Ron Paul

Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American physician, author, Republican United States Congressman, and repeat candidate for President of the United States. He has been an outspoken critic of American foreign and monetary policies, renowned for sharply opposing his own party on many issues. Since 1979, he has been elected to 10 terms in the House of Representatives, with an interruption of 12 years. In addition, he filled a vacated seat for most of 1976. Since 1997, Paul has represented Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes Galveston. Paul serves on the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Financial Services, and on the Joint Economic Committee. He is the chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Paul is a graduate of Gettysburg College and Duke University School of Medicine, where he earned his medical degree. He served as a flight surgeon in the United States Air Force from 1963 until 1968. He worked as an obstetrician and gynecologist during the 1960s and 1970s, delivering more than 4,000 babies, before entering politics in 1976.

Paul is the initiator of the advocacy group Campaign for Liberty and his ideas have been expressed in numerous published articles and books, including Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom (2011), End The Fed (2009), The Revolution: A Manifesto (2008), Pillars of Prosperity (2008), A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship (2007), and The Case for Gold (1982). His son Rand Paul was elected to the United States Senate for Kentucky in 2010, making the elder Paul the first Representative in history to serve concurrently with a child of his in the Senate.^[3] Paul has been characterized as the "intellectual godfather" of the Tea Party movement.^[4][5] He has become well known for his libertarian ideas on many political issues, often differing from both Republican and Democratic Party stances.

Paul is currently seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. He campaigned for President of the United States twice before, first during 1988 as the nominee of the Libertarian Party and again during 2008 as a candidate for the Republican nomination. On May 13, 2011, he announced formally that he would campaign again during 2012 for the Republican presidential nomination. On July 12, 2011, Paul announced that he would not seek another term in Congress in order to concentrate on his presidential bid.^[6]

Early life, education, and medical career

Ronald Ernest Paul was born on August 20, 1935 in Pittsburgh,^[7] the son of Howard Caspar Paul and Margaret (née Dumont) Paul. His paternal great-grandparents emigrated from Germany, and his mother was of German and Irish ancestry.^[8][9] Paul grew up in the western Pennsylvania town of Green Tree. His father ran a small dairy company.^[8] At age 5, Paul worked with his brothers in the basement of the family's home, checking hand-washed milk bottles for spots.^[10] As a junior at suburban Dormont High School, he was the 220-yard dash state champion.^[11] He received a B.S. degree in biology at Gettysburg College in 1957. He was a member of the fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha.^[11] After earning a Doctor of Medicine degree from Duke University's School of Medicine in 1961, Paul relocated with his wife to Michigan, where he completed his medical internship at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He then served as a flight surgeon in the United States Air Force from 1963 to 1965 and then in the United States Air National Guard from 1965 to 1968.^[12]

In 1968, Paul and his wife relocated to Texas, where he continued his medical work. Trained in obstetrics and gynecology, Paul then began his own private practice.^[13] As a physician, Paul routinely lowered fees or worked for free and refused to accept Medicaid or Medicare payments.^[14][15] A 2002 newsletter of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) listed Paul as a member.^[16]

As a member of Congress, he continues to refuse to sign up for the government pension that he would be entitled to in order to avoid receiving government money, saying it would be "hypocritical and immoral."^[17]

Early congressional career (1976–1984)

While still a medical resident in the 1960s, Paul was influenced by Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom, which caused him to read many publications by Ludwig von Mises and Ayn Rand. He came to know economists Hans Sennholz and Murray Rothbard well, and credits to them his interest in the study of economics. He came to believe that what the Austrian School economists wrote was becoming true on August 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon "closed the gold window" by implementing the U.S. dollar's complete departure from the gold standard.^[18] That same day, the young physician decided to enter politics, saying later, "After that day, all money would be political money rather than money of real value. I was astounded."^[19]

Elections

Inspired by his belief that the monetary crisis of the 1970s was predicted by the Austrian School and caused by excessive government spending on the Vietnam War^[8] and welfare,^[20] Paul became a delegate to the Texas Republican convention and a Republican candidate for the United States Congress. In 1974, incumbent Robert R. Casey defeated him for the 22nd district. When President Gerald Ford appointed Casey to direct the Federal Maritime Commission, Paul won an April 1976 special election to the vacant office.^[21] Paul lost some months later in the general election, to Democrat Robert Gammage, by fewer than 300 votes (0.2%), but defeated Gammage in a 1978 rematch, and was reelected in 1980 and 1982.

Paul was the first Republican representative from the area; he also headed the Texas Reagan delegation at the national Republican convention.^[22] His successful campaign against Gammage surprised local Democrats, who had expected to retain the seat easily due to the Watergate scandal. Gammage underestimated Paul's popularity among local mothers: "I had real difficulty down in Brazoria County, where he practiced, because he'd delivered half the babies in the county. There were only two obstetricians in the county, and the other one was his partner."^[23]

Tenure

He has served in Congress three different periods: first from 1976 to 1977, after he won a special election, then from 1979 to 1985 and finally since 1997. On July 12, 2011, Paul announced that he would not seek re-election to the House in order to pursue the 2012 presidential election.^[24][25] Paul proposed term-limit legislation multiple times, first in the 1970s while serving four terms in the House of Representatives^[26] where he also declined to attend junkets or register for a Congressional pension.^[27] His chief of staff (1978–82) was Lew Rockwell.^[28] In 1980, when a majority of Republicans favored President Jimmy Carter's proposal to reinstate draft registration, Paul argued that their views were inconsistent, stating they were more interested in registering their children than they were their guns.^[26] He also proposed legislation to decrease Congressional pay by the rate of inflation; he was a regular participant of the annual Congressional Baseball Game;^[22] and he continued to deliver babies on Mondays and Saturdays during his entire 22nd district career.^[19]

During his first term, Paul initiated a "think tank", the Foundation for Rational Economics and Education (FREE).^[24] Also in 1976, the foundation began publication of the first monthly newsletter associated with Paul, Dr. Ron Paul's Freedom Report^[29] (or Special Report). It also publishes radio advertisements, monographs, books, and (since 1997) a new series of the monthly newsletter, Ron Paul's Freedom Report, which promote the principles of limited government.

On the House Banking Committee, Paul blamed the Federal Reserve for inflation,^[30] and spoke against the banking mismanagement that resulted in the savings and loan crisis.^[8] The U.S. Gold Commission created by Congress in 1982 was his and Jesse Helms's idea, and Paul's commission minority report was published by the Cato Institute in The Case for Gold;^[18] it is now available from the Ludwig von Mises Institute, to which Paul is a distinguished counselor.^[31]

In 1984, he decided to retire to run for the U.S. Senate, but lost the primary. In his House farewell address on September 19, 1984, Paul said, "Special interests have replaced the concern that the Founders had for general welfare. Vote trading is seen as good politics. The errand-boy mentality is ordinary, the defender of liberty is seen as bizarre. It's difficult for one who loves true liberty and utterly detests the power of the state to come to Washington for a period of time and not leave a true cynic."^[32][33] Paul submitted his resignation letter addressed to Frank Fahrenkopf, then chairman of the Republican National Committee.^[34] Paul then resumed his full-time medical practice^[30] and was succeeded by former state representative Tom DeLay.^[35]

1984 U.S. Senate election

During 1984, Paul chose to campaign for the U.S. Senate instead of re-election to the House, but lost the Republican primary to Phil Gramm, who had switched parties the previous year from Democrat to Republican.^[36] Another candidate of the senatorial primary was Henry Grover, a conservative former state legislator who had lost the 1972 gubernatorial general election to the Democrat Dolph Briscoe, Jr.

Inter-congressional years

1985–1987

Ron Paul & Associates (RP&A), Inc. was initiated during 1984 by Paul, who was its President. Lew Rockwell was its Vice President, Ron Paul's wife Carol was Secretary, and Lori Pyeatt was the Treasurer. The company published a variety of newsletters. An article in Reason magazine, citing tax documents, said that it had revenues of more than $900,000 in 1993.^[37] It was dissolved during 2001.^{[38][39][40][41]}

In 1985, RP&A began publishing The Ron Paul Investment Letter^[42] and The Ron Paul Survival Report.^[19][43] In 1987 it added the more controversial Ron Paul Political Report.^[44] Many articles lacked a byline, yet often invoked Paul's name or persona. Critics have described several statements in the newsletters as racist, such as 95% of black men in Washington, DC being "semi-criminal or entirely criminal",^[37] and the advice about using an unregistered gun to defend against black criminals.^[45]

In 1996, Paul told The Dallas Morning News that the newsletters were accurate but needed to be taken in context. In 2001, he told the Texas Monthly that his campaign staff told him not to say others had written what was in the newsletters because it was "too confusing". In December 2011, on CNN, Paul, who was a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist when not in political office or running for office, said that he only read the newsletters "on occasion", did not write them, and disavowed the racist comments in them.^[37]

1988 presidential campaign

In the 1988 presidential election, Paul was on the ballot in 46 States as the Libertarian Party candidate.^[46] Paul scored third in the popular vote with 432,179 votes (0.5%).^[47] Paul was kept off the ballot in Missouri, and received votes there only when written in, due to what the St. Louis Post-Dispatch termed a "technicality".^[48]

The Libertarian party was split between a Conservative and Liberal wing. Ron Paul represented the Conservative wing, which was successful in fundraising, while the Liberal wing claimed to have received ten times more (and more favorable) press coverage – which, some argued, was a hundred times more important. Nevertheless the nomination went to Paul. Ron Paul argued, "Pro-life libertarians have a vital task to perform: to persuade the many abortion-supporting libertarians of the contradiction between abortion and individual liberty; and to sever the mistaken connection in many minds between individual freedom and the 'right' to extinguish individual life."^[49][50]

According to Paul, his presidential campaign was about more than obtaining office; he sought to promote his libertarian ideas, often to school and university groups regardless of vote eligibility. He said, "We're just as interested in the future generation as this election. These kids will vote eventually, and maybe, just maybe, they'll go home and talk to their parents."^[46] He traveled the country for a year speaking about issues such as free market economics and the rising government deficits:^[51] "That's why we talk to a lot of young people. They're the ones who are paying these bills, they're the ones who are inheriting this debt, so it's most likely these young people who will move into this next generation in government."^[52]

After the election, Paul continued his medical practice until he returned to Congress.^[8][53] He also co-owned a coin dealership, Ron Paul Coins, for twelve years with Burt Blumert, who continued to operate it after Paul resumed office.^[54][55] He spoke multiple times at the American Numismatic Association's 1988 convention.^[54] He worked with FREE on such projects as establishing the National Endowment for Liberty, producing the At Issue public policy series that was broadcast on Discovery Channel and CNBC,^[24] and continuing publication of Dr. Ron Paul's Freedom Report.

1989–1995

Paul resumed his private medical practice as well as taking part in other small business ventures. For 1992, RP&A earned $940,000 and employed Paul's family as well as Lew Rockwell (its vice-president^[56] and occasional editor)^[57] and seven other workers. Murray Rothbard and other libertarians believed Rockwell ghostwrote the newsletters for Paul;^[56] Rockwell later acknowledged involvement in writing subscription letters, but attributed the newsletters to "seven or eight freelancers".^[58]

Paul considered campaigning for President during 1992,^[59] but instead chose to endorse Pat Buchanan that year, and served as an adviser to his Republican presidential campaign against incumbent President George H. W. Bush.^[60]

Later congressional career (1996–present)

Elections

1996 campaign

During 1996, Paul was re-elected to Congress after the most difficult campaign he had experienced since the 1970s. Because Republicans had gained control of both houses of Congress in the 1994 election, Paul entered the campaign hopeful that his Constitutionalist policies of tax reductions, terminating federal agencies, and curbing the U.N. would have more support than during the past.^[61] The Republican National Committee emphasized instead encouragement of Democrats to switch parties, as Paul's primary opponent, incumbent Greg Laughlin, had done during 1995. The party endorsed Laughlin, including assistance from House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Governor George W. Bush, and the National Rifle Association. Paul responded by running newspaper advertisements quoting Gingrich's harsh criticisms of Laughlin's Democratic voting record 14 months earlier.^[27] Paul won the primary with assistance from baseball pitcher, constituent, and friend Nolan Ryan (as honorary campaign chair and advertisement spokesman), as well as tax activist Steve Forbes^[8] and conservative commentator Pat Buchanan (both of whom had had presidential campaigns that year).

Paul's Democratic opponent in the autumn general election, trial lawyer Charles "Lefty" Morris, received assistance from the AFL-CIO, but Paul's wider contributor base out-raised Morris two-to-one, giving the third-highest amount of individual contributions received by any House member (behind Gingrich and Bob Dornan).^[62] While Paul was able to describe Morris as a stooge of trial lawyers and big labor, Morris ran numerous advertisements about Paul's advocacy of federal drug law repeal.

Morris also accused Paul of authoring questionable statements in past newsletters,^[19] some of which were characterized as racially charged.^[63][64] Paul's congressional campaign countered the statements were taken out of context.^[65] and that voters might not understand the "tongue-in-cheek, academic" quotes out of context. Further, the campaign rejected Morris' demand to release all back issues.

Paul won the election by a close margin. It became the third time Paul had been elected to Congress as a non-incumbent.^[8] Upon his returning to Washington, Paul quickly discovered "there was no sincere effort" by Republicans toward their declared goal of small government.^[20]

1998–present

During 1998 and again during 2000, Paul defeated Loy Sneary, a Democratic Bay City, Texas, rice farmer and former Matagorda County judge,^[19] running advertisements warning voters to be "leery of" Sneary.^[66] Paul accused Sneary of voting to increase his pay by 5%, increasing his travel allotment by 400% during one year, and using increased taxes to start a new government bureaucracy to administer a license plate fee he enacted. Sneary's aides said he had voted to increase all county employees' pay by five percent in a cost-of-living increase. Paul countered that he had never voted to increase Congressional pay.^[61][67] In both campaigns, the national Democratic Party and major unions continued to spend much money against Paul.^[19] Paul continued to refrain from congressional benefits and in 2009 was featured by CBS on Up to the Minute as one of two members of the U.S. Congress that had pledged not to receive a pension from the United States government. The other was Howard Coble of North Carolina.^[68]

An online "grassroots" petition to draft Paul for the 2004 presidential election garnered several thousand signatures.^[69] On December 11, 2001, he told political independents that he was encouraged by the fact that the petition had spread the message of Constitutionalism, but did not expect a White House win at that time.^[70] Further prompting in early 2007 caused him to enter the 2008 presidential election campaign.

Unlike many political candidates, Paul receives the overwhelming majority of his campaign contributions from individuals^[71] (97 percent during the 2006 cycle), and receives much less from political action committees (PACs) than others, ranging from two percent (2002) to six percent (1998).^[72] The group Clean Up Washington, analyzing from 2000 to mid-2006, listed Paul as seventh-lowest of PAC receipts of all House members; one of the lowest in lobbyist receipts; and fourth-highest in small-donor receipts.^[73] He had the lowest PAC receipts percentage of all the 2008 Republican presidential candidates.^[74][75]

Paul was re-elected to his tenth term in Congress during November 2006.^[76] In the March 4, 2008, Republican primary for his Congressional seat,^[77] he defeated Friendswood city councilman Chris Peden,^[78] obtaining over 70 percent of the vote.^[79] On the 2008 ballot, Paul won his eleventh term in Congress running unopposed.^[80] In the 2010 Republican primary for his Congressional seat, Paul defeated three opponents with 80 percent of the vote.^[81]

Tenure

Relationship with district

Paul's congressional district is larger than Massachusetts,^[82] with 675 miles (1,086 km) of Gulf of Mexico coastline between Houston and Rockport, Texas, including some 22 counties. Paul opposes federally funded flood insurance. In a rural region known for ranching and rice farms,^[18] Paul opposes farm subsidies.^[83] Paul's devotion to reducing government is popular with 14th district voters:^[19] in a survey, 54% of his constituency agreed with his goal of eliminating the U.S. Department of Education.^[84]

Paul has added earmarks, such as for Texas shrimp promotion, but routinely votes against most spending bills returned by committee.^{[85][86][86][87]} Paul compared his practice to objecting to the tax system yet taking all one's tax credits: "I want to get their money back for the people."^[88] In The Revolution: A Manifesto, Paul says: "The real problem, and one that was unfortunately not addressed in the 2007's earmark dispute, is the size of the federal government and the amount of money we are spending in these appropriations bills. Cutting even a million dollars from an appropriations bill that spends hundreds of billions will make no appreciable difference in the size of government, which is doubtless why politicians and the media are so eager to have us waste our time on [earmarks]."^[89]

Paul spends time in the district to compensate for "violat[ing] almost every rule of political survival you can think of,"^[19] traveling more than 300 miles (480 km) daily^[19] to attend civic ceremonies for veterans, graduates, and Boy Scouts, often accompanied by his grandchildren. His staff helps senior citizens obtain free or low-cost prescription drugs through a little-known drug company program; procures lost or unreceived medals for war veterans, holding dozens of medal ceremonies annually; is known for its effectiveness in tracing Social Security checks; and sends out birthday and condolence cards.^[19][86]

During 2001, he was one of only eight doctors in the House of Representatives; even fewer had continued to practice while in office. He is occasionally approached by younger area residents to thank him for attending and assisting their deliveries at birth.^[19]

Legislation

Paul authors more bills than the average representative, such as those that impose term limits, or abolish the income tax^[90] or the Federal Reserve; many do not escape committee review. He has written successful legislation to prevent eminent domain seizure of a church in New York, and a bill transferring ownership of the Lake Texana dam project from the federal government to Texas. By amending other legislation, he has helped prohibit funding for national identification numbers, funding for federal teacher certification,^[19] International Criminal Court jurisdiction over the U.S. military, American participation with any U.N. global tax, and surveillance of peaceful First Amendment activities by citizens.^[91]

During March 2001, Paul introduced a bill to repeal the 1973 War Powers Resolution (WPR) and reinstate the process of formal declaration of war by Congress.^[92] Later during 2001, Paul voted to authorize the president, pursuant to WPR, to respond to those responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks.^[93] He also introduced "Sunlight Rule" legislation, which requires lawmakers to take enough time to read bills before voting on them,^[94] after the Patriot Act was passed within 24 hours of its introduction. Paul was one of six Republicans to vote against the Iraq War Resolution, and (with Oregon representative Peter DeFazio) sponsored a resolution to repeal the war authorization during February 2003. Paul's speech, 35 "Questions That Won't Be Asked About Iraq,"^[95] was translated and published in German, French, Russian, Italian, and Swiss periodicals before the Iraq War began.^[86]

Paul says his fellow members of Congress have increased government spending by 75 percent during the presidency of George W. Bush.^[96] After a 2005 bill was touted as "slashing" government waste, Paul wrote that it decreased spending by a fraction of one percent and that "Congress couldn't slash spending if the members' lives depended on it."^[97] He said that during three years he had voted against more than 700 bills intended to expand government.^[98]

Paul has introduced several bills to apply tax credits to education, including credits for parental spending on public, private, or homeschool students (Family Education Freedom Act); for salaries for all K–12 teachers, librarians, counselors, and other school personnel; and for donations to scholarships or to benefit academics (Education Improvement Tax Cut Act).^[99] In accord with his political opinions, he has also introduced the Sanctity of Life Act in each Congress from the 109th (2005–06)^[100] through the 112th (2011–12),^[101] the We the People Act, and the American Freedom Agenda Act.^[102]

During June 2011, Paul co-sponsored a bill with U.S. Representative Barney Frank that is intended to end the federal prohibition of marijuana.^[103]

List of sponsored/cosponsored legislation

The following tables link to the Congressional Record hosted by the Library of Congress. All the specifics and actions done for each individual bill Ron Paul has either sponsored or cosponsored can be reviewed further there. "Original bills" and "Original amendments" indicate instances where Ron Paul had pledged to endorse the legislation at the time the bill was initially introduced rather than at some other phase of the legislative process of the bill.

Note: The numbers for the current session of Congress may no longer represent the actual numbers as they are still actively in session.

Affiliations

Paul serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee (having been on the Western Hemisphere and the Asia and Pacific subcommittees); the Joint Economic Committee; and the Committee on Financial Services (as Ranking Member of the Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology subcommittee, and Vice-Chair of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee).

Paul was honorary chairman of, and is a member of the Republican Liberty Caucus, a political action committee that describes its goal as electing "liberty-minded, limited-government individuals".^[104] Paul also hosts a luncheon every Thursday as chairman of the Liberty Caucus, composed of 20 members of Congress. Washington DC area radio personality Johnny "Cakes" Auville gave Paul the idea for the Liberty Caucus and is a regular contributing member.^[8] He is an initiating member of the Congressional Rural Caucus, which deals with agricultural and rural issues, and the 140-member Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus.^[105] He remains on good terms with the Libertarian Party and addressed its 2004 convention.^[106] He also was endorsed by the Constitution Party's 2004 presidential candidate, Michael Peroutka.^[107]

Paul was a member of a bipartisan coalition of 17 members of Congress that sued President Bill Clinton during 1999 due to his conduct of the Kosovo war. They accused Clinton of failing to inform Congress of the action's status within 48 hours as required by the War Powers Resolution, and of failing to obtain Congressional declaration of war. Congress had voted 427–2 against a declaration of war with Yugoslavia, and had voted to deny assistance for the air campaign in Kosovo. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that since Congress had voted for funding after Clinton had actively engaged troops in the war with Kosovo, legislators had sent a confusing message about whether they approved of the war. Paul said that the judge's decision attempted to circumvent the Constitution and to authorize the president to conduct a war without approval from Congress.^[108]

Committee assignments

Rep. Paul serves on the following committee and subcommittees.^[109]

• Committee on Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology (Chairman)
  • Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade
• Committee on Foreign Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

With the election of the 112th Congress, and a resulting GOP majority in the House, Ron Paul became the chairman of the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology starting in January 2011.^[110]

2008 presidential campaign

Republican primary campaign

Paul formally declared his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination on March 12, 2007, on C-SPAN.^[111][112] His campaign had intense grassroots support – his supporters were said to "always show up"^[113] – and he had dozens of wins of GOP "straw polls". Additionally, Ron Paul garnered much popularity among college students, with about 500 Students for Ron Paul groups formed across the United States.^[114] Few major politicians endorsed Paul, but he won the endorsement of Houston political activist Clymer Wright, the main promoter of the municipal term limits imposed in Houston during 1991.^[115]

Paul's campaign showed "surprisingly strong" fundraising^[116] with several record-breaking events. He had the greatest rate of military contribution for 2008,^[117][118] and donations coming from individuals,^[119] aided significantly by an online presence and very active campaigning by endorsers,^[120] who organized "moneybomb" fundraisers acquiring millions of dollars during several months. Such fundraising earned Paul the status of having raised more than any other Republican candidate during 2007's fourth-quarter.^[121] Paul's name was a number-one web search term as ranked by Technorati, beginning around May 2007.^[122] He has had more YouTube subscriptions since May 20, 2007, than any other candidate.^[123]

Paul was largely ignored by traditional media,^[124] including at least one incident where FOX News did not invite him to a GOP debate featuring all other presidential candidates at the time.^[125] One exception was Glenn Beck's program on Headline News, where Beck interviewed Paul for the full hour of his show.^[126]

Though projections of 2008 Republican delegate counts varied widely, Paul's count was consistently third among the three candidates remaining after Super Tuesday, 2008. According to CNN^[127] and The New York Times,^[128] by Super Tuesday Paul had received five delegates in North Dakota, and was projected to receive two in Iowa, four in Nevada, and five in Alaska based on caucus results, totaling 16 delegates. Paul's campaign projected 42 delegates based on the same results, including delegates from Colorado, Maine, and Minnesota.^[129]

In the January 2008 Louisiana caucus, Paul scored second after John McCain, but uncommitted delegates outnumbered both candidates' pledged delegates, since a registration deadline had been extended to January 12.^[130] Paul said he had the greatest number of pledged Louisiana delegates who had registered by the original January 10 deadline, and formally challenged the deadline extension and the Louisiana GOP's exclusion of voters due to an outdated list;^[131][132] he projected three Louisiana delegates. The Super Tuesday West Virginia caucus was won by Mike Huckabee, whose state campaign coordinators reportedly arranged to give three Huckabee delegates to Paul in exchange for votes from Paul's endorsers.^[133] Huckabee has not confirmed this delegate pledge.^[134]

Paul's preference votes in primaries and caucuses began at 10 percent in Iowa (winning Jefferson County) and eight percent in New Hampshire, where he had the endorsement of state sovereignty champion, State Representative Dan Itse; on Super Tuesday they ranged from 25 percent in Montana and 21 percent in North Dakota caucuses, where he won several counties, to three percent in several state primaries, averaging under 10 percent in primaries overall.^[135] After sweeping four states on March 4, McCain was projected widely to have a majority of delegates pledged to vote for him in the September 2008 party convention. Paul obliquely acknowledged McCain on March 6: "Though victory in the political sense [is] not available, many victories have been achieved due to hard work and enthusiasm." He continued to contest the remaining primaries,^[136] having added, "McCain has the nominal number ... but if you're in a campaign for only gaining power, that is one thing; if you're in a campaign to influence ideas and the future of the country, it's never over."^[137] Paul's 2008 book, The Revolution: A Manifesto, became a The New York Times and Amazon.com bestseller immediately upon release.^{[138][139][140][141]} His newest book, End the Fed, has been released and it was translated also in Italian.^[142]

On June 12, 2008, Paul withdrew his bid for the Republican nomination, citing his resources could be better spent on improving America. Some of the $4 million remaining campaign contributions was invested into the new political action and advocacy group called Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty.^[143] Paul told the newsmagazine NOW on PBS the goal of the Campaign for Liberty is to "spread the message of the Constitution and limited government, while at the same time organizing at the grassroots level and teaching pro-liberty activists how to run effective campaigns and win elections at every level of government."^[144]

Newsletter controversy

Controversial claims made by an unidentified author in Ron Paul's newsletters, written in the first person narrative, included statements such as "Boy, it sure burns me to have a national holiday for Martin Luther King. I voted against this outrage time and time again as a Congressman. What an infamy that Ronald Reagan approved it! We can thank him for our annual Hate Whitey Day." A column on carjacking ended "even in my little town of Lake Jackson, Texas, I've urged everyone in my family to know how to use a gun in self defense. For the animals are coming."^[145] Two other statements that garnered controversy were "opinion polls consistently show only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions". In an article titled "The Pink House" the newsletter wrote that "Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities."^[146]

These statements were first brought up by Paul's opponent in the 1996 Congressional election, Charles "Lefty" Morris. At the time Paul did not deny writing the newsletters,^{[147][148][149]} stating that they were taken "out of context" adding "If someone challenges your character and takes the interpretation of the NAACP as proof of a man's character, what kind of a world do you live in?"^[150]

In March 2001, Paul stated that the documents were authored by ghostwriters, that he had been advised in 1996 that denying authorship would be too confusing, but that while he did not write the challenged passages, he bore "some moral responsibility" for their publication.^[151]

At the end of 2007, both the New York Sun and The New York Times Magazine reprinted passages from early 1990s publications of Paul's newsletters, attacking them for content deemed racist.^[8] These were the same newsletters that had been used against Paul during his 1996 congressional campaign.

On January 8, 2008, the day of the New Hampshire primary, The New Republic published a story by James Kirchick quoting from selected newsletters published under Paul's name.^[56][152]

Responding to the charges in a CNN interview, Paul denied any involvement in authoring the passages. Additionally, Paul's campaign claimed through a press release that the quotations had come from an unnamed ghostwriter and without Paul's consent. Paul again denounced and disavowed the "small-minded thoughts", citing his 1999 House speech praising Rosa Parks for her courage; he said the charges simply "rehashed" the decade-old Morris attack.^[153] CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said that the writing "Didn't sound like the Ron Paul I've come to know."^[154] Later, Nelson Linder, president of the Austin chapter of the NAACP, also defended Paul, saying that he's not a racist, and is being smeared because he's a political threat to the establishment.^[155]

Everybody knows in my district that I didn't write them and I don't speak like that... and I've been reelected time and time again and everyone knows I don't participate in that kind of language. The point is, when you bring this question up, you're really saying 'you're a racist, or are you a racist?' The answer is no, I'm not a racist. As a matter of fact, Rosa Parks is one of my heroes, Martin Luther King is a hero, because they practiced the libertarian principle of civil disobedience and nonviolence. Libertarians are incapable of being a racist because racism is a collectivist idea: you see people in groups. A civil libertarian as myself sees everyone as an important individual.

—Ron Paul, CNN, January 10, 2008^[156]

The news magazine Reason republished Paul's 1996 defense of the newsletters,^[157] and later reported evidence from "a half-dozen longtime libertarian activists" that Lew Rockwell had been the chief ghostwriter.^[56] Rockwell denies this charge, and "has characterized discussion of the newsletters as 'hysterical smears aimed at political enemies.'"^[158]

Assistance for third-party candidates

On September 5, 2008, the Constitution Party of Montana removed Chuck Baldwin from their presidential ticket, replacing him with Ron Paul for president and Michael Peroutka for vice president.^[159] Paul made an announcement stating that he "was aware that the party planned to do this, and has said that as long as he can remain passive and silent about the development, and as long as he need not sign any declaration of candidacy, that he does not object."^[159] Paul requested on September 11 that Montana eliminate his name from the ballot,^[160] stating that he did not "seek nor consent" to the Montana Constitution Party's nomination.^[160] He also suggested the Party list official Constitution Party nominee Baldwin on the Montana ballot instead.^[160] Five days later the Montana Secretary of State denied Paul's request for withdrawal,^[161] stating that the request was sent to them too late. On September 4, 2008, a list of electors in Louisiana using the name "Louisiana Taxpayers Party" filed papers and paid $500^[162] with the Secretary of State's Office.^[162] They are pledged to Paul for President and Barry Goldwater, Jr. for Vice President.^[162]

The same day, Paul's staff released a brief press statement: "On the heels of his historic three-day rally in Minneapolis that drew over 12,000 attendees, Congressman Ron Paul will make a major announcement next week in Washington at the National Press Club."^[163] The congressman had reportedly invited presidential candidates Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney, and Ralph Nader to the press conference, causing some people to speculate that they would endorse Paul campaigning for president on the ticket of either the Constitution, Libertarian or other third party.^[163][164]

On September 10, 2008, Paul confirmed his "open endorsement" (CNN) for the four candidates at a press conference in Washington D.C.^[165] He also revealed that he had rejected a request for an endorsement of John McCain.^[166][167] He later appeared on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer with Nader where they presented and briefly described the four principles that all the independent candidates had agreed on as the most important issues of the presidential campaign.^[168]

On September 22, 2008, in response to a written statement by Bob Barr, Paul abandoned his former neutral stance and announced his endorsement of Chuck Baldwin in the 2008 presidential election.^[169]

In the 2008 general election, Paul still received 41,905 votes despite not actively campaigning.^[170][171] He was listed on the ballot in Montana as the Constitution Party candidate, and in Louisiana on the "Louisiana Taxpayers Party" ticket, and received write-in votes in California (17,006),^[172] Pennsylvania (3,527), New Hampshire (1,092), and other states.

While exit polls indicate that he received write-in votes elsewhere, not only do many U.S. jurisdictions not require the counting or reporting of write-in votes, but some actually ban the counting or reporting of write-in votes.

2012 presidential campaign

Ron Paul is a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States in the 2012 election.

Beginning during 2010 there was speculation among pundits and journalists regarding the prospect of Paul campaigning for president again during 2012.^[173][174] When Paul's wife, Carol, was asked if he would campaign during 2012 her response was "If you would ask him now he would probably say 'no', but he did say... things are happening so quickly and fast in our country, if we're at a crisis period and they need someone... with the knowledge he has... then he would do it."^[175]

On February 26, 2009, Ron Paul was a major speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., speaking for 20 minutes on topics including monetary theory and policy in the United States, in addition to the War in Iraq, and international foreign policy.^[176] Paul's Campaign for Liberty sent 140 volunteers to CPAC 2009 to distribute materials, and significantly increased that number the next year.^[177]

In the 2009 CPAC Straw Poll for the 2012 presidential election, Paul tied 2008 GOP Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin for third place with 13% of the vote, behind fellow former candidate Mitt Romney and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.^[178] In the 2010 CPAC straw poll, he scored first, decisively winning with 31%, followed distantly by Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, among others. In the 2010 Southern Republican Leadership Conference straw poll, Paul finished second place with 24% of the vote (438 votes), behind only Mitt Romney (with 439 votes). An April 2010 Rasmussen poll among likely voters found that Ron Paul and President Obama were statistically tied in a hypothetical 2012 presidential election.^{[179][180][181]}

Paul won several early straw polls^[182] and began raising funds for an exploratory committee.^[183] In mid-April, 2011, Paul announced the formation of a "testing-the-waters" account, and stated that he will make a decision on whether to enter the campaign officially no later than May.^[184][185] In late April, he formed an official exploratory committee to campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.^[186][187] He participated with the first Republican presidential debate on May 5, 2011.^[188] and on May 13, 2011, Paul formally announced his candidacy in an interview on ABC's Good Morning America.^[189] He placed second in the 2011 Ames Straw Poll, missing first by 0.9%.^[190]

An August scientific poll of likely voters across the political spectrum by Rasmussen Reports held a contest between Paul and Barack Obama, in which the two were "almost dead even." Obama led Paul by one percentage point at 39% to 38% – a significantly smaller margin than July (41% – 37%).^[191] Paul moved up to 3rd in a late-August poll of likely Republican primary voters, trailing Rick Perry and Mitt Romney and passing Michele Bachmann,^[192] climbing from fourth to third position.^[193]

Ron Paul came in third in the Iowa Republican Caucus held on Jan 03, 2012, with 26,219 votes or 21.4% of the total. Mitt Romney finished first with 30,015 (24.6%) and Rick Santorum placed second with 30,007 ballots (24.5%). ^[194]

Political positions

Paul has been described as conservative, Constitutionalist, and libertarian.^[8] According to University of Georgia political scientist Keith Poole, Paul had the most conservative voting record of any member of Congress since 1937.^[195] He has been nicknamed "Dr. No",^[19] representing both his medical degree and his insistence that he will "never vote for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution",^[30] and "Mr. Republican".^[196] One scoring method published in the American Journal of Political Science^[197] found Paul the most conservative of all 3,320 members of Congress from 1937 to 2002.^[198] Paul's foreign policy of nonintervention^[199] made him the only 2008 Republican presidential candidate to have voted against the Iraq War Resolution in 2002. He advocates withdrawal from the United Nations, and from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, for reasons of maintaining strong national sovereignty.^[200] He endorses free trade, rejecting membership in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization as "managed trade". He endorses increased border security and opposes welfare for illegal aliens, birthright citizenship and amnesty;^[201] he voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006. He voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists in response to the September 11 attacks, but suggested war alternatives such as authorizing the president to grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal targeting specific terrorists. An opponent of the Iraq War and potential war with Iran, he has also criticized neoconservatism and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, arguing that both inadvertently cause terrorist reprisals against Americans. Paul has stated that "Israel is our close friend" and that it is not the place of the United States to "dictate how Israel runs her affairs".^[202]

Paul is a proponent of Austrian School economics; he has authored six books on the subject, and displays pictures of Austrian School economists Friedrich Hayek, Murray Rothbard, and Ludwig von Mises (as well as of Grover Cleveland)^[85] on his office wall. He regularly votes against almost all proposals for new government spending, initiatives, or taxes;^[66] he cast two thirds of all the lone negative votes in the House during a 1995–1997 period.^[19] He has pledged never to raise taxes^[203] and states he has never voted to approve a budget deficit. Paul believes that the country could abolish the individual income tax by scaling back federal spending to its fiscal year 2000 levels;^[90][204] financing government operations would be primarily by excise taxes and non-protectionist tariffs. He endorses eliminating most federal government agencies, terming them unnecessary bureaucracies. Paul has a consistent record as an inflation hawk, having warned of the threat of hyperinflation as far back as 1981.^[205] While Paul believes the longterm decrease of the U.S. dollar's purchasing power by inflation is attributable to its lack of any commodity backing, he does not endorse a "return" to a gold standard – as the U.S. government has established during the past – but instead prefers to eliminate legal tender laws and to remove the sales tax on gold and silver, so that the market may freely decide what type of monetary standard(s) there shall be.^[206] He also advocates gradual elimination of the Federal Reserve System.^[207]

Paul endorses constitutional rights, such as the right to keep and bear arms, and habeas corpus for political detainees. He opposes the Patriot Act, federal use of torture, presidential autonomy, a national identification card, warrantless domestic surveillance, and the draft. Citing the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, Paul advocates states' rights to decide how to regulate social matters not cited directly by the Constitution. Paul terms himself "strongly pro-life",^[208] "an unshakable foe of abortion",^[209] and believes regulation or ban^[210] on medical decisions about maternal or fetal health is "best handled at the state level".^[211][212] He says his years as an obstetrician led him to believe life begins at conception;^[213] his abortion-related legislation, like the Sanctity of Life Act, is intended to negate Roe v. Wade and to get "the federal government completely out of the business of regulating state matters."^[214] Paul also believes that the notion of the separation of church and state is currently misused by the court system: "In case after case, the Supreme Court has used the infamous 'separation of church and state' metaphor to uphold court decisions that allow the federal government to intrude upon and deprive citizens of their religious liberty."^[215]

He opposes federal regulation of the death penalty^[211] (although he opposes capital punishment),^[216] of education,^[217] and of marriage, and endorsed revising the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy to concern mainly disruptive sexual behavior (whether heterosexual or homosexual).^[218] As a free-market environmentalist, he asserts private property rights in relation to environmental protection and pollution prevention. In 2009, he claimed that climate change is a hoax.^[219] He also opposes the federal War on Drugs,^[220] and believes the states should decide whether to regulate or deregulate drugs such as medical marijuana.^[221] Paul pushes to eliminate federal involvement with and management of health care, which he argues would allow prices to decrease due to the fundamental dynamics of a free market.^[222] Referring to the federal government, Ron Paul has also stated that "The government shouldn't be in the medical business." He is also opposed to federal government influenza inoculation programs.^[223] He is an outspoken proponent for increased ballot access for 3rd party candidates and numerous election law reforms which he believes would allow more voter control.^[224]

Paul was critical of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, arguing that it sanctioned federal interference in the labor market and did not improve race relations. He once remarked: "The Civil Rights Act of 1964 not only violated the Constitution and reduced individual liberty; it also failed to achieve its stated goals of promoting racial harmony and a color-blind society".^[225] Paul opposes affirmative action.^[226]

On April 15, 2011, Paul was one of four Republican members of Congress to vote against "The Path to Prosperity".^[227]

Personal life

Paul has been married to Carol Wells since 1957.^[228] They have five children, who were baptized Episcopalian:^[8] Ronald, Lori, Randal, Robert, and Joy. Paul's son Randal is the junior United States senator from the state of Kentucky. Raised a Lutheran, Paul later became a church-going Baptist.^[229]

Bibliography

Other contributions

References

External links

• Ron Paul's personal website, books, articles, links to political sites connected with Ron Paul
• Ron Paul at the Open Directory Project

Congress

• U.S. House of Representatives Office of Ron Paul
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Appearances at the Internet Movie Database
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Works by or about Ron Paul in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Profile at NNDB

Presidential campaign

• NOW on PBS "Ron Paul and Internet Politics". Also, a September 2008 NOW on PBS interview with Ron Paul
• PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer – Vote 2008: Ron Paul
• Ron Paul TV. Ron Paul Presidential Candidate Media and Internet Video Campaign.

Other

• DailyPaul.com, unofficial blog and forum on Ron Paul