Posted on 03/08/2003 9:29:27 AM PST by forest
[NOTE: This text was first published in the March 7, 1997 newsletter. It was an important message in 1997, but seems even more important today.]
Last week we gave Rep. Ron Paul's toll-free Legislative Update number (1-888-322-1414) and suggested that readers listen to his message "The Coming Police State." We were told by a lot of people that they missed it.
Originally, that message was part of a one hour speech Rep. Paul made on the floor of the House. And, thanks to Jeff in Michigan, we have the complete text. Below is the shortened version of Rep. Paul's speech recorded as the "Legislative Update:"
Centralizing power and consistently expanding the role of the Government requires an army of bureaucrats and a taxing authority upon which a police state thrives. There are over 100 laws on the books permitting private property seizure without due process of law. We have made it easy to seize any property by absurdly claiming the property itself committed the crime. The RICO mentality relating to law enforcement permits even the casual bystander to suffer severely from the police state mentality.
The drug war hysteria and the war on gun ownership started by Roosevelt in 1934 have expanded Federal police power to the point that more than 10 percent of all of our police are Federal. The Constitution names but three Federal crimes, so where is the justification? Talk about swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. We have hovering over us daily the Federal police from the EPA, OSHA, FBI, CIA, DEA, EEOC, ADA, F&WL, INS, BATF, and worst of all, the IRS. Even criticizing the IRS makes me cringe that it might precipitate an audit. It seems that all administrations, to some degree, used the power of the agencies to reward or punish financial backers or political enemies.
So much [of] that had its origin in the 1930's, it was then that the FBI's role changed from friendly investigator helping local authorities to that of national police force.
We live in an age where the fear of an IRS registered letter bearing news of an audit surpasses the fear of a street mugging. The police are supposed to be our friend and the Federal Government the guarantor of our liberties. Ask the blacks in the inner city of Los Angeles if they trust the police and revere the FBI and the CIA. We should not have to cringe when a Federal agent appears at the door of our business. We should not even see them there.
A Congress sworn to uphold the Constitution ought to be protecting our right to our property, not confiscating it. Congress ought to protect our right to own a weapon of self-defense, not systematically and viciously attacking that right.
Congress ought to guarantee all voluntary association, not regulate and dictate every economic transaction. We should not allow Congress to give credence to inane politically correct rules generated by egalitarian misfits. Setting quotas ought to insult each of us.
We need no more centralized police efforts. We need no more wiretaps that have become epidemic in this last decade. We have had enough Wacos and Ruby Ridges.
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exodus - My libertarian principles come as part from being a man, Roscoe.
Roscoe - So they mean anything you, or any other man, wants them mean
My principles are the result of logical thought, with I'm sure some emotional items that I haven't come to terms with as yet; that, too, is part of being a man.
Why do you feel that I'm missing something important because my principles have nothing to do with the party platform of any organization?
and
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGHT
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exodus - My libertarian principles come as part from being a man, Roscoe.
Roscoe - So they mean anything you, or any other man, wants them mean
Where should my principles come from, Roscoe?
You tell me I'm wrong to believe as I do, but you don't tell me where I should look to find the truth.
I'm too polite to insult anyone.
It's inconvenient at times, but it's part and parcel of those unseemly libertarian principles I stubbornly insist are intrinsically understood by all men.
Unlike who, exactly? The GOP? Democrats? The neo-conservatives? Liberals? Show me a significant party that doesn't have that problem within its ranks.
Only if you are a terrorist. Are you a terrorist?
exodus doesn't have to answer that. The police state makes the decision
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Well welcome to the post 9-11 world where we are chasing terrorist home as well as over-seas.
You mean we've never had terrorists on American soil before?
Who were those people holding Patty Hearst, then? Ever hear of Charles Manson? Remember when American airplanes were being highjacked to Cuba?
Terrorism on American soil is nothing new, A CA Guy. Terrorism has was always been a police matter, and it should still be the responsibility of the police.
Terrorism is not a good reason to abandon freedom. Terrorism has always been with us, and always will be, just as any other crime you can name will always be with us.
Thank you.
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Just remember: you're not allowed to frisk any of the arrestees for weapons unless you first obtain a warrant.
Why do you say that, Kevin? Do you think that police searching arrestees is against libertarian principles?
Now, all you have to do is avoid saying anything perceptive, like you did when I first put you on my list, and I won't put you back on my list. :)
1: often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control
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