Yesterday, Rep. Ron Paul voted against a resolution praising the 30th anniversary of the Israel-Egypt Camp David treaty.
He rose to explain why:
Mr. Speaker: I rise in reluctant opposition to this resolution. I do so not because I oppose our recognizing peace as preferable to, and more productive than, war. On the contrary, too seldom do we celebrate and encourage the end of violence and warfare on this Floor so I welcome any such endorsement of peace in international relations. However, I cannot agree with the final “resolved†clause of this resolution, which states that:
“… the House of Representatives calls for recognition of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel as a model mechanism upon which partner nations may build to overcome longstanding barriers to peace and effective mutual cooperation.â€
What the resolution fails to mention, and the reason we should not endorse the treaty as a model, is that at the time the peace was being negotiated at Camp David the United States committed itself to an enormous financial aid package to both Egypt and Israel in exchange for their accession to the treaty. Over the past thirty years, the United States taxpayer has transferred to – some might say “bribed†– Israel and Egypt well over 100 billion dollars as a payoff for their leaders’ signature on the treaty. Particularly in this time of economic hardship, where so many Americans are out of work and facing great financial challenges, I hardly believe we should be celebrating that which increases the strain on taxpayers. I believe we should cease all foreign aid to all countries, as it is a counterproductive and unconstitutional transfer of wealth from US taxpayers to governments overseas.
I do believe we should, where possible and without meddling, encourage nations and regions at war or in conflict to work toward peace. But I also believe we should lead by example: that we should demonstrate by our actions the benefits of friendly relations and trade with all nations which seek the same. I strongly oppose the idea that we should bribe the rest of the world to do what we demand. Therefore, while I celebrate the achievement of peace between Egypt and Israel, I do not believe this “model†to be productive or in the best interests of the United States. I urge my colleagues to reject this resolution.
The criminals in DC steal hundreds of billions of tax dollars from people like you and then give that money to foreign governments.
Can you imagine the people who founded this country tolerating that?
They would over throw this POS government we have in a second if they were around today.
Ron Paul is right, of course. But if I had to choose between evils, I’d take imperial bribery to constant imperial war anytime.
My choice would be NO imperialism.
No need to choose. Empire means both. Ya gitcher imperial bribery and yer constant imperial war. It’s a 2-fer-1 deal. Don’t come no other way, far as I know.
Well, we have both. Now what?
“I believe we should cease all foreign aid to all countries, as it is a counterproductive and unconstitutional transfer of wealth from US taxpayers to governments overseas”.
That’s all there is to it, end of issue. Once again Ron Paul says it like it is. While everyone else just sucks up. Oh and by the way doesn’t congress have something better to do, like playing golf or something?
Peace!
Rep. Ron Paul stands out as an oustanding intellect and independent thinker among his colleagues. If his colleagues had listened to his contributions on the US dollar and the financial system in the past decade, we wouldn’t be in the present financial mess. He is one of the unsung heroes of our time.
I associate myself with your comments.
The Honorable Ron Paul of Texas–and it’s a pleasure calling him “Honorable”–is a rare bird. He’s in public life because he believes in certain things–and holds to ’em. The vast majority of those in the “Parliament of Whores” (aka the U.S. Congress) are lobbyist-owned, live-on-the-taxpayers’-dime bastards.
Former AIG chief says bailout ‘failed’
“Former AIG CEO Maurice “Hank†Greenberg says the bailout has “failed” and he’s proposing a 10-point alternative focused on saving, not breaking apart, the mega-insurer.
Greenberg will reveal his plan during a hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today, slated to start at 10 a.m.
His proposal includes pressuring the counterparties at the other end of AIG’s toxic financial transactions to reinvest in AIG some of the $100 billion in taxpayer money they received as part of the firm’s bailout, according to a copy of Greenberg’s prepared testimony obtained by POLITICO.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090402/pl_politico/20799_1
As usual Dr. Paul hit the nail right on the head. To vote on that resolution is saying that you agree that BRIBERY is okay.
We sure hope that Dr. Paul will run in 2012.
Ron Paul/Rand Paul 2012
Now that is REAL History that We The People can get behind.
“Switch to Gold, the Fed WILL Fold”
Convert your WorthLess FRNs to silver coin and store them in this bank as such.
freelakotabank.com
Shouldn’t Israel be paying Egypet and the US for that?!
Man… and we had the opportunity to have this man as our President. I hope the country survives long enough to get another chance like that.
It’s even more than Ron Paul states. Without the enormous US military backing for the state of “Israel†preceding the “Israeli-Egypt peace treatyâ€, there would have been no state of “Israel†for any other state to have a “peace treaty†with. A true non-interventionist US foreign policy would have then and will now lead to the fall of the bandit terrorist country “Israel†in fairly short order.
You’ll only get that if you dissolve the ethnic lobbies and the congressional-military-industrial complex.
While Congressman Paul makes some good points, I disagree. We spend a tiny fraction of our national budget on foreign aid. Israel gets the highest amount of our foreign aid and Eygpt is a close second. However, even when you factor in all the foreign aid combined it is still just a tiny fraction of our budget. What I find much more troubling is the hundreds of billions of dollars we are spending and the TRILLIONS of dollars in debt we are racking up. But most of that debt is not the result of foreign aid.
BUT WHY SHOULD WE SPEND ANY of our money on “foreign aid”? What if all the money spent here had been used on say Detroit, for example?
Tim R,
It troubles me too, the hundreds of billions we are spending — for wars against the Muslims that we were conned into by Israeli-Firsters. The Israeli-First lobbies screamed for Iraq’s blood and now they scream for Iran’s blood. As for foreign aid to Israel, why, why, why do we need to give them a dime? Israeli citizens enjoy western style wealth (per capita GDP of Israel is about $30,000 per year; in comparison per capita GDP for Egypt is on the order of $2,000 per year). Of course, Israel is a colony of Western people in a hostile Mid East environment, and if the colonials can’t make a good living there, they will go home. If the Jews in Israel go back home to the West to enjoy a westernized living, so much for the colony. So I guess the Israelis need outsized income for the area they are in. But why should the American taxpayers provide it? Years ago, American Jews were hectored into buying Israeli Bonds (every synagogue held pledge dinners where pledges were extracted via peer pressure), paying for trees planted in the Holy Land, etc, etc. And then a wonderful switch was made – instead of donating money for the colony, it was much greater leverage to donate to Israeli-First lobbies which in turn, extracted money from the U S Treasury. The leverage is wonderful. Easier to buy a Congressman than to actually pay for a bulldozer or tractor itself. The Congressman will get you all the bulldozers, tractors, F-16s, or cluster bombs you want.
Life in Occupied Palestine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEJ_-q-hZhI&feature=related
I also think it’s a case of throwing good money after bad. If you accept that Israel is ultimately going to fail then all the money and political capital invested here is a waste. This may seem improbable to many observers but look how quickly the USSR imploded. If your old enough, think back to the mid 1970’s. The USA had been humbled in Vietnam and humiliated by Watergate. It was a traumatic time. America seemed desolate and lost. The USSR seemed so powerful and ominous. Who would have thought just a decade and a half later it would all be swept away? Look how quickly the South African regime collapsed. Consider Europe in 1919 compared to just five years earlier. Israel is like the Crusader kingdoms of the middle ages. I don’t think it is going to be around long term.
Andy,
Is that what you are hoping for? Are you hoping for Israel to fail? A tiny nation, no larger than the size of the small state of New Jersey; a tiny people of five million Jews many of whom came to Israel after suffering through unspeakable horrors in Europe, and now you say you don’t think it will be around long. I wonder, is that your prediction or is that your desire.
So you think Israel will not be around long?
You know what my prediction is? Well, I think Mark Twain said it best:
CONCERNING THE JEWS …
The Essay
“If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvellous fight in the world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”
I’m not “hoping” for anything buddy. Once again you make your knee-jerk accusation of implied hostility.
The leaders of Israel are implementing policies that will lead to its destruction. They are creating facts on the ground that will make the implementation of a two state solution impossible. Netanyahu has promised to build new settlements that will bisect the West Bank and make the creation of a Palistinian state almost impossible. Peace is possible in the Middle East, but a precondition for peace is a just settlement of the Palistinian/Israeli conflict. I think such a settlement would entail the creation of a Palistinian state along the entire West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusulem as its capital. It would entail an admission by the Israeli government that the formation of the Jewish State was made possible by the expulsion of Palistinians from thier native homes, and the offer to remedy this injustice in a manner that falls short of the right to return.
The fact of the matter is that the leaders of Israel at this time would rather have land than peace, and it is this desire that will lead to the destruction of Israel as a Jewish State. Demographics make it clear that Jews will soon be a minority if the government of Israel continues its hold on the West Bank. The Israeli government will be in the same position as the Aparthied Government of South Africa. It will be forced to impose its will on a radicalized and discontented majority Arab population. This situation, as in South Africa, is untenable, and will lead to the isolation of Israel as a pariah state. Like Mearsheimer, I do not see how the polices of the Israeli government can lead to a happy ending.
Ok, I will be happy to give them East Jerusalem as their capital. As long as in exchange the Arab Muslims give the Jews East Mecca as our capital.
Updating the late Sen. Dirkson’s quote, “A billion here, a billion there… pretty soon you’re talking about a lot of money.”
Does it mean anything to you that even ONE dollar of foreign aid is UNCONSTITUTIONAL???? If one usurpation is allowed, then many more will (have!) follow… and then you have a mess like we’re in now.
When will American’s learn that we either have a nation with a rule of law or a nation ruled by men? “In questions of power…let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” –Thomas Jefferson: Kentucky Resolutions, 1798.
WAKE UP!!!!!
The problem with most people is they have no idea why we are a Republic and NOT a Democracy. Our nation was founded as a Republic which means that we have representitives that must follow the Constitution. A Democracy without the Contsitution is no more than mob rule and unfortunately that’s what we have now been suckered into. The Sheeple gladly believe in “Democracy” which has actually been the ruine of many nations (Pre WWII Germany was a Democracy). They refuse to understand that 51% of the people should never be allowed to vote out the rights of the other 49%. That in fact the rights we have are not granted by our government but by our creator seems to go in one ear and out the other.
Our government indoctrination centers for children only talk about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights but for the most part never explain it. I suppose it’s hard to explain something you don’t understand yourself. Most colleges don’t even have Constitutional Law classes and if they do they teach the law and not the spirit of the law as it was meant to be. Ron Paul has educated more of our college student about the Constitution than their professors ever dreamt of. Judge Andrew Napolitano has also done a great service.
Obviously you USAF Vet Dan get it, and I’m glad to see you trying to wake people up. It’s the only chance we have of saving our great nation.
On a lighter note, soon we will need to update Sen. Dirkson’s quote it will have to be a trillion here, a trillion there, etc. It’s a great quote and I used to use it often until I was corrected about the fact that he never actually said it. Oh well, the spirit of the quote is all that matters and he did come pretty close to saying it.
Peace!
It doesn’t matter how tiny the fraction of our budget is that accounts for foreign aid. There is no authority in the U.S. Constitution for the federal government to take money from U.S. citizens and give it to foreigners.
The question that should be asked what good foreign has done .The answer is nothing.Foreign aid has been devestating to the people of the countries getting aid.Most aid used to suppress and oppress people.
Yoooooo!!!!!…I*m..wit..useguyz… Certainly there is a need for foreign aid, like there is
a need for partial birth abortion…one in a million..!! Fetus with no brain maybe.
Not Egyptand Israel… Israel uses the AID to bribe OUR politicians and spy on OUR
government… Then they tell us not to worry about their spies and tell us we should not try
or jail them…They push OUR government into wars which are against U.S. interersts.
Our *ally* Israel is the U.S.’s NUMBER ONE WELFARE QUEEN…GETTING more WELFARE (foreign &
military AID) than any other!! They USE our MONEY to SLAUGHTER the PEOPLE whose LAND THEY
STOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ron Paul is on to THEIR GAME..!!! Ron Paul IS right about this issue..!!
AND nearly EVERY other ISSUE
Just like in poor nations, good leaders like Ron Paul does not win in democratic election. Because democracy has turned into a capitalists tool to enslave the whole world, including the United States of America.
When America wakes up to the truth of Ron Paul’s revelations, or finds itself under the grip and full control of few corporations that truly run its affairs domestically and internationally, we in the rest of the world can truly breath a long sigh of relief. Only American people can effectively address the imperialistic adventures of capitalists that controlled third world nations such as ours, because this modern corporate empire is remotely controlled from their country.
We in poor countries, for quite sometime thought, Americans will not feel the slightest pain of poverty in this modern world. Now it is very clear that capitalists, bankers and their stooges doesn’t really give a damn even to the very host country that gave it life and sheltered it for many years.
Third World countries helplessly hoped for Ron Paul’s presidency, but since he lost as expected, all what we can do now is to watch and see the total collapse of American economy.
However, there is still hope, and it is with Ron Paul and American people. Only his economic vision can bring back the economic prestige of once glorious America.
TauSug, You like many others have been misled by the myth of “Democracy”. The US became a great economic power as a Republic with free market principles. Our Constitution helped in many ways. It put down on paper and into law that which we all know is correct. That we should all have the rights that our creator gave us. We should not be slaves to anyone, we should be able to use our bodies and what we work for in any way we see fit.
Have you noticed that the US is now exporting “Democracy”? Decocracy is simply mob rule! Without the Consitution Democracy simply means that the majority, no matter how ignorant or easily manipulated is in charge. The Power Elite now control the masses through fear and get them to accept anything they want. The Power Elite have never and will never care about the average man, but only themselves. That is why we had a Constitution, to gaurantee the rights of the people.
We have allowed the Power Elite to destroy Our Constitution. This has destroyed the Free Market and turned it into Crony Capitalism. It has turned our country from a nation of rights into mob rule driven by fear and propoganda.
Democracy is the big lie! Any nation without a Consititution will be destoyed by the Elite it’s just to easy to brainwash the masses. Karl Heinrich Marx was correct in his Communist Manifesto that Capitolism will fail. However, the Constitution is our hope. If we can get back to the Constitution we have a chance, otherwise it’s back to the dark ages, nothing else will ever work.
Peace!
I have been having this same discussion with a friend on Facebook. I posted a list of quotes on Democracy from my website: http://libertas.ws/libertarian-studies/quotes-on-democracy/ . I mentioned that Plato and the Founding Fathers warned against democracy, and now he’s convinced that I’m in favor of the tyranny of Plato’s Republic. He still can’t explain why the Founders warned against it too.
I’m having the most difficulty with my most intelligent friends. They immediately jump to conclusions and shut me off.
Have you had a similar problem?
Libertas, yes I have this same problem. Interestingly a group of friends that I should be able to discuss this with (educators, from superintendents to history teachers) are the worst at getting it. The phys Ed. teacher gets it though, however he’s also a Ron Paul fan.
I think to a large extent it’s a lack of critical thinking. Most people, even intelligent ones, seem to grab hold of the first fact they hear and refuse to listen after that. Somewhere these people were told that it’s either Democracy or Tyranny. They refuse to understand that electing leaders without the constraint of Constitutional Law quickly leads to Tyranny itself.
Peace!
Holy God you guys are seriously messed up. Ever have an independent thought amongst you? Or do you always blindly jump on the ultra right bandwagon? I’m beginning to think that the (R) after one’s name means retard…and I’m seriously thinking of changing mine to something else.
Do you actually have a point? If so please explain. We may have a few Psychics but I am not one of them. You use the word “retard” in regards to (R), are you talking about Tim R or Republicans? First, you will not find many people on this site that consider themselves Republicans. Second, most of the people on this site at least take the time to post a comment that makes sense. Boy oh Boy and I have the same name as you, I guess I should change it before someone thinks I’m a “Tard” like you. Seriously, how old are you, about nine or ten? Grow up educate yourself and then come back.
Peace!
Too bad he has the same name as you Brad. Although if he is talking about Tim R. I agree with the “retarded” part.
I just don’t understand why people can’t see the wisdom of Ron Paul’s understanding of non-interventionism. Maybe it’s not that they can’t see the wisdom; it’s that they haven’t heard of it. That’s certainly true for me. I had a knee jerk reaction against him more than a year ago.
We need to keep on getting this message out. The fight is not over.
Thanks for the post.
I see the problem as twofold. First interventionism has become the accepted standard for both establishment parties (neither party truly represents the American sheeple I might add). It has become the “conventional wisdom”. To speak against it is the political equivalent of “blasphemy”. Secondly there are very powerful, deeply entrenched, special interest groups (the military-industrial complex, AIPAC, ethnic lobbies, military and political elites in Washington) that benefit enormously from Americas’ interventionist foreign policy while spreading the costs of it over a huge base of unorganized, divided and confused taxpayers. Public-choice theory is critical in understanding how the American empire operates.