Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

Ron Paul Comes to Boone—Talks Money, War, Personal Freedom

Story by Kathleen McFadden

Former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, in the High Country for a family reunion, addressed a standing-room-only crowd at the Broyhill Inn last Friday night. Republican presidential candidate, brought his message to Boone last Friday, speaking to a packed house at the Broyhill Inn.

Paul was in the High County to attend a family reunion and addressed a large group of invited guests, reiterating the message that gained him much support and notoriety during the primary season.

Paul described himself as a “reluctant warrior” in the 2008 campaign, but added, “a lot more positive things happened than I expected.”

Although Paul said he argued with supporters who urged him to run that the “time wasn’t right and that young people were interested in other things,” he was astonished to find such widespread acceptance of his message. “It didn’t have much to do with me,” he said, “but people responded to the message; people are starved for it; it energizes young people—the idea of limited government, obeying the Constitution, personal freedom. The energy is out there.”

Paul said the campaign taught him that “the country is really waking up,” and he continued, “I’m optimistic because people are way ahead of Congress” in their understanding of the country’s fiscal crisis.

Paul discussed his opposition to the Federal Reserve and its monetary policy. He referred to Allen Greenspan, former chair of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, as “the biggest inflator and bubble maker in history.”

“The dollar bubble is starting to crack, to leak out,” Paul said. “Congress is on one side and the Federal Reserve is on the other side of the bubble, frantically trying to keep it inflated.” He acknowledged that ending federal bailouts would lead to problems, but maintained that those problems won’t be as bad as the ones looming in the future when the government has no choice but to “cut off the money machine.”

Paul cited 19th century French economist Frederic Bastiat’s law: “If you can’t do it, the government can’t do it. That’s the moral principle of the law. If we would follow that, we’d have much more prosperity, much more peace in the world.
“If you can’t counterfeit money, why should the government be able to make money?,” he asked. “We can’t even audit the Federal Reserve. Whose interests are best being served by the monetary policy we have? If we mint a lot of paper money, the value’s going to go down; it’s no more complicated than that.”

Paul blamed high gas prices on the decreased value of the dollar.

Throughout his political career, Paul said, he has been focused on leaving a standard, a voting record, of his brand of conservatism. “I never expected people to suddenly start paying attention,” he said. “A lot of young people are now interested in monetary policy…The evidence that the system we have isn’t working is very, very clear.

“This will continue,” he said. “The campaign has ended, but the campaign for liberty in many ways has just begun.”

Paul said that ideas of liberty and the Constitution bring people together, while authoritarianism leads to division and competition. “Prosperity comes from freedom, not a planned economy,” he said.

That freedom, he said, is the concept that what you do with your own life is your business and if you don’t hurt anyone, you should be left alone. As an example, he poked fun at regulations requiring bicycle riders to wear helmets.
“Freedom brings people together. Freedom makes us nonconfrontational,” he said.

During his speech, Paul also took aim at corporate influence in Washington, the war and the restriction of civil liberties.

In contrast to claims by some other members of his party that the country is headed toward socialism, Paul maintained that the corporatization of Washington is leading in the opposite direction. “It’s fascism, not communism, because of the corporations,” he said.

Paul said the Republican Party has traditionally argued against empire building, but with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, “we’re now doing the same thing [the Soviet Union did] in some of the same countries. It’s going to end because we don’t have the money; we’re broke.”

In response to a question about the articles of impeachment that Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced against President Bush, Paul said he voted with Kucinich to refer the articles to committee, but the effort is not being taken seriously in Washington. “I think there are some serious charges,” Paul said. “We went to war under a lot of misinformation, but the Democrats are under the same corporate control as the Republicans. Dennis is a fighter, but he has been marginalized in the Democratic Party.”

Decrying the government’s curtailment of civil liberties since 9/11, Paul said, “I do not believe it is necessary to sacrifice one bit of personal liberty to be safe.”
In response to a question about what Republican presidential nominee John McCain could do to get Paul’s support, he said McCain would have to change his foreign, domestic and monetary policy.

As Paul made point after point during his speech, the group applauded and cheered.

Despite all the country’s problems, Paul said, “there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic. We are better off than the Soviets; they don’t have our traditions. Instead of being discouraged, those who come to see me are excited. Once you make the discovery that we have a problem and want to solve it, that gives optimism.”

Paul said people ask him what he’s going to do now since losing his bid for the party’s nomination. “I tell them I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing for 30 years—campaigning for liberty.”