PM PDT by GunRunner (***Not associated with any criminal actions by the ATF***)
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To: Absolutely Nobama

How is voting “for an extension of tax cuts” voting “for a tax increase”? It sounds like the opposite.


39 posted on 09/01/2011 1:51:43 PM PDT by Plummz (pro-constitution, anti-corruption)
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To: Eleutheria5
Pork is less than 1% of the federal budget. Taxation does not exist to fund pork; pork is a tiny offshoot that Congressman and Senators use, like you said, to help in their reelection campaigns.

But I don't understand why you think Paul's district should be the only one that doesn't receive anything.

Tax less. Spend less. Simple enough.

I honestly can't think of one Congressman who has lived up to that principle more than Paul, regardless of whether or not he makes earmarks. The money has already been taxed. Whether or not Congresspeople send it back to their district will have no effect on the rates of taxation.

His non-interventionism is much too spiced with hippie pacifism for me, but I can't seem to sympathize with your point about earmarks. I completely understand why he puts them in there, and why votes against the appropriations bills that contain them.

40 posted on 09/01/2011 1:53:35 PM PDT by GunRunner (***Not associated with any criminal actions by the ATF***)
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