Ron Paul photo

Remarks in Columbia Following the South Carolina Primary

January 21, 2012

Thank you. Thank you. Sounds like you have a lot of enthusiasm. I love it.

There's no doubt in my mind the momentum has been continuing and will continue. And thank you very much.

You know a lot has been done here in the last week or so and also there's been now three elections, and a total of 37 delegates been chosen so far. Less than 2 percent, like 1 1/2 percent, this is the beginning of a long, hard slide. [applause] And we will -- we will continue to do this. There is no doubt about it. The message of liberty is being received more people every single day, thanks to your efforts. [applause]

The wonderful thing about the message of liberty is if what we seek is peace and prosperity, that is how you get peace and prosperity, by understanding and defending and promoting the cause of liberty. [applause]

You know, there's no doubt our numbers have been growing, whether it's this primary, but I have been in this business of promoting this cause in the electoral process for a long time. At the beginning, I thought it was just going to be promotion of a cause. Then it dawned on me, if you win elections and win delegates, that's the way you promote a cause. [applause]

So we will certainly be promoting this in the most frugal way. We will be going to the caucus station -- states and we will be promoting the whole idea of getting more delegates, because that's the name of the game. And we will pursue it. [applause]

Twenty or 30 years ago I started and I didn't think it -- that it would be well received. And, obviously, getting elected 12 times meant the people who knew me best voted for the cause of liberty and this cause has continued to grow.

Even compared to four years ago, it looks like tonight we will get four to five times more votes than we did four years ago. [applause]

So there's every reason to be encouraged, there's every reason that we understand so clearly that the cause is so necessary. This is what I noticed about four years ago. After the last election, our efforts were getting -- it -- they were getting more and more attention.

And everybody asked me, the media fleet asked me, what is different? Well, the evidence had become clear that the efforts by government is failing, and we can't depend on the government to take care of us from cradle to grave, we can't depend on the government, on its efforts to promote and believe that we can police the world and go into nation building because we're all gone broke. [applause]

Of course, we've talked a lot about the economy and how we got into the mess and what we should do about it. Others have talked about it in glib terms and not be specific but I see our problems as a spending problem government is too big. We do more thing -- all the things we're not supposed to do and we forget about doing the things we're supposed to be doing. [applause]

So as a modest attempt to get back to reasonable budgets, we want to have a $1 trillion cut in spending in one year. [applause]

Of course, there's not -- there is one other little item that I've talked about, not for this campaign, not for the last campaign, but for the last 30 years. As a matter of fact, it motivated me in many ways to run for Congress. And then it has to do with how do we get away with paying for these bills and endless spending occurs and government keeps growing.

It cannot occur if you have a sound monetary system. That's why I have emphasized the importance of having a sound dollar and why we need to rein in the Federal Reserve system. [applause]

Right.

You know, one of the arguments that they, you know, pose against us for talking about the gold standard is they said it's too complex and it's risky business.

But what is -- what can be more ridiculous than saying, oh, money comes out of a printing press and it should be done in secret, creating trillions of dollars and passing them out to the special interests and we're supposed to accept that as a good monetary system.

You know, it isn't all that complex. As a matter of fact, if we obeyed the law we would have sound money. The Constitution still says that only gold and silver should be legal tender. [applause]

But if one understands this, you can understand why government grows because politicians don't have to be responsible. There's various reasons why they spend money, but if they, you know, to one degree they can tax us but there's a limit to how much, because there will be a tax rebellion.

And they can borrow and they can get away with that as long as the credit is good but eventually interest rates go up. That's why they invented in 1913 this financial system based on fiat money and printing money, because you can delay the pain and penalty.

And I used to say, so often, over the years, that, you know, we run up these debts and we pass them on to the next generation, we shouldn't do it. But you know what, what's different today, we are the next generation and we're suffering the consequences. [applause]

And this is -- and this is the reason that we cannot resolve the problem of the unfinanced entitlement system, Social Security and all, because if you just print money, the value of money goes down, and the people's standards go down. Already the people on fixed incomes, their standard of living is going down.

The middle class is shrinking. Unemployment, if you look at those honestly, is closer to 20 percent, and the people are very, very concerned about this. The answers come with a very uncomplicated solution. We got into this mess by too many people in Washington either didn't care or didn't understand the Constitution. We need to restore the Constitution, and we must restore liberty. [applause]

In order -- in order to do that, we should spend all our resources here at home. That's a good place to spend the money. This is also the reason I have emphasized so strongly about the waste and the amount of money we spend overseas and the foreign aid.

At the same time our people are suffering here at home. So if we want to spend the money, we should work hard to return the money from overseas spending to the people here in this country, and they should spend the money. [applause]

But in order to do this, we all know that it is not so simple. You don't wave a wand. You have to change the people's attitude and that is what's happening. The people's attitudes are changing and they're realizing that we can't afford this any longer.

Even the people who are on the receiving end know they're getting into trouble because the producers have been pushed out of our country. So this is becoming the opportunity for us to restore the values that had made America great.

And it's based on individual liberty, it's based on the concept that we are free people with free spirits, we should have control of our lives and we should have a control of our destiny, but we also should have control of our money as well. [applause]

But this will not be done -- government does reflect the prevailing attitudes of the people. Where we are gaining now is the prevailing attitude of the people is changing, and that is very good because it 's coming our way and saying government is the problem, it is not the solution.

We got into this mess by too much spending and too much debt and too much printing money and too much regulation. How do they think they're going to get out of this mess by spending more money, printing more money, borrowing more money and regulating more? It's impossible.

That's why we have to reverse the course. Foreign policy, we need a foreign policy, not so strange, but one that the Founders gave us, one the Constitution designed, one that is designed to operate in our self-interest and for our national security. That's what kind we have [inaudible] --

I think -- I think a simple little thing to avoid going into these wars that never seem to end, that they never seem to stop and we never know why we're there and what the purpose is. Founders gave us the answer. Don't go to war unless the war is declared. Go to war, win it and go home. [applause]

So that's a good place to start. Bring the troops home and have them spend their money here, not overseas. Entitlement system, it doesn't work. It's all well intended, oh, yes, everybody is going to get a house, and everybody's going to get free health care, everybody's going to get a free education.

And look at what we have. All it does is when you pump more money into any area, you get higher prices. So the more the government pumps money into education or medicine, the costs go up, but you don't get higher quality or better distribution.

Unfortunately, our country has been very lackadaisical -- and this is what we're reviving, and that is we're lackadaisical about our understanding and our trust in freedom. This is what we need. We need to restore the [inaudible] that if we want a free and prosperous society, we have to understand the necessity of assuming responsibility for ourselves. [applause]

Of course, the one other area that bothers me significantly is when we accept the big role -- the role of big government in economics or in overseas, inevitably it undermines our personal liberties and it is -- and that is being attacked now, always with well -- you know, good intention, but in the last 10 or 12 years, we have embarked in a -- on a road that is undermining our liberties.

When you think of the harm done and the threat to our privacy with the PATRIOT Act, that has literally cancelled out the Fourth Amendment. We need to reverse that and get rid of the PATRIOT Act, is what I think we should do. [applause]

One place where, when the people spoke out, we achieved a lot -- and there is a few people in this room I'm quite sure are computer savvy and Internet savvy.

And when they threaten with SOPA, online gambling, you know, an act which was to take over the Internet, guess what, you all spoke out and at least temporarily it has been removed from the docket in Washington in both the House and the Senate. So that is an achievement. When the people speak out, can you get their attention in Washington. [applause]

But we also need to continue to speak out against what that paragraph they put in the National Defense Authorization Act, that provision that now allows our president to use our military to arrest American citizens with no charges and no attorneys.

Now I got a little bit of criticism from the media and I really worry a lot about that. [laughter]

But I took a day this week and went back up to Washington. I wanted to make sure that I was on record to vote against increasing the national debt by $1.2 trillion.

But also while there, I dropped a piece of legislation in, I think, is very significant and I hope we gain the momentum because so many people in the campaign has been aware of this, although it's not noticed much in the mainstream media, and that is I introduced a bill to repeal that provision and remove that power from our president. [applause]

Our cause is the right cause, because it's the cause that made America great. Freedom is the answer to so many of our problems.

If you think about diversity in a country as our country is, freedom brings people together, because what we do is we release the creative energy of each individual, to pursue their live as they choose, their lifestyles, their religious values, their personal values will be determined by that individual as long as they don't interfere with others. This brings people together.

Economically it should be the same issue, social issues and economic issues. You should have not only a right to your life and your own -- your own practices but you should have a right to spend your money as you choose. This is what we have to do. [applause]

And we did have the best experiment ever. We were the richest country ever. We had the largest middle class ever, and now it is changing. And it's been systematically changing over quite a few decades.

So we have to reverse that because right now the middle class is shrinking, the country is poorer and the prosperity we have is basically based on debt. We owe so much money to overseas. We have now, I mean, ironically and unfortunately, the Chinese have become our banker. I mean, what is going on with us?

Why don't we produce the conditions and the environment to invite capital and investments back into this country? That's what we need. [applause]

The issues you all know very well, the country is coming our way, this campaign has a long way to go. The momentum is growing. The one thing we can say about our campaign, have you ever noticed other candidates going up and then down, up and then down?

So far I am very proud to say that our efforts is steady growth. It's steady growth like this. [applause]

And that's the way it's going to continue because that is what is necessary. It is -- there is a great need for it and the opportunity is there and let me tell you how proud I am of all the supporters and all the efforts made in this.

And just believe me, thank you very much. Keep up the good work. We have the message, we have the talent, we have the determination and we will win this battle for peace and prosperity. Thank you.

Ron Paul, Remarks in Columbia Following the South Carolina Primary Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/300266

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