Ron Paul

Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) represents the Texas 14th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. First elected in 1976, he served through 1984, and then returned to Congress in 1996.

Elected as a Republican, he professes a limited government libertarian ideology, which frequently conflicts with Republicans and most other Congressional colleagues. His regular votes against almost all proposals for government spending, initiatives and taxes and that he is often the sole dissenter in otherwise unanimous votes have earned him the nickname "Dr. No".

Biography

Ron Paul was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Dormont High School, Dormont, Pennsylvania 1953. He received his B.A. from Gettysburg College (1957) and M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine (1961). He did his internship and residency training at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan from 1961 to 1962. He was a flight surgeon in the United States Air Force from 1963 to 1965. He went on to do obstetrics and gynecology training at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1965-1968. In 1968 he and his wife Carol moved to Surfside Beach, Texas.

He became a delegate to the Texas state Republican convention in 1974. He was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for election to Congress in 1974 against entrenched liberal Democrat Robert R. Casey. When Casey was appointed head of the Federal Maritime Commission by President Gerald Ford, a special election was held in April 1976 to replace him. Paul won that election but lost six months later in the general election to Democrat Robert A. Gammage although he defeated him in a 1978 rematch. He went on to be re-elected in 1980 and 1982. He was the first Congressman to propose term limit legislation for the House of Representatives. In 1984, citing his term limits proposal, he did not seek reelection to the House, although he unsuccessfully contested the Republican primary for Senate. He was succeeded by Tom DeLay, a now prominent Republican congressman. From 1985 he returned to medical practice as an OBGYN.

In 1988, Dr. Paul won the nomination of the Libertarian Party for the U.S. Presidency. He eventually placed third (with 0.3% of the popular vote) behind George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis.

In 1996, he was again elected to the House as a Republican. Mainstream Republican Party figures backed his challenger in the primary; however, he won and went on to win the general election.

Leaders of the Texan Republican Party made similar efforts to defeat him in 1998, but he again won the primary and the election. The Republican congressional leadership then agreed to a compromise: Paul votes with the Republicans on procedural matters and remains nominally Republican in exchange for the committee assignments normally due according to his seniority. This is arguably similar to the deal that Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont has with the Democratic Party (though Jeffords was elected as a Republican and is now officially independent). He was convincingly re-elected in 2000 and 2002. He was elected unopposed in 2004 to his ninth term in the Congress. He is a member of the Republican Liberty Caucus. Some Ron Paul supporters are encouraging him to run again for the Texas seat in the United States Senate.

Political affiliations and support

Ron Paul joined the Libertarian Party as a lifetime member. Though a Republican Congressman, Paul remains on good terms with the Libertarian party and has addressed its national convention.

A Libertarian Party spokesman George Getz said thousand of libertarians across the United States donate money to Ron Paul's campaign funds. Texas Democrats allege he uses those campaign funds to present himself as having more moderate positions than his Congressional votes. Campaign disclosures reveal in excess of 70% of contributions to Paul's coffers come from outside his home state of Texas. [1] [2]

Views

Described as erratic by the respected Austin Chronicle newspaper[3], his economic views oppose government intervention in the market while also criticizing United States' intervention in Iraq and what he charges is the use of the war on terror to curtail civil liberties. He believes in the complete abolition of income tax, most Cabinet departments, the Federal Reserve and American withdrawal from the United Nations. Paul has referred to the Internal Revenue Service as the Gestapo.

Paul's supporters say he is willing to take unpopular positions in order to defend what he regards as constitutional limited government. He has been criticized at times for his voting record, being the only dissenting vote against giving Rosa Parks and Mother Theresa the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor; Paul believes that Congress is not authorized by the Constitution to issue this medal. Paul argues that his colleagues find it easy to be generous with taxpayers' money and has challenged them to contribute $100 each to cover the cost of the award. Similarly, Texas Monthly awarded him the "Bum Steer" award for voting against a congressional honor for cartoonist Charles Schulz.

Ron Paul's Legislative Director in 2004 described President Bush as a "domestic socialist" and "war-monger" and has accused the GOP congressional leadership of engaging in trickery and deceit.

Paul has also said that there are many within Government pushing an agenda that undermines liberty by increasing the powers of international agencies, such as the United Nations. At a meeting of Texas Patriots, he explained "I think there are 25,000 individuals that have used offices of powers, and they are in our Universities and they are in our Congresses, and they believe in One World Government. And if you believe in One World Goverment, then you are talking about undermining National Sovereignty and you are talking about setting up something that you could well call a Dictatorship - and those plans are there!..."[4]

Controversial comments about race in newsletter

Paul has been accused of racism over an article in a 1992 issue of the Ron Paul Survival Report. The article, about the L.A. race riots and titled "Los Angeles Racial Terrorism," characterized African-Americans as "barbarians" and called the rioters "thugs and revolutionaries who hate Euro-American civilization".

Ron Paul's publication cited reports that 85 percent of African-American men in Washington, D.C., are arrested at some point. The article argued that "Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the 'criminal justice system,' I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal." It blames liberals and the welfare state for telling African-Americans that they "are entitled to something for nothing". Years later, Paul explained that the newsletter was written by a staff member without him seeing the text prior to publication, as is commonly the case.

Support for the gold standard

In many public speeches Paul has called for the re-introduction of the gold standard, the effect of which would require the United States Government to make large purchases of gold and to only issue currency to the extent of its ownership of gold. He has also called for the removal of all taxes on gold transactions. [5] In 2002 he proposed legislation abolishing the Federal Reserve Board, enabling "America to return to the type of monetary system envisioned by our Nation's founders: one where the value of money is consistent because it is tied to a commodity such as gold." [6]

Paul's personal financial disclosures reveal extensive private investments in gold and silver, through equities and warrants in companies including Newmont, IAM Gold, Barrick Gold, Golden Star Resources, Golden Cycle Gold Corp, Pan American Silver, Great Basin Gold, Eldorado Gold, Freeport McMoran Gold & Copper, Apollo Gold Corp and Placer Dome. [7]

District and contact information

The 14th Congressional District of Texas stretches from the Gulf Coast south of Houston almost to Corpus Christi; north through Victoria and west close to San Antonio; extending north to Hays county near Austin. From Hays county, the District stretches east to Fayette and Colorado counties, south through Wharton county, and back to the Gulf through the lower half of Brazoria county. In all, the district encompasses more than 22,000 square miles.

Washington: 203 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515. Phone Number: (202) 225-2831
Freeport, Texas: 200 W 2nd Street, Suite 210, Freeport, TX 77541. Phone Number: (979) 230-0000
Victoria, Texas: 312 S Main Street, Suite 228, Victoria, TX 77901. Phone Number: (361) 576-1231

External links

References

Gwynne, Sam (Oct. 1, 2001). Texas Monthly.
Bernstein, Alan (May 23, 1996). Newsletter excerpts offer ammunition to Paul's opponent; GOP hopeful quoted on race, crime. The Houston Chronicle, p. A33.

Preceded by:
David Bergland

Libertarian Party Presidential candidate
1988 (lost)

Followed by:
Andre Marrou