For nearly two decades, Ron Paul was the US Representative for Texas’ 14th Congressional District. He navigated the massive storms of 9/11 and the war on Afghanistan, the PATRIOT Act, the Iraq War, the “Arab Spring,” the Snowden revelations, and so much more. He fought to the full extent of his power to block US government infringements on our civil liberties and to prevent US government infringement on the lives of others overseas.
He resisted the powerful pull of the herd mentality on Capitol Hill. To get along you have to go along. “If you want to be a leader you have to learn how to follow!”
He stood strong for the principles of non-intervention and peace, even when the entire ponderous blob of Congress hefted its weight against him. He was one of perhaps five Republicans who voted against waging war on an Iraq that had nothing to do with 9/11, had no WMDs, and could not harm the US if it wanted to do so.
“No one warned us that the Iraq war was based on lies,” claimed the trained seals who clapped their “aye” votes for war. But Ron Paul did. And he was right. Of course.
In short he didn’t care what the media said and he didn’t care what his colleagues thought. He stood for truth, non-intervention, and peace. He never got caught up in the mindless jingoism that has replaced critical thought on Capitol Hill.
When in 2009 the war machine was seeking to pass one of its periodic “sense of Congress” resolutions recognizing “Israel’s Right to Defend Itself Against Attacks from Gaza,” he braved the raw power of the Israel lobby and went down to the floor to school his fellow Members on the history of Hamas and to warn them about the dangers of interventionism:
Ron Paul reveals Hamas was started by Israel. https://t.co/olLQfqsMYc pic.twitter.com/SQE9shnU60
— Adam Green – Know More News (@Know_More_News) October 10, 2023
Contrast the bravery of Rep. Ron Paul from TX-14 with his replacement, Randy Weber from TX-14, who went full trained seal without any guiding principles. To underscore the clownishness of his illiteracy on foreign policy, he actually donned the flag of a foreign nation to pledge his allegiance to that foreign country:
I stand with Israel! Hamas must be obliterated. Godspeed for the great @IDF. May GOD be with Israel & US as we seek to support them! pic.twitter.com/vLcpfGxMTl
— Randy Weber (@TXRandy14) October 12, 2023
Ron Paul rightly warned us that interventionism in the Middle East would cause nothing but death and destruction not only to the many innocent non-Israelis in the region but also to Israel itself.
Ron Paul’s successor as the Representative of Texas-14 – my Congressman – will have the blood of thousands of Palestinians (many of them Christian) on his hands and also the blood of innocent Israelis caught up in the apocalyptic maelstrom that is about to be unleashed.
Had then-Rep. Ron Paul been heeded back in 2009, with the US adopting a non-interventionist foreign policy, Israel would likely have made some sort of peace with the Palestinians. US “unconditional” backing for Israel created a kind of “moral hazard” that led Israel to believe it did not need to seek a modus vivendi with Palestinians because it had a strong man behind it with an unlimited checkbook and unlimited weapons.
In the interim thousands have been killed and generations have been lost. Lost…like America’s moral compass.
Randy Weber – you are no Ron Paul.
Daniel McAdams is director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. Reprinted from the Ron Paul Institute.
There is no one good remaining in Congress. No one! It’s very clear that without major electoral system changes — eliminating private campaign contributions, replacing the winner-take-all system with proportional representation, and equal TV time for all candidates — we’re never going to make any substantial positive changes through our elected officials. Negative changes will continue of course.
The only thing that will end this bloodthirsty warmongering insanity is not ‘reform’ (sic) of political representation but instead the complete and long overdue end of rulership ….. period!
Even hunter-gatherers have rulers, that’s perfectly natural and not the problem. The problem is a rotten, grossly overpopulated society comprised of people who worship money and material things, and that will support the rulers so long as they can keep all their destructive toys.
In good, moral societies, the rulers rule reluctantly, and they are chosen for their wisdom and knowledge. Pretty much the opposite of our society.
Your belief in rulership as the natural functional equivalent of civil society is erroneous, and also a rather sad indicator of your acceptance of victimhood. The tangible fact of the presently existing, but unnecessary, presence of rulers is the evidence and proof that they are not and never have been and never will be, either ‘benevolent’ or ‘moral’.
You’re so blinded by your opposition to the concept of leadership that you can’t see reality. Even non-humans have leaders. Your comments don’t state any facts or list any examples to support your position, because there are none.
Your inability to distinguish between leading by example and ruling by dictate is the actual blindness.
When the purpose of democracy is to focus the distributed intelligence of a population the idea of leadership changes dramatically. No single leader can know what everyone knows as a species.
Jeff, RR did not use the words “leadership” or “leaders.” He used the words “rulership” and “rulers.” I would suspect RR does not oppose leadership any more than you do.
The difference between a leader and a ruler is that a leader leads by intelligence, wisdom and example, whereas a ruler points a gun at you and says, “obey, or die!”
There is nothing wrong with having rules. Rulers, however, should be abolished.
Help organize the largest voter turn out in US history and request voters to to make zero campaign contributions and write in friends.
When the dust settles; organize a constituent assembly as near the center of the US as possible. Be modern and make the constituent assembly the permanent heart of a people serving democracy.
Ron Paul tries to tell us the truth as he understands it. I admire him for that. He is a great American patriot.
Randy Weber has the blood of Palestinians and Israelis of all religions and no religions on his hands. If Dracula existed, he’d drink the blood on Randy Weber’s hands.
Randy Weber stands with Israel, which makes his Congressional District which used to be Ron Paul’s District Occupied Territory. If he stands with Ukraine, it is Ukrainian Occupied Territory in addition to being Israeli Occupied Territory.
The sheer, unmitigated blood-lust that soaks the US governments, media, military and (mostly) populace is spiritually alarming and without precedent as to degree. Our country needs an exorcism on a scale never before seen. When, O Lord? How?
June 22, 2022 U.S. Still Spends More on Military Than Next Nine Countries Combined
The world spent over $2 trillion on militaries for the first time in 2021, an all-time high after seven consecutive years of increases, according to the latest data on global military expenditures compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
https://www.nationalpriorities.org/blog/2022/06/22/us-still-spends-more-military-next-nine-countries-combined/
https://media.nationalpriorities.org/uploads/us_vs_world_2021.png
Aug 19, 2022 What is imperialism? Exploring theories of hegemony (with historian Aaron Good)
A discussion of different theoretical concepts of imperialism and hegemony and how they relate to the United States empire.
https://youtu.be/OYywVTzV524